russia: riding the train in platzkart

The next part of my trip was long: 38 hours on the train, in 3^rd class. Irkutsk to Severobaikalsk. One long trip often listed on people's bucket lists for travel is to go the length of the Trans Siberian railway. This particular route isn't part of that trip, but it's the same experience.

The entire route from Moscow to St Petersburg takes a week to cover, if you don't get off the train at all. I think many people take a month to cover the distance, getting off the train at various cities along the way.

3^rd class is the class of train you see when a movie shows a Russian train. It's an open car, with a series of mini pies. It's usually two lower and two upper around a small table, with a lower and an upper across the aisle.

For what you get, I find the trains to be a cheap way to get around the country. A night train means I don't have to pay for accomodation that night, think of them as a hotel on wheels. If you're in platzkart it's like being in a hostel on wheels.

I haven't traveled on the trains in the summer, I imagine it wouldn't be quite as comfortable. Many of the trains have air conditioning, but I doubt it is kept as cool as most people would like. Spending days in a warm train with people who haven't been able to shower properly doesn't sound all that fun.

There are definitely etiquette rules for the train, and cultural traditions. If you're on for a long time, you're probably going to bring slippers. Don't put shoes on the beds. There is a samovar in every car to make your ramen noodles or oatmeal. Some people bring pajamas to change into to sleep. 

If women indicate they want to change clothes before or after sleeping, men should leave the area to let the women change. (Though this is more applicable to 2^nd class, or kupe. There is a specific way to make your bed, I've had quite a few Russians offer to help me.

The best part was definitely people watching. It was fun to see how others passed the time, though there is a limit to how much sleeping and eating one can do. There weren't many of us on at the beginning of the train who were still on at the end.

One of the reasons I chose to take this train is because of the timing. It departed from Irkutsk in the evening, and arrived two mornings later in Severobaikalsk. In other words, I got a full day of exploring the city on either side of the train ride. I like arriving somewhere in the morning. If the train had departed in the morning and arrived in the evening, I wouldn't have been as likely to travel that way.

We arrived 2 minutes late in Severobaikalsk. Compared to the rest of the world, that's nothing. Especially when you think that it was 38 hours. But for Russia, conductors only have 5 minutes of leeway, and probably 95% of the time they're exactly on time, so 2 minutes is worth mentioning.

For whateva reason, the train from Severobaikalsk back to Irkutsk is 'only' 31.5 hours. 

People did the same things to entertain themselves: eat, sleep, read, watch tv episodes and movies, talk. There was a very young child who walked up and down the aisle with her mom several times. They'd walk the length of the car back and forth about 10 times, then do it again a few hours later. I was happy the kid wanted to walk, instead of cry, which I've heard more than a few times.

I'll ride the trains again. Over and over and over.

portugal: lisbon, sintra, and porto

When I first started planning my summer, I wanted to come to Portugal to see a sight in a town called Sintra, not too far from Lisbon. I didn't want to go to Portugal for just one day, so I decided to stay three nights, two full days. I'd been to Lisbon that one time previously, but I was staying in a different area of the city, so I knew everything would seem new at first.

My flight landed on time, and it was easy to ride the metro into the city. It was easy to get to my accomodation, and check in went smoothly. I hung out for a little while, then went for a walk. I needed a proper meal, and the weather was nice.

I slept well that night, mostly because I was tired from traveling. (The day trip in Hungary, then the metro and bus to the airport in Budapest, then the flight to Lisbon, then the metro into the city.) The food was average, but adequate. I should mention that I ordered a Greek salad, but when it arrived there were no olives (I didn't miss those since I don't like them anywho,) no cucumber, no feta, and no tomatoes. I never figured out what was supposed to make it a Greek salad. 

The next morning I woke up super early, partly because of the time change. Kyiv is two hours ahead of Lisbon, Budapest is one hour ahead, and I've always been one for waking up early.

Although I didn't get out quite as fast as I'd have liked, I did get out faster than I normally do. At least, according to the local clock. 

I started my day with a couple tasty Portugese pastries, pastels de nata. They're soooooo good, its a good thing I don't have access to them all the time. The typical cost in Lisbon is right around 1 euro, so they're perfectly priced and perfectly sized.

My first thing to do for the day was find a place to print a photo a friend had sent me. Back in the day this sort of place would've been easy to find, but nowadays not so much. Back in the day people printed photos, but nowadays not so much. Eventually I succeeded.

