ukraine: is 9 a round number? back to Lviv, so I could also see Univ

During my previous trip to Lviv I figured out how to get to even more towns in the area, so I knew I'd be back, probably more than once. People wonder why I visit these small towns, but I like them. It's a chance to see 'normal' life. 

I took the cheap night train again, arriving in Lviv at 0400 or so. Before leaving the train station, I took photos of the electric train schedules, to use for research before my next Lviv trip. Hopefully I remember to use those photos, and don't just delete them.

I walked to my accommodation, along rainy, slush muddy streets. Quiet streets. The entrance to the hostel was on the back side of the building, through a construction zone.  There were signs pointing the way, but since it was still dark, it took me a while to see them. 

I wasn't able to check in yet, (it was only 0500 or so,) but I was able to sit in the kitchen for a while. I warmed up, dried off, charged my phone, and checked online accounts. 0500 my time is around bedtime for quite a few people in the states, so a lot gets posted at that time.

Around 0630 I left my bag in the hostel, and walked out. I caught a tram from the old town square and rode it to the end of the line. Then I walked about 100 meters down the road and found a marshrutka stop. 

Waiting at the stop was my friend Oresta. We'd planned to meet up here, though we took different trains to get to Lviv. 

A few minutes later we were able to board a marshrutka headed to a town called Univ. As departure was at 0730, much of the ride was in the dark. The ride went through a larger town, we were afraid that was as far as it would go. 

Thankfully the last stop of the marshrutka was actually just 200 meters down the road from where we wanted to go. 

The lavra in Univ is old. Centuries old. One of my guidebooks tells me the first written mention is found at the end of the 13th century! At one point it was a well known pilgrimage place. Times have changed though, as I don't know anyone else who has ever been there, and most of my Ukrainian friends have never heard of it. 

On the road I took a selfie with the sign indicating where we were, just because I could. 

First we walked to a wooden church outside the lavra area; unfortunately it wasn't open for us to enter. 

We entered the lavra area through the main gate. There seemed to be a small room for security or someone else to sit in right at the gates, but it was empty. 

The first thing my friend saw was a sign pointing us toward a miracle stream. There was water coming out of spouts under a pretty mosaic, with cups there if you wanted to drink. 

Neither one of us used the cups because we were sick and didn't want to pass anything on. We did put our hands in the water, which wasn't nearly as cold as we expected. 

After drying our hands on our clothes, we crossed a little bridge and went through a gate into the inner area of the lavra. It is an active monastery, so the buildings on these walls seemed to be mostly dormitories and such. Most doors were not open, so I don't really know. 

The door to the church in the middle of this area was open, so we stepped inside. The front of the church was covered in scaffolding, so it didn't look that great. 

There were windows in the church, but there wasn't a whole lot of light inside the church. There definitely wasn't any electric lighting, at least none was turned on while we were in there. I'm sure the natural lighting would've been better if the sky hadn't been so overcast. 

The entire church was covered in frescoes. Walls and ceiling. Because the church is old, and there wasn't a lot of lighting, the frescoes appeared a bit faded, and didn't jump out as much as I've seen in other churches. 

After looking around for a few minutes, we turned around to leave. Oresta noticed a small doorway to a set of stairs, which she knew would allow access to an upper level of the church. 

I couldn't resist, and climbed up. The view wasn't super different, but I always enjoy getting higher and seeing a different perspective. 

The church itself was in the middle of a courtyard/cloister type area, so we walked along the inside of the walls. We found an entrance to a museum, which wasn't open yet. We couldn't find a sign listing open hours, so who knows. 

After circling the church, we exited the area through a different gate. I wonder if one of the gates is used more than the other. 

In the gate we used to exit was an entrance to a small chapel, something about the chapel of the Turin shroud. This chapel didn't feel nearly as warm or welcoming as the church. I think part of it was made of marble, which has never felt 'warm' to me. 

Behind the lavra are woods. Oresta noticed a trail, so we decided to walk. It was muddy in parts, which wasn't fun at all. Sure, I finally have waterproof winter boots, but that doesn't mean I like getting them covered in mud. There was one long set of wooden steps, both of us were a bit out of breath when we finally got to the top. 

