Prince John of Lviv

Prince John of Lviv, ready for battle.

We arrived on Thursday night, and asked Victor to take us to Petroliv on Monday, so that gave us three days to explore on our own. On our second day we climbed the clock tower to get an overview of the city, and then we rode the “tiny train” (This is an electric train with 3-4 cars, it takes tourists around the main sights in the center of town. It’s a common sight in Europe, and we got in the habit of calling them “tiny trains” when John was 3-4 years old. It was always a blessing to find a “tiny train” because he loved the ride and Nelson got a rest from carrying him on his shoulders for an hour or so) John is not thrilled in the same way these days, but he did not mind the ride. We got to listen to the commentary in English and so learned a bit about the layout of the town and the history of some of the buildings. Ukrainians are very proud of their poets!

As we ate lunch at the “Grand Hotel” street side restaurant later, we watched a political rally in the park across the road. There are presidential elections coming up in January, and the main candidates are out recruiting support. Everyone said it’s “very important”. We also saw countless wedding parties…absolutely every church had brides and entourage coming and going, and every statue or fountain or arcade had a group posing and a photographer at work. We even saw brides posing with the “tiny train” as a backdrop!

We visited the armory (another collection of weapons from ancient to modern) and walkedd the old city walls. John almost got recruited to go and fight in the crusades, but he decided the armor was too heavy for everyday wear.

Beer from the grocery store is less that $1.00 CDN a bottle and food at the farmer’s market is cheap. I made a list of the ingredients I wanted to buy to cook supper and then N and I went shopping. I think I entertained the entire market with my efforts to ask for things in Ukrainian, at one point I heard a women tell someone that we were from Finland! I guess the idea of a Canadian shopping for food at a local market is so farfetched that it never crossed her mind.