Lviv Visit

I have posted some pictures of my trip to Lviv at:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2244964&id=122610538&l=d5bc2aebea

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Ok, time to update this post. As you have seen in the pictures (If you have seen the pictures on the website above), my visit to Lviv was great. I was really excited to be able to come along with the rest of the Canadian group. I was starting to feel a bit like the odd man out, but when I was told that I was allowed to accompany them I felt so good. Our bus left roughly around 8 am from the Ternopil Hotel, and on the bus I had the chance to meet the rest f the Canadian students. They were all very cool. I felt like I fit right in and I had a lot of very interesting conversations with a few of them. I was very tired from lack of sleep (I have been having nightmares for some reason, and sometimes I just simply can't fall asleep... then, of course I am so tired in the morning and sometimes end up taking a late afternoon nap... such a horrible vicious cycle that I am trying to beat), so I fell asleep on the bus for a good part of the 2 hour trip there (albeit rather uncomfortably). Another reason why I decided to sleep, other than my tiredness, was that our bus driver was driving in a way that I felt less than comfortable with. He was FLYING!! And, swerving like crazy to avoid the thousands of potholes on the road, and also when passing cars. I was needless to say, a little nervous, so I decided to say a prayer and then shut my brain off until we go to Lviv, haha.

When we did get to Lviv, we stopped at a little restaurant/hotel sort of building to go to the washrooms. Inside of the building they had very interestingly decorated rooms, as you probably saw in the pictures. There were lots of stuffed birds and animal skins on the walls. While it looked beautiful, it also made me very sad. One of the rooms actually looked like a king's dinningroom, tapered with animal heads and horns on the walls. Fortunately, most of the deer and moose heads they had on the wall were actually made of wood, and it was more for show than anything else. It was still very interesting though!



After the bathrooms, we headed towards a mountain, which is the highest peak in Lviv. We climbed like a thousand stairs up this hill, but I even though I was getting very tired, I was glad we were at least climbing stairs and not the actual rocky hillside. It was actually quite beautiful, as we walked under a canopy of trees that still let a good amount of light pass through to the ground, making everything around us take a very beautiful tone of green. We passed by what we were told were the remains of an old castle that used to stan there... all there was left, unfortunately, was a small chunk of a single wall, which was now covered in moss and hidden by bushes.



In the far distance, we could begin to see the tops of houses in the city, as we gradually ascended. When we got to the top, we were able to see the whole city, with dozens of churches towering over the already tall building complexes. I was amazed to see how many houses and buildings use aluminum for roofing. From the top you can see sort of like strata of different styles of houses and buildings, which I guess is natural given the history of the city, which was conquered several times by different Europen nations, such as the Poles and the Austrians. The city itself is over 800 years old, and it is the largest city in Western Ukraine, with about 725,000 inhabitants.


After we made our way down, we hopped on the bus again, which took us right into the city. Most of the buildings look old and pituresque, and they are often painted in pastel colours in warm hues, if not left on their original stone colours. A lot of the buildings are very ornametal and you can see lots of monuments and statues that give the city an interesting character.The city really has an air of antiqueness to it which I can't really describe. I guess you'll have to rely on my few humble pictures, haha.






And at the same time, modernity has blended so much into the old aura of the city that it makes for an interesting mix. For example, on one corner you will see a little used-bookstore bazar, where old people bring their books and hope to sell them for a few coins. On the next corner you will see an express walk-though MacDonalds or a Nescafe coffee vending machine. Get the point? Despite the seeming modernity, however, the city retains enough of its culture and singularity to remain interesting.





Our first stop was the Armoury Museum, which was very interesting. I was the only one who took pictures, since they charged you 20 hryvnia to do it, and nobody wanted to pay for it. I wanted to spilt the cost with someone and then share the pics online, but they didn't want to. Oh well. I know of someone who will really enjoy those pics, hahaha, so I decided to pay the 20 hryvnia anyway. At the museum they had very interesting things. They had some massive swords that were almost as long as I am tall, and the same foes for some of the rifles they had. They also had some pretty sweet helmets and full-body armours from different time periods, in addition to a huge set of cannons, cannonballs, and exposition of arrowheads as old as the 3 century BC. I am not one for war. In fact, I hate war. But I like seeing old artifacts such as these. It is actually rather chilling to see some of these tools of destruction...