Near the top of the stairs was a small cemetery. There was a low fence the whole way around, which was not open. Nearly all the graves were the same, in the shape of a cross. I'm guessing they are all people connected to the lavra. 

We traipsed back down, still trying to avoid the mud. We walked around to the other side of the lavra, hoping to find something to eat or drink at the guesthouse. We entered the guesthouse, and its dining room, only to be disappointed. The sign on the door said it was only for people staying at the guesthouse. Darn it.

We did find another sign in the hallway of the guesthouse, listing the transport schedule to get back to Lviv. We realized we had at least two more hours to kill before going back. 

We left the grounds of the lavra and walked into the village. Univ is small. Really small. There is very little in the way of shops or public spaces. 

We saw plenty of dilapidated houses, I have no idea if they are old or not. Some were clearly abandoned, others I'm not so sure. We saw quite a few chickens, and even saw a few really big turkeys. I don't think I'd ever seen live turkeys before, except on tv. 

We still wanted something warm to drink, so we found a cafe. Or so we thought. It turned out to be closed. The owner (who lived in the house next door,) said we could try the state shop down the road. That ended up being closed. At that point we were pretty well convinced that nothing is ever open in this village. Except the lavra.

As we were walking, I stopped regularly to take photos of old cars and old houses. At one point I looked over and saw an old truck sitting in a field. It has clearly been there for a while and wasn't going anywhere, because there was a tree growing through the front grill. 

We found a Greek Catholic Church, and wanted to enter. Then we realized it was still under construction. Argh. 

We looked at our watches and realized it was finally time to go back to catch the marshrutka for the ride back. It was kinda raining, and generally unpleasant, we were more than ready to go.

The marshrutka came on time, yay! The driver didn't give me back the right change, so Oresta reminded him how math works, and I got the correct amount back. 

90 minutes later the marshrutka dropped us off in Lviv. We caught the tram heading toward the city center, and hopped off when it got to the stop close to where we wanted to eat lunch. (A late lunch is better than no lunch.)

We chose the restaurant Kumpel, which is a microbrewery with a good menu. It is times like these that I really wish I could have a beer. The options sounded so good. 90 minutes later we left, I was feeling fat and happy. 

We walked to the hostel, and finally checked in. We rested for a few minutes, then changed into slightly nicer clothes for our evening plans. 

At one point during my last trip I'd realized I had heaps of photos of the opera house in Lviv, but had never attended a performance there. I suggested the idea to Oresta, she was happy to come along. The opera house in Lviv is an old European classic theater, very pretty. It's not too big, it's not too small. 

It took us a while to figure out where to check out coats, as apparently each coat check is only for designated areas of the theater. There were no signs saying this, we only learned as each coat check lady told us we were in the wrong place. 

We had chosen tickets for the center of the front row of the second balcony. I'm sure plenty of people would say we were too far away, but I thought we were in a perfect spot. 

It drives me nuts to be off to one side, and I don't like to be close enough to see the makeup. Plus, our tickets were cheap, less than $10!

The performance was fantastic. The choreography, acting, costumes, set, etc... All of them were great. I started coughing in the middle of the first act and had to leave for a few minutes, but came back and was able to see the rest of the show. I'd love to see another performance. 

We stopped by a small market on the way back to the hotel, hoping to find food for the next morning, then went to bed soon afterward. 

The next morning Oresta went to find coffee and flowers while I didn't do much. When she came back we walked out together. 

Since Oresta grew up in Lviv, she knows the town quite well. She also has relatives buried in different cemeteries around the city. She wanted to honour a couple of those relatives by visiting one of the ceremonies, so I went with her. 

We took a city bus (built/manufactured in Lviv, yay) to an area toward the edge of town. Definitely NOT a touristy area. We followed the paved street for a moment, then walked on a gravel/dirt path for a bit. The cemetery itself was on top of a hill, with smaller homes still next door and across the street. 