I walked to an area along the water, passing through a giant platz first. The platz has a large arch on one side, I think it's the arch of justice or something along those lines. In the middle of the platz is a statue of a guy on a horse. Nothing exciting, but a good place to watch people.

One side of the platz is a street, the other side of the street is on the water. It's not a port, or a marina in that spot, but it is an area people hang out. There are often busking musicians, which can be good or bad.

I asked someone to take a photo of me, which went really well until waves splashed my feet. I didn't much care about this until I realized the water had washed over to where I'd put my purse and food bag. Whoops!!

The guy taking my photo laughed, as did I. I raced the few steps to the bags before they were too wet, and nothing was ruined.

At that point it was just short of noon, so I walked toward a restaurant I'd read about on a travel app. It promized authentic Indian food, something I love. There is no sign on the street, but a few of the reviews had mentioned this, so I knew where to go. The food was indeed authentic, or at least as much as I know about Indian food. Yum.

After eating I walked back toward the water, and from there I turned right. (I'm terrible with directions, and since it wasn't long after noon I don't know which direction I was walking.)

This walk was long, which is what I intended. Along the way I stopped in a church that caught my eye. The front gate wasn't open, but the side gate was, so that's how I got in. The side door of the church was closed, but unlocked, so I walked in.

The interior of the church wasn't super impressive, but I loved the ceiling, which was made of wood. I'm used to seeing paint and gold on ceilings, but the wood was much more impressive because I could see how it was handmade. I could see where it was slightly warped in a few areas, and I could see the grain of the wood. Beautiful. 

Eventually I got to where I wanted to be, technically a different town called Belem. (Though as far as I know, everyone pretty much still calls it Lisbon.) The walk was over an hour, I could feel the sun on my shoulders the entire way. I walked through the gardens on the outside of the monastery of the Jeronimos, and watched the big fountain for a while. Very pretty.

I crossed under the street, and walked to a museum on the water. It's not a normal looking museum, it looks more like a big Soviet war memorial. I didn't want to go in the museum, despite it being a history museum. The weather was so nice I didn't want to go inside anything. Instead I took photos, then continued walking.

I looped around, and made my way to the Tower of Belem, not too much further away. It looks like a castle, and I think you can go in from time to time, but that wasn't happening when I arrived; this was fine since I didn't want to go inside. I took my photos, even a couple with the time delay function on my camera with no one else in the frame. Yay!

At that point I started walking back to where I was staying in Lisbon. I followed along the water the entire way, because I love water. Also, the weather was still amazing. I think I could've taken a metro or commuter train back into the city center, but since I love walking, I did what I love.

The walk back was an hour and a half I think? Something like that, I'm not really sure. By the time I got back, my feet were pretty tired.

I found a small supermarket and bought some food for breakfast the next day, as well as more water. I found double stuffed Oreos, which ended up being my dinner. Don't hold that against me.

Not too much later I got back to my room, and basically settled in for the evening. My Fitbit told me I'd walked almost 33,000 steps, a whole bunch of kilometers, so it isn't surprising my feet were so tired.

The next morning I woke up early of course, and actually got moving not too much later. I walked to Rossio train station and caught the next train to a small town called Sintra. Sintra is known because there are a few castles to visit, as well as gardens. Each of the castles has a different appearance, very different. One is called the castle of the Moors, another is Pena Palace. I think there is another one as well.

I went to Sintra because I wanted to visit a specific set of gardens. After my train arrived this was my first sight. I walked there, arriving a little bit after 10 in the morning

Inside these gardens is the specific sight I wanted to see, a well. Its called the Initiation Well, and has spiral stairs around the edge, going all the way to the bottom. I'm not sure what used to happen in the well, but now its a tourist sight. To get to the well you get to go through a couple tunnels in the rock, which get pretty dark at times; there are lights in the tunnels, but they're not bright. The views from both top and bottom are worth seeing. 

I explored the rest of the area, which had fountains and small ponds, and a few more tunnels. There were a couple towers that looked like fairy princess towers, if that makes sense; think of Rapunzel and the singular tower she lived in for years.
There was also a home, where you can walk through what used to be a dining room, game room, etc... The building was pretty, and I liked the ceilings.

I walked back to the city center, and through the city center. The city center of Sintra is very quaint, but now that quaintness is totally geared toward tourists.

Cafes, restaurants, tourist/souvenir shops, and not much else. Small alleys make everything look cute, even if they're lined with souvenir shops.

