Best Eastern Ingul Mykolayiv

I took the night train from Odessa back to Lviv. Another trip on the Platzcart. I am getting pretty good at figuring all of this stuff out. Like, how to read the ticket, how to find the right wagon on the train, and how to do the bunks on the train. The first Ukrainain train ticket was a challange, and I had to get train-reading lessons from Natasha. So, now I am pretty good at it.
Lviv Ukraine, L'vivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine jathomaz

Yep! I took the night sleeper train (my first, by the way) from Budapest to Lviv Ukraine. All written signs here are in Cryllic-street signs included. But, I had started studying my alphabet and a few words a few days ago, so I am not a pro yet, but getting there. The problem is that the hostel and goodle maps gives directions for Westerners, including their street address in the Roman alphabet. Not worth a damn when you are looking for ...

... walking 7km for Styrj). We took a Marshuka from Lviv to Styj.
It was hot, hot, hot- I believe I already mentioned the Ukrainian fear
of opening windows. After sweating for an hour and half we arrived in
the town of Stryj.
Directly in front of us was the train station where my family
supposedly caught the train that would take them to their ship when
they immigrated to Canada. We wondered the streets of Stryj until we were ...

... amazingly tedious employment for 1500-2000 people. A packet of L&M cigarettes is around 5 hryvna ($1.20) in Ukraine, and 8 zloty ($3.90) in Poland. So walking across a carton of cigarettes can yield a $20 income... more than the daily average here. Piles of abandoned cardboard carton packaging in the border queues attest to both profitability and the traders' brand loyalty. The clever, however, know that real profitiability lies in getting more than the standard allowance ...

A quick tram trip, and we were home again in the Kosmonaut, but it was empty. The whole place had been full of Danish girls, and Matt and Ayton had gone to live with Eddie and Brian. It didn't take long for it to start filling with people, so we took a walk around, just to get aquainted again with the place. It had also gotten colder in the week that we were away, but once we were back inside, Jason and Katie, Mark, us two and Eddie did the only thing ...

... them this morning. The walking tour included 13, but we found 9 were sufficient. It being Sunday morning, services were in progress everywhere, but it is accepted Orthodox practice for the congregation to come and go during a service, so a couple tourists weren't objected to. The music was wonderful and the incense enough to make you dizzy. All of the churches were extremely well attended and well maintained, with paintings rather than carvings covering ...

... i ziemniaczkami. Bardzo smaczne. Do tego ja, Ania i Sarah zamowilysmy butelke wina, a chlopcy butelke wodki plus po szklance soku. Pierwszy raz w zyciu jak pija Ukraincy - kieliszek za kieliszkiem, po lyku soku i dalej wodka. Najlepsze byl to, ze nawet nie wygladali na podchmielonych. Kuzyn Ani poczerwienial na twarzy, ale to bylo wszystko. Wieczorem bylysmy tak zmeczone, ze praktycznie od razu poszlysmy spac. Chlopcy odstapili nam 1 z pokoi, co bylo bardzo mile z ich strony. Dzien byl wspanialy.

Finally here in Ternopil, Ukraine. Staying with some friends, enjoying Ukrainian hospitality - including lots and lots of potatoes...potatoes twice a day at least!! I really like it here, reminds me a lot of my time in Russia, only better, more European. Ukrainains also have a fanastic sense of humour!!

... the Center and went to the National Museum on Prospekt Svobody. I was charged 14 HV (though the book said the entrance is 4 HV, was I overcharged as a foreigner?). It is a nice museum with a relatively small collection. There are some religious icons, impressionist paintings, paintings from Austrian period, and even paintings from modern artists, all of them are created by Ukrainian artists. Again, I found there are not too many visitors in this museum (maybe 10 or 12 ...

... was a success. Everybody was thrilled to meet them, and feed them. My brother spent him afternoons and evenings walking around my town by himself surrounded by my excited students. My parents got to see how clean and safe Ukraine is right now, and how quickly it is changing. They encouraged me with their optimism and comparison to Italy post WWII. They loved the food, especially green borscht, cherry vereniky with sour cream and honey, and cabbage rolls ...