Even though she hadn't been there in a while, Oresta was able to find the graves she was looking for. She cleaned off both of them, and laid some of the flowers she'd bought earlier in the morning. It was nice for me to learn about someone's personal connection to the area. 

A minute or two after leaving the cemetery Oresta reached into her pocket for her phone and realized it wasn't there. She checked her purse and it wasn't there either. We walked back to the cemetery, it wasn't there either. Uh oh. 

She gave me her number and I called it, hoping we would hear the ring or feel the buzz. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. 

We walked back down the hill and to the bus stop across the street from where we'd arrived. On the way, Oresta used my phone to call her mom and tell her what she thought had happened. (Phone falling out of her pocket on the bus, or pickpocketed while we were on the bus.) Her mom called the phone as well, and got no answer either. 

We went back to our hotel room to check, but the phone was not there. Since Oresta hoped it had simply been left on the bus, we went back to the us stop and got the phone numbers of the driver of our bus and central bus administration. She called them both, but no one knew anything. Boooo.

After all the calls, we needed food. I suggested my current favourite place in Lviv, the cafe that specializes in waffles. Yummy, as usual. I will be back. 

While we were eating, Oresta's mom called my phone. She said she had contacted a family friend, who would be going out to the cemetery to look for the phone, just in case it ended up there and we had somehow missed it. She expected Oresta to go as well.

We went back to the hotel to check out officially and store our bags for the rest of the day.

Oresta then went back to the cemetery, and I started walking through Lviv. I followed the route the tram I'd ridden takes to the edge of town. I can't say that I saw anything stunning during this walk, but it was nice. I felt as though I got to see parts of Lviv that are more 'normal' if that makes sense. 

Since it is a Ukrainian city, of course I saw churches. Several of them. I wonder if anyone has ever visited all the churches in this city. Certainly not in one visit. 

I climbed up to the second level of one of those churches. Watched a few people kiss icons in another church. 

I found a set of stars painted in various colors. They were filthy, with dirty sludge, argh. I'd like to see them again when the weather is better. 

Eventually I turned around and came back into the city center. The sun was sinking in the sky (I think, though with the dark clouds it had been dark-ish all weekend.) 

By that point I felt as if I'd seen enough for this visit to Lviv. So I went back to the waffle place, and had another. I also ordered a salad, in an attempt at being healthy. 

Then I went back to the hostel and hung out for a while and charged batteries. Around 2100 I walked to another cafe, in the direction of the train station. This was the cafe I'd discovered during my last visit, the one with really good cherry strudel. I had a giant piece, just because I wanted to. 

Eventually it was time to go back to the train station, where I caught my night train back to Kyiv.

This won't be my last trip to Lviv! 

ukraine: my 8th visit to Lviv (and a return to Zolochiv)

This is the story of yet another trip to Lviv. My original reason for booking this trip was to run a half marathon in Lviv. Howeva, when I didn't register for the race until just a couple weeks ahead of time. As I was going through the registration online, I decided to buy a race shirt. I don't need any of those, but I love them anywho. Unfortunately, they didn't have any more shirts in my size, so I decided not to register or run the race. This ended up being a good thing.

As with other recent trips to Lviv, I went somewhere else on Saturday, then walked Lviv on Sunday.

When I booked train tickets, I found one that arrived at 0405; this was a ridiculous time to arrive anywhere, but it was a third of the cost, less than $4. I stayed in the train station waiting room for an hour, paying the paltry fee of less than $.25 to do so.

I tried to doze off, but it didn't work very well since there were announcements nearly constantly. At one point I was fairly certain I heard an announcement for an electric train going to Zolochiv, but I couldn't find the electric train area of the station, darnit.

I walked to my accomodation, about a 20 minute walk. One of the reasons I'd booked this particular place was because it was supposed to have a 24 hour front desk. I didn't need to check into my room straightaway, but I did need a place to hang out for a few hours. The lady let me in, and I stayed in the kitchen for a few hours. While I was in there a few other guests came in, they were definitely surprised to see me, hee hee.

Around 0900, I decided it was reasonable to go into the city center, so I left my backpack at the front desk and walked out. I walked into the city center, annoyed by the rain and wind.

