Educators on the Edge: Just Lviv It!

Lviv, Ukraine - September 12-14, 2014

Based on the Nike slogan, the marketing ad "Just Lviv It" is being used to attract visitors to this western city in Ukraine. We had heard from several people who had already visited Lviv, that it was a very "European" city and had a different "feel" than Kiev. So on Friday evening we boarded the 5:35 fast train to Lviv. We travelled with our friends Tim and Jessica who were also visiting Lviv for the first time. We had a great weekend; the weather was perfect (sunny and mid 70s) and our hotel was strategically located within walking distance to all of the city highlights. Even though we really only had one day to enjoy this famous Ukrainian city, we were able to visit everything we had on our list from 8am to 11:30pm on Saturday. Then, at 6:00am on Sunday morning we were shuttled from our hotel back to the train station for the 5 hour ride back to Kiev, a quiet, sleepy return, yet filled with lots of happy memories.

The beautiful, ornate Kiev train station

Lviv is known for its chocolate, and the first place we found open for business on Saturday morning was this very unique chocolate shop:

They specialize in chocolate "antique tools and hardware".

We bought a wrench, some nuts and bolts, and door hinge.

Next, we stumbled onto an outdoor used-book flea market. Of course it was set up around this statue of "someone" holding a book. Unfortunately, I did not find out who this literary giant was, but I did pick up a couple of Ukrainian cookbooks. Thank goodness for the one that has pictures!

A recipe for borscht

the Ukrainians love their fish, and dill...

and berries!

The dessert section of this cookbook was very small (sorry, Mom)

We saw many signs of Ukrainian national pride in Lviv. In front of City Hall there were some school children dancing to a contemporary patriotic Ukrainian song.

Across the street from City Hall was a tiny shop loaded with hundreds of ribbons and trimming. I bought 4 meters of traditional Ukrainian trim. Since I'm not much of a seamstress, maybe I can use it to trim some pillows.

We ate lunch at the famous Krievka bar and grill. It is an underground establishment which requires a secret password to enter. It was an actual underground, secret hideout during WWII. Luckily we had practiced saying "Glory to Ukraine!" in Ukrainian so that when we knocked on the door and the doorman opened the door, we were ready. I tried to get a picture of that moment, but it's a bit fuzzy because when the doorman saw me with a camera he started yelling, "No photo, no photo! The food was so-so, but the experience was fascinating.