Friday, 9 April — the last day

Today at the prosthetics factory cafeteria I ate green borshch. I never dreamed of writing that sentence before! Green borshch is the springtime version, made in this case with spinach, but I believe that sometimes it’s made with mint or other green edible leaves. It’s tasty, healthy food.  

Along with potatoes, cabbage, and a breaded chicken breast. All delicious and for fractions of a dollar per item (in the case of the chicken breast, per 100g). Yesterday a similar meal; but with mushroom soup. Always soup. I will miss this place — I should make more soups when I get home.

It’s been a very successful work week, topped off with some successful gift shopping at the local market, with no English! Following some review and planning meetings that wrap up the week for me, we say goodbye to our Ukrainian colleagues, goodbye to the former forklift factory, and Oleh the driver steers the minivan clear of potholes, suicidal pedestrians, and other vehicles to get us safely back to the beautiful Leopolis hotel. I’m a bit melancholy as I look towards my departure tomorrow morning… I head out to the market to buy gifts, stop at the Alcomart to pick up a Georgian brandy (I’m a bit short in hryvnia so they accept dollars), and start thinking about dinner.

Time for the last evening stroll in Ploshcha Rynok. I head for the groovy souvenir shop, and as I’m coming out I get email from our Ukrainian host about going out for dinner. He lives right on the square and we’re meeting near his place, so I stop where I am and wait for all to assemble right there on the old square. We head off to Veronika — it’s the sister restaurant to Amadeus, which I skipped last night — and we proceed to have fabulous food, vodka, and a great time. (This is SO cool!!!) It’s great hanging out with this guy; he’s a native of the town and loves to show us a good time, and he has the coolest Dr. Emilio Lazardo accent.

After the fabulous Veronika dinner, we head back across the old town to wander a bit before bed. We stop outside the locked gates of the 13th-century Armenian church where — when it’s open — you walk across the graves of those buried there, which is good luck for the dead. It’s beautiful and spooky in the evening light, and in the courtyard next door (which is famous in eastern bloc countries as the set for the Three Musketeers films) a tree is covered in the first buds of spring.

We head for one last bar. We go to a place that’s hip with the youngsters, where you go down some steps into a basement and up a metal staircase into an olde woodene Lviv pub. We have some amazing Czech liqeur called becherovka, which is like chartreuse but more flowery. They serve it in labware and we also have a Ukrainian snack that’s something like rolled-up garlic cardamom quesadillas…

And finally it’s back to the hotel when… whoops! I forgot the umbrella and one of the souvenirs. I think I left it in Veronika, so I’ll check there in the morning. Meanwhile it’s off we go to bed. Alas, my last night in this lovely place. Tomorrow I fly to the other side of the world. Until then — ciao, chers lecteurs!