When I got to the city center I discovered the information office didn't open until 10am. I needed to kill about half an hour, so I found a cafe I liked, and ordered chocolate cake and tea. After eating and drinking I went back to the tourist information office, and asked how to get to the town of Zolochiv. The guy looked up the information, pulled out a city map, and told me where to go.

I followed his directions, hopping on a tram and riding it to the end of the line. Near there I found a marshrutka stop, and found Zolochiv listed on the signs. I waited around a bit, and a marshrutka pulled up. It waited there until it was full, then took off.

The first time I was in Zolochiv, I didn't see any of the town. My visit there was while I was on a castle tour with a friend. That tour took us to three castles in the area, but not the towns where those castles are located. I wanted to see the town.

I'd expected the ride to be a little over an hour. I don't know why, but it was nearly two hours later when we arrived in Zolochiv. I made a note of where the marshrutka stopped on the map, then started walking.

The first sight I went to was a church. It was a lot closer than I expected, less than two blocks away.

It was a Polish Catholic church, somewhat Baroque inside. Not too busy in decor, but definitely not plain or simple. I think the name was something like the Madonna Assumption Cathedral. I took photos of everything, including the ceiling. I also took a few moments to stand still and enjoy the quiet atmosphere.

Further down the street I came to another church. Unfortunately, the gates into the property were closed, so I wasn't able to get very close, let alone inside the church. While I was standing in front I watched a couple have wedding photos taken. Very cute. The lady must've been freezing, she was weraing a strapless dress!

I walked up a different street, winding my way through town. Zolochiv is not big, to say the least. I walked past several apartment buildings, and a couple playgrounds. Eventually I got to yet another church. This one was much smaller, and I wasn't the only visitor. When I first walked in, there were a bunch of kids inside. They all had notebooks of some kind, which were being checked one by one by a nun. I assume it was the end of a catechism (?) class, or whateva is the equivalent in the Orthodox church. This church had been part of the city fortress, and used to be Catholic.

Close to this church was a long park. Walking along this park I saw several large tree trunks that had been carved into faces. The carvings were done really well, and I loved them all.

I followed the street after the end of the park, it eventually brought me to the city cemetery. On one corner of the area was a WW2 momument/memorial. As usual, it was large-ish.

The cemetery was crowded with gravestones. A wide variety of course, some were large and fance, others much smaller. Some had individual fences, most did not. There were a couple that were really big, I'm guessing they were family mausoleums.

After wandering through part of the cemetery, I came to an intersection and changed streets. This street took me past an old hospital, and past a church still under construction. There was a large pile of construction material in front of the church, but no construction vehicles, so who knows if anything was going to be done anytime soon. One of the travel apps I use said this would eventually be the All Saints Church.

I followed this street around a corner, and kept going. Eventually it met up with another street, where I saw a monastery, the Basilian Monastery.

The monastery itself wasn't very exciting, but a couple photos turned out well because of the really dark clouds coming in fast. Unfortunately, the church of the monastery property wasn't open, I wish I'd been able to enter.

Further along the same street I found a Jewish memorial, next to a plain field. I'm not sure what it was memorializing, I didn't see a sign. (I hope there was a sign and I just missed it.) A couple blocks after that I found a Christian memorial.
Not long after that I arrived back at the area where I'd been dropped off earlier in the day. I boarded the next marshrutka to depart, I didn't have to wait long for it to get going.

Thankfully, the ride back to Lviv was a bit faster. I got back to Lviv, and rode the tram back toward the city center. I got off the tram before the city center, then walked my way to where I wanted to have dinner. It was a sushi place I've visited before, and was exactly what I expected.

From there I walked around the long platz in front of the opera building, just because I could. At night the building is lit up, and there are plenty of others strolling around, it's quite nice.

I walked because I still felt like moving for a little while. Then I walked to my hotel, and finally checked in properly. I ended up with what they called a triple room. There were three twin beds, spaced around a large room. I had a skylight too, which was nice.

The next morning I was awake early, as is normal for me. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I could hear rain coming down on the skylight. A lot of rain. Ugh. The one kind of weather I really don't like while traveling.

