Ex-communist countries seem to have an odd relationship with statues, with Serbia wanting to put up Rocky or Sam Fox and Russia going for the enema tribute (in bronze). We don't get it, but we figure they'll make great talking points in our photo albums.

This week it's Ukraine that's having a statue drama. The town of Golaya Pristan is celebrating its 299th birthday and the powers that be figured that marking this occasion with a quarter-ton concrete frog statue would be the way to go.

Because frogs are famous in Golaya Pristan? No, of course not. Because a neighboring village erected a small bronze frog, but those from Golaya Pristan think bronze is too showy. A concrete frog shows it belongs to the ordinary people. Right.

Related Stories:
· Monster Frog Baffles Town [Ananova]
· The Serbian Statue Syndrome [Jaunted]
· Russian Spa Erects a Bronze Tribute to the Enema [Jaunted]

[Photo of a smaller concrete frog: ozjimbob]
]]> amandak 2008-10-03T09:05:38-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/6/26/53727/6471

Providing good service and great food clearly isn't enough to get customers into your restaurant these days. This month new restaurants opened in Beirut and Ukraine that are giving us good food with a dark kind of theme: death and danger.

You've probably already heard about Buns and Guns in Beirut, with its menu featuring meals like rocket-propelled grenade (really skewered chicken) and terrorist bread.

But we like the Eternity restaurant in Truskavets, Ukraine a bit better. Owner Stepan Pyrianyk decided the restaurant should be built inside a 65-foot-long coffin. It serves death-themed dishes including something ominous called "Let's meet in paradise." We might save our visit, though, until we're ready for our last supper.

Related Stories:
· Restaurant Built Inside Coffin Opens in Ukraine [Telegraph]
· Lebanese Food Served with a Bang [BBC]
· Restaurants coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: kava.lviv.ua]]]> amandak 2008-06-26T09:15:06-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/6/5/161536/4853
Checking out the local zoo is a favorite pastime for many travelers. But how close should you get to the animals? In the Kiev Zoo this week, a Ukrainian man rappelled into a cage full of lions, shouting "God will save me, if he exists". One of the lions seized him by the throat, severed his carotid artery and the soon-to-be-non-believer died at the scene.

Ukrainian zoo animals are getting a reputation as being a little unfriendly: earlier this year, a twelve-year-old boy had both hands bitten off by a zoo bear when he offered him some crackers. However, the Kiev lion victim wasn't so friendly himself, and waved his arms aggressively at the lions before reaching his premature end.

But hang on: hasn't there already been a troublesome lion in the headlines recently? Could it be that the larger-than-life World Cup Mascot Goleo VI is heading east? Can anyone report a recent sighting that doesn't place Goleo in Kiev? If we'd got as much bad press as him, we might feel like munching on an insane intruder too.

Related stories:
Mauled man was suicidal [Russian News & Info Agency]
World Cup Mascot a Slut [Jaunted]]]> amandak 2006-06-06T09:20:02-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2006/3/22/145743/070

We're still working our way through this month's brick of Travel and Leisure--though the brand-new T+L 35 has already surpassed Girls of the Big Ten as our favorite magazine article ever written--but one thing that caught our attention was the article about the Crimean DJ/house music/techo festival, Kazantip.

Kazantip draws 50,000 visitors to the Ukraine, mostly Russians and Ukrainians, dancing around ten stages each night during the entire six weeks it takes place. The beachside festival will celebrate its thirteenth birthday this summer. It's a big deal: Kazantip organizers made a gigantic gate, a la Brandenburger Tor in Berlin, at the entrance to the "Kazantip Republic", and one of the stages is even built on stilts over the ocean.

It sure beats the hell out of Shakespeare in the Park, doesn't it?

Related Stories:
·   Beach Party [T + L]]]> AVB 2006-03-22T14:57:43-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/