Tuesday

Berika and I went shopping and ate at we all call “The Luby's of Ukraine” but we had no luck finding what we wanted. She was looking for a dress and I was looking for shoes and we found neither! We did note how much was imported and one of our tour guides told us later that Ukrainian women like to wear dresses and shoes like that as a sign of emancipation. I did take some really cool pictures on the way back of St. Vladimir's and our hotel at night.

Holy Trinity Day

So we had to go to work on Monday (5/24) but some people in the city did not. We did find places to eat and even some of the stores in the mall were open.
Also known as “Green Sunday” is 50 days after Orthodox Easter. This holiday is dedicated to the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles after Christ's Resurrection. On this holiday people decorated their houses and apartments with Calamus and assorted green branches. This tradition comes from the ancient Judaism, in which Pentecost, the Feast of the Harvest was celebrated outside amongst flourishing Nature. People also go to a cemetery to visit the tombs of relatives and friends who have passed away. There is a custom of leaving bread and vodka on the burial tombs and it is considered a good sign to find that the food and drinks have disappeared upon your next trip to the cemetery. It is a very important religious holiday in Ukraine.

Public Toilets

So I have yet to have the pleasure to use these toilets that Joy, Lisa and Berika have but one of the first nights we were here they basically had to squat over a whole in the ground. Luckily if you go in a restaurant they usually have a pretty decent toilet. Well now I've had the pleasure of paying a grivna to squat over a hole in the ground. We mostly all have on one of are potty stops on the way back the Kyiv! Yes someone in our group did pee a little on their pants and it definitely made me appreciate toilets back home!!

The Road back to Kyiv

We saw beautiful country side and a stork in her nest on a water tower.

Gunpowder Tower

St. Andrews

In my picture all you can see is the bellfry but I'll give you a little background. There is the state emblem of the Polish Republic and the Lithunian emblem of the “Pogon” on the church. The first written evidence about the church goes back to 1460. It was reconstructed in the 1600s. In this church Hryshka Otrepiev nortoriously known in Russian history as the traitor Psuedo-Dmitri I, was married to Maria Mnishek. After the wedding he led the Polish Army to Moscow. Today it is a Greek-Catholic church.

Holy Trinity Church

Outside our Lviv hotel just across the street was this church.