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Ukraine,
Lvovi2007.12.05`j |
Dec. 12th: Arrived at Wien,
Austria and stayed there. The flight was 1 hour
and 30 minutes to get to the Lvov airport from Wien.
In English, Lvov is called Rivof. As I left Customs,
I realized that nobody was there. For a moment,
I was very confused about the situation. Then the
Ukraine Branch Associate showed up with a serious
expression, and eventually, everyone came: the Ukraine
Branch Chief Nikolay Zhylin, Vice president John
Taylor, and the European Kyokushin Organization
President Klaus Rex.
It turns out that they had been waiting in the VIP
room because an airport official had led them to
the VIP room to wait for me. The regular waiting
room and VIP waiting room were located exactly opposite
to each other. So I had to add one more event from
my last visit to Russia. By the way, it is very
common to have separation of the VIP room and regular
waiting room in the Soviet Union. Lvov is located
in the southern portion of the Ukraine and is close
to Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. They call it the,
"real Ukraine" of the Ukraine. The center
of the city is a square field with a statue of a
famous poet. Once upon a time, a river was underneath
the square so no one could see it. There were many
streets made of cobblestones and a tram going through
a narrow street. Everywhere I walked were buildings
of the ancient capital which reminded me of medieval
times. |
The buidings of the Ukraine
orthodox church, and the Catholic and Armenian churches,
were well preserved from the past and a very solemn
atmosphere was present inside the churches.
Since the meaning of Lvov is, "the lion,"
one can see this theme in many of the sculptures,
including a sleeping lion at the entrance of the
powder magazine. The area around the square had
many folk art shops, and I stayed at the five-star
Grand Hotel which was facing the square and had
a statue of a famous poet in front. Close to the
area where I stayed was a performing arts center
for opera, ballet, etc. It was built at the end
of the 19th century.
Luckily, I was invited to a performance. It was
an opera accompanied by the Warsaw Symphony Orchestra
and was very gorgeous. I was told that it was a,
g Dead or Aliveh type of story. I could not recall
the theme of that opera, unfortunately.
I heard that since the admission fee was very reasonable,
many audiences (even from Poland) were able to enjoy
the show. |
Right after that, I visited
an old palace at the top of a small hill which was
built during medieval times. It took me one hour
and thirty minutes to get there by car.
It was well-kept on the outside with many different
rooms and a restaurant inside. There were statues
and pictures on exibit for visitors.
The food I ate in the Ukraine was very good and
the food served in the Grand Hotel was unforgettable
as well. |
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