Travel Planning and a Long Train Ride

Friday, Aug. 29, 2014--Uzhhorod to Lviv

My train didn't depart from Uzhhorod until 15:40.  And it didn't arrive in Lviv until 21:45.  Fortunately, check-out from my hotel wasn't until noon.  Therefore, I spent the morning doing more travel planning.  I've now more or less decided on my schedule.  I hope to add one extra day to my stay in Lviv which is supposed to be the loveliest city in Ukraine.  And I hope to stop for one night in Ivano-Frankovsk on my way between Lviv and Odessa.  That should put me back on schedule to have the original number of days that I had planned for Lviv (I cut one when trying to accommodate Wes' travel interests), and it avoids having too many days in either Odessa or Kiev.  (It also makes up for the two days I "saved" because of the bad weather in the Tatra Mountains region of Slovakia.)

This morning, I was prepared for breakfast. I used Google Translate to write on a piece of paper:  fried eggs, toast with jam, and coffee with cream.  I had photographed the menu yesterday, but then I realized I couldn't type in the Ukrainian characters for an English translation, so the photograph did no good.  I use a similar plan when I buy a train or bus ticket.  On paper, I write the date, the departure city with an arrow pointing to the arrival city (both written in local characters), the departure time under the departure city with an arrow pointing to the arrival time written under the arrival city, a stick figure with an equal sign followed by the numeral 1, and my name.  They've understood that so far everywhere I have gone.  And I think they appreciate it, since so few people speak any English.

After checking out, I walked to the train station to await my departure.  I finished reading another book--On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan.  It's interesting that this book had a similar theme to the previous one I finished two days ago--the idea that two people in love can be greatly misinterpreting the actions/feelings of each other and, therefore, making decisions based on false assumptions.  This is the third book I've read by McEwan whom I consider to be one of the best writers alive today.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 4.

It was a nice train ride even though it was 6 hours long.  Much of the way, we were in wooded hills with occasional small villages passing by.  When the area would broaden to small valleys, there would be haystacks on the fields.  As evening approached many people were outside working in their gardens or cutting and stacking hay.  (They stack hay here on a vertical wooden spit so that the stacks are tall and slender. They reminded me of the spits of meat found in kebab places.)

The train itself was old.  It's from the communist era.  I've ridden similar ones in Moldova and other countries.  At one end of the car is a huge samovar with boiling water for making tea or coffee.  I was in a sleeper car for some reason.  I was the only one there until the last stop before Lviv, then two women came into the car.  I could tell they didn't like me being there, because they wanted to go to bed and try to sleep.  They, like most others on the train, were headed all the way to Kiev.

The train ride was a bit noisy.  Occasionally, we would have a nice, smooth section of rail, but, for the most part, Ukraine does not have continuous seamless rails.  Instead, there was the constant clickity-clack repetition about every 1 1/2 seconds as we went over seams. 

I caught a tram about 20 minutes after arriving at the station.  I knew that the owner of the apartment I had rented was waiting for me.  If we had been on time, I would have been here at the 22:00 appointment we had made.  Instead, it was 22:15 when I arrived.

My apartment here in Lviv--One Bedroom Apartment - City Center--is small, but cute and very clean and tidy.  It will be fine for me, but it would be a bit crowded if Wes were still with me.  At only $31 a night, it is a good value.