Via the Economist, a Japan Air Lines 747 sucked a misplaced baggage container into its #1 engine at LAX:
To the shock of onlookers – and no doubt the dismay of airline officials and crew on board – the empty baggage cart was sucked into one of the Boeing 747’s four engines, forcing the plane to become grounded and passengers returned back to the terminal.
The Times of London has video.
Probably the last Kyiv photo for now: St. Sofia Cathedral, build in stages starting in 1037.
In the courtyard nearby they have a carillon, which every child encountering it needed to smack around. Detail:
I can't remember exactly where this is—I think it's Kontraktova Square—but I remember it was beautiful. Note the chestnut trees in full bloom on the right. That's Kyiv in spring for you.
No one should visit Kyiv without seeing the Kievo-Percherska Lavra (Києво-Печерська лавра), the Monestery of the Caves, founded in 1015:
We didn't go into the caves (and I couldn't have photographed them anyway), but we did explore the grounds. (For what it's worth, Lonely Planet recommends getting there early and going straight to the caves. Next time.)
Complete view of the main entrance to the upper Lavra:
Dormition Cathedral:
I had the good fortune to stay with friends in an apartment building constructed only in the last few years. Much of the housing stock in Kyiv reaches back to Soviet times, showing individuality only by varying levels of maintenance performed by each owner. Fortunately, many of these apartment buildings have given way to newer ones. They're still...how does one say?...ugly:
In one of the oldest section of the city, Podil, the mix of pre-Soviet buildings and modern advertising looks a lot more like Western Europe. Here's a view of vul Petra Sahaydachnoho from a cafe near Poshtova Square:
I found myself distracted today by 22°C sunny weather and a 3-hour client meeting. Moving on: more photos from Kyiv, of St. Michael's monastery (Михайлівський золотоверхий монастир):
I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto.
Incidentally, you have to be this tall to go on this ride:
(Yes, it's cliché, but sometimes the classics are best.)
First shot from the mystery destination:
This is the Мати-Батьківщина (Mat-Batkivshyna, or Mother Motherland), part of the Great Patriotic War memorial just southeast of the center of Kyiv, Ukraine.
Lonely Planet asserts the nickname of this statue is "Tin Tits," but my host, who is native Ukrainian and has lived in Kyiv for years, believes LP made this up.
Many more to follow.
Fighting bumpy air the whole way, I flew today to Rockford, Ill., 53 nautical miles from Chicago Executive. It's kind of a cop-out, of course: 50 nautical miles is the minimum distance of a flight's outbound leg in order for the flight to qualify as cross-country. Check out the KML, though: every time I flew over one of those fields, the plane jumped about 50 m straight up; every time I flew over one of those lakes, it dropped 50 m. Such is the fun of summer flying.
Beautiful day, though, high thin overcast and 21°C the whole time.
While in San Francisco for the weekend, I decided to continue the 30-Park Geas by seeing what the Oakland A's were up to. Last place, it turned out; but then, so were their opponents, the Tampa Bay Rays.
From the moment you get off the BART, you know you're not going to the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. Wrigley, for example, has less concrete and barbed wire:
Of course, Wrigley has fewer "World Champions" banners, too, but we'll skip that for now.
Not a bad game, on balance. The home team won, it turned out my Cubs hat was acceptable to the crowd (my brother had warned me that wearing the wrong hat in Oakland could result in ejection from the park...by the fans...over the railing), and my seat completely failed to suck:
The only bad parts, other than the park resembling in architecture and style (and, some might say, purpose) a medium-security prison: I forgot my camera, so I had to use my mobile phone to snap photos; and I couldn't find a score card. Oh well; still a fun game.
Fifteen down, 17 to go.
American Airlines, my carrier of choice, will finally replace its fleet of awful MD-80s, many of which it inherited from TWA:
The acquisition of 76 Boeing 737-800s through early 2011 represents a doubling of that airplane model flown by Ft Worth-based American.
All the new planes will be based at O'Hare International Airport.
The move also will lead to the eventual retirement of American's McDonnell Douglas MD-80s--a reliable but noisy aircraft that gulps 35 percent more fuel than the 737-800.
American plans to phase out its 280 MD-80s over about 10 years, said Dan Garton, the carrier's executive vice president of marketing.
"All of the new planes will be based at O'Hare..." Sigh. That makes me so happy.