So yeah, some rather maddening stuff happened on the day of my arrival, but here's the thing: Lviv is still my favorite Ukrainian city - by far. I mean, there's not much of a selection in the first place. It's just that aside from a few language issues (i.e. people are pretty stubborn about speaking Ukrainian), things usually go smashingly well here. I'm not used to falling into the shit in this town - that usually happens everywhere else. Yes, I should be prepared for it wherever I go, but I always thought Lviv was the grand exception, but alas.
Imagine this: in 2012, Lviv will host the European Soccer Championships. Thousands of mostly well-behaved foreigners will be coming here for that. If those customs goombahs pull the same greedy shenanigans on visiting Western Europeans, then Ukraine will be written off by everyone. If they can't act like adults, then they'll be ignored. It's their choice. But really, corruption is just a minor concern. The main worry of the local government is that the far-right Nazi groups will make themselves just a little too visible during the championships. That is a completely different category of stupidity and I don't want to get into it. My point is that the rest of Europe will be arriving, expecting these guys to act like grownups. God only knows whether they will. I harbor serious doubts.
OK, so enough of that. I went to Lviv's art museum yesterday, but time constraints don't allow me to post that visit. It was like everything else in this rotten land, a bit of an ordeal. I risked my reputation as a human tourist in order to take surreptitious photos of the artwork. More on that the next time I post, whenever that may be.
Just one last thing: I went twice - twice! - to the university park yesterday to find an elusive red squirrel. I saw none. Apparently, last spring there were whole gangs of them running around. It's too early for them to hibernate. Where are they? They can't all be working at Squirrel-Bank.
Well, I'm off to outhouse country. I'm sure this wedding will be a blast. Wish me luck!
2 comments:
I remember most of the cities in Ukraine smelled like a sewer off and on during the day, and there was alot of red and brown dust. Still, love that architecture.
You can still see red squirrels in Scotland - without all the red dust and red sludge corruptioning
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