After the armoury we stopped to see the used-bookstore bazar I mentioned before, and then we went through a back alley behind a big church, where, to my surprise, was hidden a rather large icon of Our Lady. One can find religious objects such as this one all over the city. People here tend to wear their religion on their sleeve, which is something I thoroughly enjoy. It makes me feel very comfortable. People are not ashamed to cross themselves when they walk by a Church (which is a sign of respect and acknowledgement of Christ's prescence in the Tabernacle), nor to stop for a moment infront of one of the many religious symbols throughout the city to raise their thoughts to God for a few minutes before continuing on on their way. There is one statue of Our Lady in the middle of the square that is surrounded by dozens upon dozens of flower vases, layed there by people who come to pray infront of the statue, asking Mary for her intersession. In the same way, there is a crucifix right next to the Virgin Mary statue, where a dozens of people stop, even for just a few seconds, to pray, just as this mother an son in the following picture...




Even though we were walking around dozens of churches, nobody in the group seemed too interested to go inside of them. So I decided to ask our guides if they wouldn't mind if we at least went inside the Cathedral, since we were already right there. They agreed, and so we went in at my request, which was awesome. Unfortunately, I was rather dissapointed with the Cathedral. It was surprisingly small, although very very tall, and inside it looked kind of grim, even if very ornamental. We couldn't take many pictures since we got kicked out almost right away because they were preparing for a wedding (figrues!!), but I did get at least one good picture of the front altar, and a bunch of the outside.




One of my favourite features of the city was the street musicians, who would stand in a corner to play in the hopes of receiving a few coins from the people who passed by. First, we encountered a young violinist who was playing on a corner of one of the main squares. The sound of the violin was beautiful, and the melody resonated through the streets bouncing and echoing on the walls of the buildings. He was quite skillful and I would have loved to listen to him a little longer and to go give him some money, but the group was moving along into the clock tower (I will say more about this shortly) and I had to hurry to catch them. After the clock tower, we came out on the other side of the building where the violinist had been playing, and as soon as we got out we heard the beautiful sound of a flute. I couldn't find where it was coming from, but some people pointed it out to me. It was a man dressed in military uniform, sitting on a tiny stool with his legs stretched out, playing a tiny wooden flute. Nobody around me seemed to care much about the unusual flautist, but I was fascinated. First, because he seemed to be an army guy, which seemed odd enough to me given what he was doing, but most of all because the song he was playing was so beautiful. And just like the violin before, the sound of the flute echoed through the street and managed to charm me despite of the business of the street around me. I got closer to the man to take a picture, but then I realized I had to move as I was standing right on the tracks of a street car that was headed right straight at me, hahahaha.




Finally, the last musician that caught my attention, and perhaps more so than the other two, was a strangely-dressed man playing some sort of string instrument, like a large mandolin, and he was singing what seemed to be a story. I was just delighted to see the man. Everything about him was very interesting. His head was shaven on the sides, and from the top of his head came a bunch of gray and bleach white hair turned into a twist, which matched the long twists on each side of his mustache. He was wearing an earring, and his clothes were very traditional and unusual. In fact, I think he too was wearing a military uniform, since he seemed to have riffle shells pinned onto his shirt. I am doing a very poor job at describing him, so here's a picture. Even though I encountered him almost at the end of the trip, I thought it was a good idea to talk about him here. I gave him a bit of cash, smiled at him, and motioned to him asking him if I could take a picture. He delightedly nodded, and I took a picture. Then, however, he motioned me forward with his hand, like saying to get someone else to take the picture so I could be in it with him. So I did so. I think this picture alone was worth the whole trip!


Now, the clock tower. We went into this building which had a clock tower at the top, which you could climb to see the downtown. We had to go up 5 flights of stairs to get to the entrance booth, from which we climbed 306 stair to the top in under 10 minutes. It was A LOT of stairs!! I am a but scared of heights (I think at a healthy level), so I tried not to look down. Once we got to the top, and as soon as I exited the staircase, however, the bell of the clock tower which is right above where the exit door was rang, and I jumped and screamed so loud that everyone turned around and started laughing! I was a little embarrassed, but I laughed as well! From the top the view was actually nice, although very similar to that of the mountain, just much closer. From here you could see with more detail the roofs of the houses, as well as the design of the streets.