I started walking, back toward the city center. The comment I made earlier about not running the race being a good thing comes in now. As I was walking, I was passed by runners, the race had just started. This reminded me of the miserable race I'd run in Kyiv recently, I was more than happy to stay out of this one. I hate rain as it is, and had no desire to run another cold and wet race.

I arrived at a brunch place where I've eaten before to find a long line, argh. Not only was the line long, but it didn't move much. I stayed in the line, because I had my mind set on eating breakfast there. It's 100griven for a brunch, including a made to order omelette, drink, breads, salads, deli cut meats, and a few desserts. I ended up at a table with three ladies who were together. If I'd had to wait for a table for myself it might've been a lot longer. The omelette I ordered was not the omelette that was brought to me, but I was hungry and not very patient.

From there I walked to a souvenir store and bought a HUGE coffee mug (I'm pretty sure it holds 800mL) and postcards and a normal size mug. I didn't need to buy any of the stuff, but I couldn't help myself. The next time I go back to Lviv I have to find enough willpower not to spend money on souvenirs from the city.

I took everything back to my hotel where I cleaned up, packed up, and checked out. I left everything behind the front desk, and went back into town. It continued to rain all morning, sometimes more, sometimes less. Ugh.

When I got to the square at the city center I decided to go to a museum, something I've done very little of in Lviv. I found my way to the entry of the historical museum, on one side of the square. There was an entry fee, plus a photo fee, plus a fee to go into the Italian courtyard behind the building. Since none of the fees were very large, I paid for everything.

I started by walking toward the back, taking a look at the courtyard. It turned out to be three levels, with a few statues in various places. While I was on one of the balconies I saw a group of soldiers checking everything out from the ground level. I didn't find the area very interesting, I thought there must be a reason why there is an extra fee to see it, there must be some history I don't know. Oh well.

This building was originally built as a private residence, and when this area was part of Poland it became a royal residence for a Polish King Jan Sibelski (sp?) many years ago. The Royal Halls are what people come to see, they're lovely. Some of the original furniture and decor are still in the rooms, other pieces are just what would've been in use at the time. I really liked the wood floors, they were different in each room. There were several chandeliers to see too, very elegant.

After the history museum I walked to the corner of the square and went into another museum. This was the pharmacy museum. The front room is still a pharmacy, it has been active for a very long time. It turns out you pay your entry fee at the same place you would be buying medicine if that's why you are in the room!

After paying (just a simple entry fee, yay!) I went into the next room, which had displays of old school medicine, in old school containers. I didn't recognize any of the names, of course. I kept going and found a couple more rooms, with more displays of old medicine related stuff. Eventually I went down stairs into a storage room, to keep everything cool. To exit I had to go back up the stairs, and out the back of the building into a courtyard. Then you enter another building, go down stairs, and exit onto the street out of the front of that building. All in all, the pharmacy museum was much bigger and better than I expected.

By that point it was late afternoon, so I went to a cafe I like. It's a cafe specializing in waffles, yum! They have sweet and savoury choices on the menu, I always go for a sweet option. I had one with ice cream and raspberry sauce. I also had a salad, to pretend I was being healthy, hee hee.

After leaving the cafe I went to the Jewish quarter, and tried to take a look at the memorial the city has arranged there. There used to be a synagogue, but all you get to see now are the remains of the Golden Rose Synagogue. There is no ceiling, you just see a bit of the flooring.

There are signs describing the vibrant community that used to exist in Lviv, it's a shame that it has disappeared nearly entirely.

I continued walking, making my way toward a church I've always called the Soli Deo Gloria church, I don't know the actual name of the church. It says those words on the front of the church, and at night it is lit up with changing colours. The church is big, and I love the interior.

I started walking back toward my hotel, hanging out in the kitchen again for a couple more hours.

After that I walked to a nearby cafe, a scandinavian cafe. I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I had a hot chocolate, piece of strudel, and a piece of cheesecake. Sugar, yum!

When the cafe closed I walked to the train station, and found a seat in a waiting room I hadn't seen before. As I was sitting I looked at everything on the walls. There were schedules for electric trains, I knew I'd finally found the area to buy tickets for the electric trains.

