Trip to Pripyat

[wildpeaks]

Originally Posted by Patcherson

just one last thing everyone should take a moment to think about the amount of people who died from that "accident"

It was an accident, no need to add "" around, but indeed it was quite sad at the museum, and so many kids

But I found it conforting to see so many people in the Chernobyl village, life flows back into the Zone, and it's not just nature.
My phone even has much faster Internet in Chernobyl than at my flat

[wildpeaks]

Here are some highres panorama as well. Given they're [way] too big for Flickr, it's on another website (which requires Flash installed).


Independence square, Kiev:
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=20974

On the road to Chernobyl:
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=20978
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=20979

Pripyat, the main place:
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21037
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=20996
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21002

Pripyat, stadium:
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=20986
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=20993

In front of the hotel in Chernobyl:
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21006


I'm quite happy of the result, even if they are handheld panoramas (as I was not able to get my motorized panorama head in time for the trip).

[marie pavie]

How do you do a handheld panorama? Is it software that comes with the camera?


(You said Priboi Story was a fave of yours, in Call of Pripyat you play as a Ukrainian security service agent!)

[elrazor]

how you did the trip?send me pm about how u did it pliz

[wildpeaks]

Originally Posted by marie pavie

How do you do a handheld panorama? Is it software that comes with the camera?

I just rotate on myself taking photos close enough from each other to stitch them together. The camera doesn't have a built-in software, but I didn't need one because I use the same software for years, it works wonders (even better with the latest beta):
http://www.autopano.net

Definitly worth the 99 euros. There is a demo if you want to try it and I think they even have a linux version as well.

Originally Posted by marie pavie

in Call of Pripyat you play as a Ukrainian security service agent!

This game sure sounds exciting (especially the nicer modeling of Pripyat, that's gonna be great !)

[wildpeaks]

Originally Posted by elrazor

how you did the trip?send me pm about how u did it pliz

I'm posting here instead, maybe other people have the same question.


The company I used is this:
http://sam.ua/en/index.php
Not the cheapest, but they were very flexible and friendly
Several others also make tours to Chernobyl, but it's day tours (whereas we stayed the night
and breakfast/lunches/dinners in Chernobyl as well, in addition of being quite free in Pripyat,
which is a custom tour anyway).

This company also does tours:
http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/new/tour/english
But the cool thing is their other english tours, some of them I didn't see on other websites. The "secret staline tunnels" was pretty cool.


In Kiev, if you have some extra time, check out the Chernobyl Museum (not all tours include a visit there).

And if you have some more extra time, you may want to try Tank driving or shooting an AK-47:
http://www.kievstag.com/tank-driving.php
(the tank is what I'll try next time )

For an hotel, I'd recommend this one, it has a great view of the city:
http://www.ukraine-hotel.kiev.ua/eng/home/

However a cheaper alternative is to rent a flat if you're staying some time:
http://www.kievapartment.com/

And if you want to try the metro, here's a map:
http://www.wildpeaks.eu/files/KievMetro.jpg

Some more useful infos about Kiev:
http://wikitravel.org/en/Kiev


That should be enough to start with