Four days in Lviv: for two of them it rained constantly, one suffered from a miserably overcast sky, and today has been a little more sunny but very windy.
Lviv though is very picturesque. It possesses buildings with the same silver/aluminium roofs made famous by Montmatre in Paris, and all in all it feels like a Russian-ish version of Brussels. I don't think the locals would appreciate the connection I'm implying with Russia; from what I've read they're quite a nationalist bunch, allegedly more so than in Kyiv. I haven't seen it myself though.
I have no idea who the guy is reflected in the photo I've used, but whoever he is he must have stayed in the Hotel George, just like myself. It's a beautiful pink wedding cake kind of building, a century old and with fixtures that certainly agree. I'm beginning to wonder if there's something quietly sinister about the Lvivians; wherever I go nobody has the lights on. Even here in this internet cafe slash bar, the lights are off and from the outside it looks very much closed. I would have walked right past it if I wasn't busy killing time before tonight's return trip to Kyiv.
India prepared me well for this bout of travelling. Especially for the long periods of nothingness I occasionally foist upon myself. I checked out of my hotel in Kyiv a bit before midday last Friday, even though my train didn't leave until gone eleven at night. I got a lot of reading done. Also, the train's interior, in the lower class sleeper compartment I found myself in, was incredibly similar to the one Mr Willis and I travelled from Agra to Varanasi and to Delhi in - the same plastic/leather bunks arranged in sets of two-by-two-by-two, only here I didn't have to share my bed with any creepy crawlies (at least, if I did, they were small enough for me not to notice).
Today's train runs from half seven, so I should be back in Kyiv early in the morning. I'm on the left bank, as it is called, across the Dnipro from where all the cultural attractions are, and probably far from a metro station. I'm not worried about that, though. I'm flying out on Friday, early so I need to set my alarm, and before you know it I'll be in Estonia. I don't want to spoil the surprise, but I've been looking at alternative travel plans around the Baltic Sea and I've decided to take a slight detour - I'll tell all when it's finally decided and I've made hostel arrangements et ceter arse.
A little about the River Dnipro. I like it, but every time I see its name I think of that Beck song, "E-Pro." I wonder if there's any connection.
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