Lviv

opera house

I have problems with Lviv. I always confuse it with Vilnius and I have no idea which language I should use there. My Ukrainian is limited to так, дякую and привіт. But still automatically I answer по-русски. Together with Magda we decided to use Polish. Ok, I'll use Polish.

City itself looks completely different from Donetsk. My Donetsk friends say it's easy to get lost there and it pisses them off. Because streets are not straight. I'm not surprised, if you spend whole your life in a city built on American basis where streets meet at a right angle, you may get lost in Lviv. But getting lost in Lviv could be nice. City is pretty, has own 'climate' and big touristic potential, but doesn't know how to use it yet. Most of tourists are from Poland, unfortunately. Unfortunately, because it makes me feel like in Poland. Lviv is like Kraków, but poorer. With some similarities to Łódź (ah, those destroyed buildings and a lot of wires in the air...)

Lviv is more Polish than Vilnius. Why do they have here Mickiewicz's monument? Did he ever visit Lviv? Crimea, Odessa - for sure, but Lviv? Shops in the city centre: Reserved and House. Polish. Next time I will find Kopernik shop. On Kopernik street, of course. Wherever you go - churches. Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, Ortodox. In the city centre - commemorative plaque in memory of Pope John Paul II. Did I mention I feel like in Poland?

Besides the fact that Lviv has soul, it has one more advantage over Donetsk: places with atmosphere. They may compete with cafes and pubs in Wrocław, Poznań, 3city or in my beloved Toruń. And they are much cheaper.

There is one more fantastic place in Lviv that I would appreciate more if I knew Cyrillic and liked Eastern literature*. Open-air second-hand bookshop. Next to the monument to Fyodorov (the first printer in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine).

PS. Lviv is not a city on high heels. Girls here look almost normal. Even pretty sometimes.

PS2. Lviv is really nice, our new friends too (they talk to you, make you tea, borrow a guidebook, let you to talk in Spanish to their mother and even let you sleep in their bed!), but view of grey, smoky, enormous factories made me happy. I'm back home.

* I don't belong here. Everyone study/is graduated in Ukrainian/Russian philology, Russian studies, culture of Russia and neighbouring nations or at least love Eastern Europe history or are Cossacks freaks. And me? If I followed my interests, I would go to Spain. But I followed my heart and I'm in Ukraine now. But I don't regret it. Yet.