Eventually I ended up where I wanted to be, at the start of a hiking trail. Sintra is a small town surrounded by green mountains and hills. I intended to climb/hike this one to get to where I wanted to go next.
The trail is cobblestone for most of the way, with a whole lot of switchbacks. It wasn't steep, but with the cobblestones and switchbacks I spent a lot of time watching my feet, making sure I didn't trip over nothing in particular.

The trail goes by some cliffs that are really popular with climbers. I'm not a huge fan of climbing, so I didn't much care. There are a few signs clearly stating that climbers need to have safety equipment, and to climb responsibly.

The trail took me to a lovely viewpoint of the Castle of the Moors, I stood there for a while. I would see the walls, which stretch along the top of the mountain. Inside the walls I knew there were castle ruins. When I contined and arrived at the ticket office for the castle, I found out that the price was 8 euros, which seemed crazy expensive to me. I thought about it for a while, but decided to skip it in the end.

I walked to Pena Palace, which is known because it is painted a bunch of different colours. When I got to the ticket office, I discovered the cost for that one was 14 euros! That was waaaaay too much, I didn't even have to think about skipping that one. 

Fortunately, I'd seen this palace the first time I came to Sintra. Unfortunately, the first time I'd been to Sintra the mountain had been covered in fog, so I'd really only seen the inside of the palace. Even with the bright colours of the outside I hadn't been able to see the palace until I was just three or four meters away, as the fog was sooooo thick. I was sad I wouldn't be able to see the exterior, (and take the photos I really wanted,) but the ticket price was just way too much.
If I'd entered all the palaces and gardens and such it could've been a really expensive day trip! I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people who do spend the money, but I was trying to stay on a budget. 

I followed another path down the mountain, and eventually ended up back in the middle of Sintra. After checking out a few souvenir shops, I bought a magnet. I found a sortof out of the way cafe for a sandwich with spicy sauce, cheese, fried egg, and other meat. Yum.

Then I walked back to the train station. The next train back to Lisbon left about 10 minutes later, I'd timed it perfectly.

When I got back to Lisbon I visited a couple more platzes, and saw a couple big statues and fountains. I'd seen both of these before, but I still went. It was nice to watch people and enjoy the fabulous weather. I also stopped at a supermarket to pick up breakfast food for the next morning.

I went back to my room at one point, and settled in. I needed to pack up my stuff before going to sleep, since I needed to get up early the next morning.

The next morning I woke up before my alarm (which was set for 0510!) and got moving. I got dressed and went to the airport. As much as people complain about Ryanair, if you follow their rules it's a great airline. Check in online, and print out your boarding pass. Keep your luggage to carryon only.

My first flight of the day was just to Porto, in northern Portugal. The flight was only 10 euros!

When I arrived in Porto I wandered around until I found a place to store my bag for the day. After getting that sorted I took the metro into the city center. The ride is only 35 minutes, and costs 4.5 euros roundtrip.

I stepped off the metro, and started walking. I was in the city center, of which much is UNESCO designated. Beautiful buildings, churches, etc...

Of course I stepped into most of the churches. I've seen a LOT of churches while traveling, and I feel comfortable making the generality that many of the churches in specific areas look similar. In other words, in one city, many churches will look similar. This annoys many people, but not me.

One of the churches in Porto is on the edge of a hill overlooking the river that runs through the city, and has a cloister area. I paid the fee for the cloister area, which includes a few altars, a chapel, and the treasury. Very pretty and very photogenic.
After the expense of the castles in Sintra the day before, I was more than happy to pay just 3 euro to enter this area. 

From that trip I followed a street until it came to a bridge, the bridge of Louis 1^st. There are two levels of the bridge, you can walk and drive along both levels; The street I was walking took me to the upper level of the bridge. Come to think of it, I've never walked the lower level, I don't know why not.

I walked across the bridge, and back. I stopped a couple times, just to enjoy the view of the buildings along the water. The lower levels of the buildings are filled with restaurants, cafes, and tourist shops, but they still look lovely.

After coming back across the bridge I found a small-ish cafe to have lunch. It was a sandwich of sorts, like the one I'd had in Sintra (Portugal) the day before. The meal was supposed to come with fries and a drink but I didn't want either of those.

After paying the bill I walked back to the metro station and took the train back to the airport. I collected my bag, went through security, and got to my gate just as people were lining up to board the plane. It worked out perfectly.

The flight was smooth, and landed about 20 minutes early, yay!