When I come back to Lviv, now I know how to get to some of the day trip cities that interest me!!

Ukraine: Lviv for the gazillionth time

This was my seventh trip to Lviv in less than five years. Pretty good, right? Obviously, I really like the city. I'm totally comfortable there, and feel as though I know it pretty well for being a visitor. That being said, I'm able to find and see new areas each time I visit.

My train arrived just before 0800, which was after sunrise, but at the right time for morning sun photos. I wanted a photo of the train station with the fountain in front, of course there was one car right in the middle of what I wanted. Argh. 

I walked to my hotel, stopping at various points along the way when something caught my eye. Nothing specific, just views I thought might be interesting through a lens. (And I'm well aware that my idea of interesting is not the same as what everyone else thinks is interesting. 

I didn't want to pay the early check in fee at my hotel, (it almost doubled my price,) so I left my pack on a locked shelf in a locked room. 

I walked back to the train station, going a bit faster this time. I stopped at the suburban train station, but wasn't able to figure out if the train I wanted there would be leaving anytime soon.

Actually, I wasn't able to figure out where any train leaving from there was going. I wanted to go to a town called Sambir, but the train routes didn't list all the stops along the way; they only listed the end stop. Back in front of the train station I found a small lot of marshrutkas with destinations in their front windows, I hopped on the next one to Sambir. I love cheap, relatively efficient, public transport. Around two hours later I arrived in Sambir. 

The drop off in Sambir was in a lot across the street from the train station, not very busy. Sambir isn't a big town, so I wasn't expecting much. I was happy to know that when I went back to Lviv I would be able to find all of my transport options in one place. 

I could see the back side of a church from this park platz, so I headed that way. The property of the church was surrounded by a fence, I had to walk nearly the full way round to enter. As I made this walk I could see some construction happening. I wasn't able to figure out a way into the building, booo. 

I walked back out of the fenced area, and bought cookies from a little stall across the street. Maybe not the healthiest breakfast I've ever had but they were okay. I bought these particular cookies because they were called American cookies. I didn't realize america has a typical cookie? 

Not too much further up the street was another church, but it was closed as well. This was the church of St John the Baptist. It was a lot smaller than the first church I saw. 

My next sight was basically around a corner and up another street. It was formerly the palace of culture, or maybe it still is.

I arrived just in time to find out is just missed an organ concert. The guys standing around wouldn't even let me sneak in the back for the last five minutes, argh. As far as I could tell, that would've been my only chance to get inside the building, so I wish I hadn't dawdled so long around the churches and buying cookies. 

Then I found my third church. It too was closed. What is it with this town?
I found the city center, including city hall and the platz surrounding the building. It's rather cute, if that's a description that should be used about a city administration building. I watched people walking everywhere, going about their daily lives. Awesome. 

I moseyed around until I found other people, and found a typical daily/weekend market. It was larger than I first thought, with sections for dairy, meat, fruit (mostly apples,) etc...

More walking brought me to a statue of Bogdhan Khmelnytsky, a Ukrainian independence fighter from centuries ago. It was covered in copper, very bright and shiny. Or maybe the covering was something else, I just know it was shiny and metallic looking. 

My next intended sight wasn't where a travel app said it would be. I was disappointed (again) as the history museum sounded interesting. I've found local history museums in a lot of Ukrainian towns, both big and small, many of them are quite good. I don't know if the museum doesn't exist, or was/is in a different location. 

I wandered a bit more, and saw another church. There seemed to be construction going on, but there was a lower level open, I was able to peek in.

It was a small area, but I could still feel the power of faith. Even though there was construction going on, the outside still looked rather impressive, especially for the size of Sambir. 

Then I decided I'd had enough of a town that felt mostly closed. I made my way back toward the train/bus station.

Along the way I saw the WW2 memorial. It was big, as usual. As I've said in previous posts,  it's my own joke that you're not a real town in this country unless you have a WW2 memorial, and a big one.

I liked this one. There was also a large statue of Stepan Bandera, a very controversial person in Ukrainian history. 