After the clock tower we walked around some more and made it to the main square, which was to be our meeting point. It had a tall monument and a large statue surrounded by a fountain. It was quite interesting. From there we went to eat at a sort of buffet-style restaurant. My host mom had packed me a world of sandwiches, so I only bought a small soup to complement them. After the meal we had free time, so a group of us headed towards the Mac Donalds, since some people were desperately craving french fries and ice-cream. I don't like Mac Donalds, but I came along anyway. On our way there, we got to the Opera house (the massive building on the second picture), which Ukrainians say is world famous, although I had never heard of it. I guess it is Ukrainian-world famous. Hehe. On that square we also saw more brides (like 8). Apparently, cackie is a very popular colour for the groom's wedding suit, as is orange for their shirts and/or ties. I hate it, hahaha. You can also see a lot of people in uniforms here...



We also encountered a station from where horse and carriage carts take people on a tour around the city. I love horses, so I was thrilled to see this. They were all so beautiful!! Not the Don Quijote's 'Rocinante' sort of horses you see sometimes in horse and carriage carts, but full-bodied, strong, beautiful horses. I love horses. Oh, I already said that. Haha. Sorry, I got carried away... Moving on...



After the MacDonalds stop, we went to the market, which is EXACTLY the SAME as the Mexican "Tianguis" or flea market I used to go to with my mom when we lived in Mexico city. I wanted to take my time and check it out, but again, being in a group meant we had to move quickly, especially since I didn't really want to buy anything. I could have very well gone off on my own, but then finding the rest of the group would have been impossible, and I prefered to share the experience with them than be antisocial and take off haha. One of the girls in our group whose name is Jaime really wanted to find a souvenier shop, so we ended up exploring half the city to find one... to no avail! Can you believe that?? We went back and forward, and back and forward, to no end. I was sooooo tired by the end of it. All of us were! Finally we gave up and walked to the bazar to see if we could find some stuff there. Jaime was able to buy some stuff there, and Jessica and I went off on our own for a bit to take a look at stuff, of how my mom says, "curiosear" (which comes from the word curious, and which means something like "to snuff around").



On our way there, however, we stopped to take a picture with some men who were sitting in an old purple car, decorated with the colours of the Ukrainian flag. I have no clue what that was all about, but it was awesome, haha. I also noticed that here there are kiosks which sell exclusively cigarettes... people smoke a lot here!!



Shortly after we walked back to the main square, since it was about time to get back. There was a company of Peruvian Indigenous people who were putting a show on the square, so I went to see them for a few minutes while we waited for everyone else to get back. After, I just went back to where our tour guides were sitting, and began to talk to this guy named Mykhaylo, who I believe is one of the tutors. He is from Ternopil, and seems like a really cool guys so I hope we become friends. Finally everyone else arrived, and we headed back to the bus. In our way, we finally found a souvenir store, which we had walked by several times! Yikes!! I didn't see a lot that caught my attention there, except for a little something I found for my sister... but I won't tell you what it is cuz it would spoil it! Hahaha.



On the way back I talked some more with some of the girls, and I got the chance to get to know Jaime a bit more. Since she is leaving in a few weeks, she offered to give me her Ukrainian phrase book, which I was very grateful for. I will probably go pick it up from her tomorrow. I was able to buy a Ukrainian-English dictionary in Lviv, but I still think that a phrase book would be infinitely more useful. After talking to the girls for a bit, I slept for the rest of the way back.

During the trip I spent a lot of time talking and walking with Jess and Jaime, but not so much with Jen, as she was very busy taken pictures. I have seen them and they are quite good. (I hope you are enjoying mine also.) Finally, when we gor to Ternopil, I walked with Jaime to take a bus home. She showed me an alternate route to my house, since she lives very close by. When I got home, I was so exhausted, but I was pleasantly surprised to see those leaves I was talking about before (the ones used for the Pentecost celebration in the Ukrainian Catholic Church), spread all around the house, including my room! I tried to ask what this meant, but I did not really understand the explanation.



So that was my trip! I hope you enjoyed it! Hahaha... Next I will talk about my Sunday, which was one of the best days since I've been here, as it was the first time I could go to a Roman Catholic Church and actually attend Mass...