Though Portugal isn't high on my list of places to return to, it's on the list, and if someone planned a trip or I had the time, I wouldn't say no. It's small, but has heaps of history, culture, and beautiful landscapes. 

hungary: budapest and vac

A return to Budapest wasn't originally on my plan for the summer, but when I looked at how to get to where I did plan to go, the cheapest way was with a layover in Budapest. I decided to extend that layover by two days and spend time in a city I've long enjoyed.

My flight left Kyiv at 0715, which was plenty early. The only advantage to departing so early is an early landing time. I didn't lose any of the day to traveling, yay! I used public transport to get from the airport to my accomodation, which isn't exactly fast, but is cheap.

Since I walked into my accomodation at 0930 I wasn't able to check in, but I was able to leave my bag, get sorted, and start walking.

Everytime I come to Budapest I like to return to St Stephens basilica. (Or is it a cathedral? I don't know.) It is one of the churches that continues to amaze me, no matter how many times I walk in. The ceiling is amazing, especially the cupola; I'm always trying to capture the beauty with a camera, but I don't think I've ever truly succeeded.

If you want, you can walk to a room tucked behind the altar and pay for a box to light up. Inside the box is the mummified hand of St Stephen. I find it a bit creepy, but that's just me.

After leaving the church I walked to my next sight, a new one for me in Budapest.

I went to a cave with a name I can't pronounce, and don't even want to try. Szemlohegyibarlang. (There are a bunch of symbols over some of the letters as well.) There is a fee for this one, 1300ft, about $5USD. To see the cave you join a tour, I got 'lucky' when my tour group included a large school group. Kids are loud.

This cave has been developed enough that there is little to no challenge physically during the tour. There is a cement walkway to follow, and the open areas are plenty wide. There are stairs toward the end of the walking path, taking you to the deepest point of the tour; there is lighting throughout the cave, you can always see where you're going. The only possibly discomfort during the tour is the likelihood that you'll be dripped on by water coming from the ceiling.

This cave has some interesting rock formations, the one I noticed most looks like a bunch of cauliflower. These formations are all over the cave.

The cave has a natural air purification system, so you never smell or 'feel' all the people that come through the cave. Sadly, there is some mold growing on some of the formations, the guide told me it had something to do with the lights. He said they try to keep it clean, but obviously they can't get it all.

The cave is a steady, cool temperature, which felt amazing after sweating to get to the cave. I think a few of the schoolkids were cold, they hadn't thought to bring an extra jacket for the tour.

After the tour it felt good to step back out into the sun. Since this walk started out downhill then got flat I wasn't sweating nearly as much as before.

I walked back to my hotel and officially checked in, easy to do. I changed clothes, grabbed a few things for an extra bag, and headed to my next sight.

When I realized I'd be coming back to Budapest I made it a goal to try another of the big thermal baths that are all over the city. This time I chose Rudas baths, which is close to the river. Even though each is different, once you've been to one of these baths you know the general way they work. The difference is mostly in how each facility is set up.

I changed into a bikini and put everything else into a locker. From there I walked around the entire facility, figuring out where everything was and where I wanted to spend time. I found the sundeck and the pool on the roof. I found the saunas and the cold pool. I found the swimming pool, the only place where you have to wear a swim cap to get in the water.

After figuring things out I went back to my locker and grabbed a towel, sunnies, cap, etc... I spent time on the sundeck, because I love being in the sun. Then time in the rooftop pool. Then switching among the various saunas. There are a few drinking fountains around the facility, which I appreciated.

Sauna, drink, sauna, drink, sauna, drink. My favourite was spending about ten minutes in the Finnish sauna (90-100C,) then stepping into the cold pool (12C.)

I was in Rudas baths for over four hours, and walked out feeling amazing. Note to self: bring body lotion after spending so much time in water.

As I walked back to my hotel I stopped for dinner. Nothing exciting, but I needed food. I slept well that night. If I lived in Budapest I'd probably end up spending a good portion of a paycheck on visits to baths each month.

The next morning I intended to get up early, but of course that didn't happen. Oh well. I walked out around 1100, and made my way to the Hungarian State Opera. The day before I'd seen a sign saying that tours were available each day in the afternoon. I signed up for one of them, including a photo fee. I skipped the option for a mini concert, as I've attended opera performances before.

After paying for my ticket, I got back on the street and walked to another thermal bath. This one is one I've been to before, a couple times. Szechenyi baths are quite big, especially the outdoor area. I changed into my bikini again, stowed most of my stuff in my locker, and went out to the pool area.

Since this was a weekend, the place was packed with people; I noticed a few groups that looked like they were having a hens do. For the next few hours I spent time in the pools, and spent time soaking up sun. Life is good.