Across the street was a memorial to the victims of communism. This one surprised me a bit more, for though the sentiment is felt nearly everywhere in the east bloc, it isn't so common to see a visual reminder of those years, and those governments, and those actions. 

I got lucky with timing when I arrived at the bus/train station. I found a train leaving in 15 minutes, yay. My train back to Lviv was slow, around two hours long. We stopped every 34 seconds, or so it felt to me. 

When I finally checked into my hotel in Lviv I was a bit disappointed. Though the room was cheap, it was so small I couldn't open the door completely. I also couldn't open the bathroom door very far, and it smelled kinda funny. Probably due to lack of circulation. It was cheap though, and a private room. 

The next morning I walked further along a street I hadn't previously. 

I don't know how I didn't know this previously, but there is a Holocaust memorial in Lviv. This was the first time I saw it. It is small, but still evokes strong emotion. This particular memorial is specific to the years of 1941-1943. I don't know why. 

On my way along this street I saw a small church I'm pretty sure I've seen before, but never paid attention to. Called St. Paraskaeva, it is actually part fortress. I wasn't able to back up far enough to get a photo that shows this.

I must've shown up not too far ahead of the beginning of a service, as people continually arrived. It's a small church, but colorful (inside) nonetheless. 

Continuing along the street I saw a house designated as an Austrian 'luxury' house. Remember that Lviv was once part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, so you occasionally see some of that architecture. 

I also saw an old mill (still in production, and looked big to me,) and an unknown castle looking building. This one didn't have a sign, despite the unique architecture, so I have no idea what it is. I also don't speak enough Ukrainian (or Russian) to knock on the door and ask for such information. 

I walked back to the city center, and found a restaurant with a buffet breakfast (a fancy buffet breakfast!!) for 90 griven. That's super cheap!! I ate breakfast, then went back to my accommodation to charge my phone, pack up, and clean up. I was able to leave my bag in the same locked room as the day before. 

Back in the city center I walked around until I found the entry to the Armenian church, which is relatively small and almost hidden, compared to the big, visible back end. You can peek into the cloister area through the back fence, but it appears that the public isn't allowed to walk through. It's pretty, I wish I could've wandered through the area. 

In the church itself I got lucky with lighting. I paid the photo fee (a whopping 5 griven,) as soon as I saw the light streaming in through the window in a visible way, if that makes sense. The interior of the church is pretty nifty any who. I will see it again, the next time I go to Lviv. 

Then I shopped for souvenirs, not that I needed any. I bought a mug, a magnet, and postcards. 

Next up was a sight I found on a travel app. The English name is the House of Scientists, thought it has never been such a thing. It was previously a casino!

The rooms are quite grand, including a sweeping staircase in the entry. A photographers dream, to say the least. That being said, it also takes a bit of patience to get a photo you like, as there are plenty of others who also want photos. I was only there 30 minutes, and saw two different sets of bridal photos being taken. I never know if I should take my quick photo, or try to stay out of the never ending photos of such productions. There was also a lady posing rather suggestively, her photographer was using an iPhone. 

I found the courtyard of a children's theater, super cute. The walls were decorated, and I couldn't help taking photos. 

Then I walked to Potocki Palace. I've walked past this place I don't know how many times, but never visited the interior. It turns out it's an art museum. There are two floors, though the first was closed for renovations during my visit. The palace was built in the 1880s, but might be more known because an American pilot crashed into it in 1918, while doing stunts over the city. There was a varied display of art, separated mostly by country. I liked some of it, but not all. 

I walked back into the city center, to a church I've seen many times, I call it the Soli Deo Gloria church, though that isn't the real name. Those words are on the front facade, quite large. 

Behind this church I followed the sidewalk and streets to the top of Castle Hill (which doesn't really have a castle,) for the start of sunset. I wasn't the only one up there, but it was still nice. 

After staying for a bit, I walked back down before it was completely dark, and headed to dinner. I took a while at dinner, because I needed to kill some time before walking to pick up my bag, then to the train station.

My train back to Kyiv was easy and convenient.