Hetman Lviv

I guess the difference is the direction from which the light comes. My hostel sounded like the deal of the trip- $15 a night with WiFi and Jacuzzi- so I put all onward plans on hold. This could be the place to put down roots… for a week or so. There had to be a catch of course. But how do you botch a $15 room with WiFi and Jacuzzi? Where do I begin? The WiFi didn't work the first day so I began a judgment really quickly; and there’ ...

... music was playing, waiters and waitresses
dashed back and forth and the stone walls and roof were decorated with
pictures of the Partisan army. Diners talked contentedly. We had salad
and perogies served in metal bunker bowls.



In the early evening we went to the Catholic cathedral, the Armenian
cathedral and the market. I bough a beautiful stacking doll. We
wondered through a park filled with Ukrainians enthralled with
Lviv, Ukraine swints

... her mouth, pretending they were pacifiers. My cousins would take me to play in the orchard. The place where they lived was actually a suburb, called Winniki. We would take the bus into the city. On really hot days a big truck would pull up and dispense birch juice. It was either free or really, really cheap ...

... land is easily found and we ambled down until we found a selection of doors and queues by which to exit Ukraine. The right hand queue was plainly for suckers - several hundred people long and clearly a six to eight hour undertaking. The central queue was mysteriously filled with people who had got bawled out by border guards and then chosen to create this queue in the middle of nowhere and weather the ongoing harangue. The left hand side had an unlocked door, was unmanned, and seemed ...

... hotel. Other stranded Ukrainian travellers weren't so lucky. My own trip from Warsaw to Lviv took 11 hours and three trains, but I finally made it into town just before midnight. In Lviv, we are staying at the lovely Rynok Square Apartment off hostelbookers.com. The location couldn't be better. There's a kitchen and even a washing machine. Miya, who owns the place, kindly came out at midnight to let me in, and I crashed into bed. My first venture outside ...

... and pastries and all sorts of nice things. Then I wandered into town. On my second attempt as I got lost on my first. Found a bustling square and meeting place. Lots of restaurants though hadn't yet learned to read the signs that said "Restaurant". Decided to take in an Operetta as the Opera House was meant to be quite beautiful. The opera house was very beaugtiful though the operetta ...

... traslate it well) and beans soup with meat and potatoes. It was very nice actually. Addictionally, Sarah, Ania and me ordered a bottle of wine and boys a bottle of vodka and glass of juice for each of them. First time in my life I could see how do Ukrainians drink alcohol - a shot of vodka, a sip of juice, shot of vodka, sip of juice. After the whole bottle of vodka for 2 of them, the boys didn`t even seem to be tipsy. Ania`s cousin`s face became a bit red, but that was it. We were so ...

... among them). In the distance we could make out 'Castle hill', a small hill in the centre which not surprisingly, given the name, once had a castle upon it. Further to the north was the biggest contrast from Lviv's old town though, giant grey concrete communist apartment blocks. One could quite easily forget that they were in the former Soviet Union when wandering around the cobblestone streets of the old town. After grabbing a bite for lunch we made our way up to the ...

... reading New York Times Travel Section in a Berlin Internet cafe. An article caught my attention, titled "Heritage Survives a Complicated Past in Lviv, Ukraine" (click to link to this article). This article makes Lviv seemingly a very friendly (compared to other parts of Ukraine) and sophisticated city. I was already contemplating traveling to Ukraine (though not certain yet at that point). After reading this article, I decided to go. I walked into "Hotel George", hotel ...

... I couldn't buy the reservation there anyway. I spent most of the time in line making up bad jokes about Ukrainians, I was not in a happy place. Thankfully, Lviv as a city makes up for soviet bureaucracy. I looked at the museums the next day, and stumbled upon a market in town selling all sorts of stuff. I spotted a 2004 Orange revolution scarf and got into a bidding war with an America who was using a translator, and due to the translation difficulties (I'll never ...