After leaving the baths I walked back to my room and changed again. I also hung up my malong (kinda like a towel, but made of cloth,) and bikini to dry. Then I walked back to the opera house, just in time to start the tour.

The Hungarian State Opera is pretty fantastic. The building itself was mostly paid for by King ........, when he was king of the Austro-Hungarian empire. Budapest was one of the capitals of the empire, but this opera house is smaller than the one in Vienna. The rules stipulated that everything had to be made with materials found in Ukraine. This was mostly followed, the guide told us there are just four places in the building where the materials used did not come from Hungary.

It's gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. The royal box is on one of the balconies, right in the middle, so the view of the show is fantastic. The king only came once, for the first ever performance in the building, and didn't even stay for the whole show! How rude! The box is not used for seating during performances now, and the guide told us not to sit in the chair when we were there.

The queen's box is on the end of a balcony, pretty much on the side of the stage. It offers a terrible view. Everyone in the theater can look into the queen's box to see who is there, what they're wearing, etc... When the opera opened, and even to some degree now, going to the opera is a social activity, more than a musical activity. It was all about being seen.

We saw the royal stairway, again used for just one person. How awful would it have been if a regular person had stepped in the same place as a royal? At least, that was the thinking back in the day.

We saw the bar area originally built for the upper class folks who came to the opera. Again, the thinking back then was that it would be awful if normal people mingled with the upper class folks.

I went for a walk, into one of the city center areas. I walked along a pedestrian street, and found a magnet I liked. Since I've been to Budapest previously I decided to skip buying postcards.

I didn't have a proper dinner that night. Instead, I had dessert :)

The next morning I was up early again and actually got moving. I showered and packed up, and left my bag in the same place I'd left it when I arrived in Budapest.

I walked to the train station and caught the next commuter train to a small town called Vac.

Vac is on the eastern bank of the Danube River. It is old, and quiet. The heyday of the city was long ago, but the city center is still very pretty.

The street from the front of the train station to the city center was straight. The city center is a pedestrian zone, and since I arrived at 0820, everything was still really quiet. I wandered around the first platz I came to, enjoying the quiet.

I stepped into a church and found it in the middle of a service, so I didn't go any further in. I found a war memorial for World War I, and saw the outside of several museums.

I followed various streets, one of which brought me to another church in the middle of another service. Again, I didn't go in any further. Across the street from this church was another statue. My photo would've been better if not for the cars parked all around.

Continuing down this street brought me to yet another church. This one is HUGE, with a big platz in front. It has columns in front, I didn't recognize it as a church at first. Since I was there early enough, I was able to set up my camera for a photo without too many others in the frame. Yay.

I stepped inside this church and was excited to find it mostly empty. There was no service, at least not yet. I took advantage of the lack of people to take a photo of the lovely cupola, and the altar in front. The pipe organ in back wasn't too shabby either.

More walking brought me to a building labeled collegium, but it looked to be in awful shape. I sincerely hope there are no classes taking place in there. There was a statue of a guy on a horse in front of the building, which means it is an official city. (I have a long running joke with a friend that a city isn't official if there is no statue of a guy with/on a horse.)

I continued down the street and found another church. This one is on the land that used to be a castle. The sign in front mentioned the Gothic wooden altar, which was lovely. As seemed to be my luck for the day, there was another service taking place, so I didn't go in further than the entry door.

I walked around the back of the church, and found the ruins of the castle. Nothing exciting, as the ruins haven't been fully excavated, and there is a fence preventing visitor access to the area. I wonder if the gate is ever opened?

I circled around, getting back to the street I'd been walking earlier. I walked back to the city center platz and continued along the street, eventually getting to another sight in the city. This was the Independence Arch, like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. This one was smaller, but impressive considering the size of the town. There was so little traffic that I was able to take a time delayed photo with my camera. Yay.

I wanted to see one more sight, but after starting to make my way there I realized I wasn't going to have enough time. Darnit. I wanted to see an old bridge, with carved statues on the sides, but it was too far away. Next time.

When I realized I wasn't going to have enough time, I turned around and walked back to the city center. I bought slices of pizza so I'd have food for later. From there I walked to the train station and bought my ticket for the next train back to Budapest.

An hour later I was back in the big city. I went back to my hotel, changed clothes and grabbed my bag, and walked back to the train/metro station. I rode the metro and took a bus to the airport, where everything went smoothly. I boarded my flight to my next destination, the flight was easy and on time.

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.