Ukrainian vacation

Nearly three years ago, when we learned that Shawn was posted to Embassy Kyiv, we started doing all the research we possibly could about Ukraine.  From everything we read, we soon decided that Lviv was one place that we definitely had to go. Now finding ourselves 22 months into a 24 month tour,  last weekend we finally made the trip to western Ukraine to see what all the hype was about.

Lviv definitely has a different feel from Kyiv. First of all, the people speak Ukrainian rather than Russian. So we challenged ourselves to switch all of our pleasantries (please, thank you, good morning, etc.) to Ukrainian. However, we also found that a lot of people were willing to speak English with us – quite a nice change of pace from the scowls we get from some Kyivites when they hear us speaking English. Because it has been both part of Poland and part of Austria in the past, Lviv also feels more European in some ways. And the city is much smaller than Kyiv, which makes it feel more relaxed. Of course, visiting in February meant that we found ourselves struggling through a foot of snow everywhere. Apparently they don’t feel the need to clear the sidewalks in Lviv any more than they do in Kyiv.

Despite the snow and cold, we managed to do a few “touristy” things.  We took a quick walk through Lychakivskiy Cemetery:

Climbed to the top of the tower at city hall to get a bird’s-eye view of the city:

Saw the Shevchenco statue at dusk (note the reflection of the flash on the falling snow – and the aforementioned tower in the background):

And one of the cutest things we saw was that instead of using strollers in the snow and ice, everyone was pulling their babies on little sleds:

But the big find in Lviv (and perhaps the most adventurous thing – in that “do we trust this or not?” sort of way) was a Thai massage parlor. With real Thai ladies! We had about 7 hours to kill on our last day after we had checked out of our hotel. It was horribly cold and terribly icy and I think we had both had about enough of trying to find something to do in Lviv. Then we saw the sign for Thai massages. It took a while to work up our courage to actually check it out. I mean, the thought of there actually being non-sketchy Thai massages in the middle of Ukraine seems pretty far-fetched. But when we finally approached the entrance, we saw two Thai women sitting inside. So for about $20 each, we let them work us over for an hour. I think it was the best way our vacation could have ended and more than I had hoped for.