Viewing L'vov Ukraine from Under an Umbrella

Greetings from L'viv. Today I took the 3-hour train from Ivano-Frankovsk north to L'viv here in northwestern Ukraine. And tomorrow, the good Lord willing, I plan to catch the train from L'vov to Rostov-on-Don, a 29-hour trip. Attached should be several fascinating images - should be, I know, but not attached. But that's quite another story. . .

Last Tuesday on the train from Kiev through L'viv to Ivano-Frankovsk, I shared a koopay - that's a 4-person-compartment - with a lady from L'viv. We had a delightful visit and as we were approaching L'viv, she gave me contact information and invited me to come visit sometime.

You're serious?

Da, absolutno!

No need to ask me twice. You know us missionary-types! So guess where I'm spending the night! With my best friend in L'viv, that would be with Larisa and her husband. We hiked around town this evening in the drizzle. They're great tour guides, love to practice their English and enjoy getting to visit with other gypsy-types.

Here's what's almost funny: none of us can find the flash-drive-plug-in-deal on this computer. Larisa is a psychologist and teaches at a local university. Her husband is in business - he's accustomed to solving problems. I have a rather assorted background - different from a sordid background let's make that clear - and none of us knows the answer to this one. Nor are we particularly motivated to solve it. So. . . just imagine photos, okay?

Anyhew, this L'vov is quite the city: part of the former USSR, before that part of Poland, before that part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire. First identified as L'viv in 1256. But apparently fortresses and such go back to 200 A.D. Quite varied culturally, as you might imagine. This evening Larisa and I stopped into a Catholic church for evening mass. That's the Polish influence - versus the Russian influence - and the service was in Polish. Although Ukrainian is the official language here and it's spoken, preferred even, in this neck of the woods. Different from eastern Ukraine where there's more Russian influence and thus Russian is spoken there.

Last week in Ivano-Frankovsk was simply great. Attached would be-could be-should be neat photos of that place. In the foothills of the Carpathian Mts. A young, growing city of 300,000 whereas L'viv is 1 million.

Have had UKRAINE on the brain this past week, doing some digging for information. Here are some neat tidbids: Ukraine is twice the size of Poland. Ukraine is larger than the state of California and almost exactly the size of Texas. Ukraine's population is twice that of Texas'. This baffles me: There are only a handful of big cities: Kiev has 3 million, several cities of 1-million and that's it. But where the numbers swell, it would seem, is in the villages: 35% of Ukrainians live in rural areas or small towns.

Lots of national pride here. Quite the complex and diverse nation. And some wonderful people! Well, until we meet again, greetings from L'vov. Find that on your map! Oh - guess what - it is on the map from yesterday's post. Look carefully and you'll see it there in the northwest. Over and out!

A Sunday Morning in Zhitomer, Ukraine

Care to join me for a walk through Zhitomer? It was a warm Sunday morning last week and I had a few hours before church started at 2:00 pm.

First, lets get ourselves oriented. See Zhitomer there on the map. It's 90 minutes west of Kiev by taxi van. Vans run like every 20-30 minutes between the two.


The street-sweeping lady was busy tidying up her assigned area. Those brooms are something -- ever tried to sweep with a short-handled broom? Perfect for persons 3-4 feet high but for the rest of us, oh my aching back. Ukrainian folks are a tough breed though: You'll hear no complaints from any of them.

Meanwhile a wedding was about to begin. The mother of the bride, above, pulled aside the bearer of the wedding bread to make last-minute adjustments to the traditional loaf. It really was pretty. But. . . talk about wedding jitters. The bread'll do it to ya.

Serve your country: Join the army. Protect the independance of Ukraine.

A stairway and charming archway from a busy street to a quiet neighborhood.

McDonald's coming soon to Zhitomer. Attention students: Work at McDonald's and you can have money of your own. A concept we all like. Especially parents.

T-shirt Trivia

The latest in English-language t-shirts for you. This one modeled by the Lena, the dear and lovely 16-year-old superwhiz from Dontesk with whom I shared a Kiev apartment for three weeks. I got treated to quite a few violin concerts - songs composed by Lena herself. She got treated to my chuckling at this t-shirt, apparently a favorite.

JOJO/PERFECT FASHION IN 2004/ANYTIME CANLOVE/GO!!!!!/THE CUTST LANDING DAY/******

Good news: Whever this shirt came from, there are probably more in stock. Should you decide that you've just gotta have one too, just let us know. . .

Electrical Outlet Spotted in Hotel Bathroom

Talk about getting shocked - in a good way, that is. Do you see what I see? Study the photo below carefully. Last weekend in Zhitomir, I opened the door to my hotel bathroom and something hit me right between the eyes.

See that 220v on the bathroom wall? That is very special. Let's zoom on in for a closer look.

Ladies and gentlemen: Announcing (drum roll please) an ELECTRIC OUTLET in a HOTEL BATHROOM in EASTERN EUROPE! Admittedly I may have missed something at during my 9-plus years in this neck of the woods. But this is the first I recall seeing a real, live, electric outlet in a bathroom. Particularly a hotel bathroom in a Soviet-era facility.

I am still in shock. Happy shock of course. Because there seems to be this philosophy that bathrooms and electricity don't mix. Then when I need to repair my lovely coiffure, I need: 1) a mirror, 2) an electrical outlet nearby 3) a something to set the hot appliance down on. A sink will work. Even the back of a toilet. But in Eastern Europe, most often the mirror is six to eight to ten feet from the electrical outlet. This calls for an extension cord. Fortunately, an extension cord is something I tend to travel with. But it's really for the computer. So priorities: electricity for the laptop or for the hair-repair because so far, I've been able to draw the line at dragging the computer into a bathroom.


Three cheers to the Hotel Zhitomir for their innovative thinking: that a bathroom, a mirror and an electrical outlet can be combined without loss of life.

Selected Images: Zhitomer, Ukraine

Got to spend last weekend in Zhitomir - pronounced Zhit-OH-mir, 90 minutes west of Kiev by taxi van. I've heard about this town for so long from dear friend Cindy from Richmond, Virginia because she and church friends have come like 15 times or so over the years. But it was the invitation fromTammy S. that nudged me into going. Tammy is a missionary-publisher-educator sort of person who has lived in Zhitomer eight years, as I recall. Tammy happened upon my blog, wrote and introduced herself and. . . we keep in touch. Below are a few photos from Zhitomer.

Visit another expatriate and where's dinner going to be? New York Street Pizza, of course! Tammy is one of those people who's a fount of information on many subjects. Lucky me! She's also a gypsy-type-person. Quite like me. . .

A beautiful Orthodox cathedral in town.

What's the name of the cathedral?

Well, it doesn't have a name. It's just the cathedral, was the usual answer.

Zhitomer has been around for quite a while. The display above announces that Zhitomer is (was) 1,123 years old. Do the math on that, and realize the place has been around quite a while before, say, the Boston Tea Party. Thanks to Tammy and her orange Chevy, we got off the beaten track and I enjoyed quite a tour of the entire area.

Memorial obelisk to World War II - the fallen and the veterans. Ukraine was a major battleground during the war.