L'viv - September 2009, Part 1

Mel was asked to go to a City Team Leaders meeting in L'viv. It was a fairly important meeting, but a decision needed to be made about whether he would go or not. It's 20+ hours one way on the train, or a 3-4 hour marshrutka ride to Odessa and then overnight about 8 hours on the train. Either way - an overnight trip. Did Mel want to do 2 20 hour trips in a row, or did he want to go to Odessa and do two shorter overnights? Or ... did I want to go along with him and we'd take a 2 day vacation after the meeting? Ha! Was there any chance, really, of my saying, "No, I'd rather stay home and wash windows"? Mel asked Doug about a place to stay and Doug found us a flat in the same building we stayed in last year. Mel bought the tickets and Sunday after church, we headed over to the train station and went to L'viv. L'viv-Kherson train (this is actually the train we came back on today, but hey, they looked exactly alike from the outside! I think. The inside decor of the coupe' to L'viv was old, old, old. Today coming back it was just one old. The trains from Kherson to Kiev, on the other hand are new-er. :-> ).

We always buy a whole coupe' so we have extra room and this time of year that is no problem - there were a lot of empty berths on the train over there. Having the whole coupe' gives Mel the opportunity to raise the top bunk above his, secure it up and then he can sit upright rather than hunched over or lying down the whole time. We leave the one above me down and put all our luggage up there rather than on the floor (when the heater is on, the luggage next to the heater gets really hot).

Clickity clackity down the tracks we went. First to Nikolaev, then north, then west to L'viv. The tracks from Nikolaev north are amazingly bad. I did some embroidery for awhile, but when we got to the really rough part I decided I really didn't want any blood stains left on what I was making, caused by poking my fingers instead of the cloth! It's kind of funny, actually, to lie down on the bunk and just jiggle and bounce over that rough section for a few hours. Too bad it doesn't jiggle and bounce any pounds off at the same time... Walking down the hall to the toilet is fun, too, especially when you are trying to pass someone and the train suddenly throws you right into the person, squishing them up against the handrail. Oops - sorry! The toilet - well, let's just say it's better to wait until that rough section ends, if at all possible.

It was nice watching the fields go by, looking into people's gardens and seeing lots of pumpkins and cabbages either ready to be harvested, or lying there already harvested, just waiting to be picked up and stored away for winter. Fields of corn, ready for harvest or already harvested and shocked. Hundreds - no, thousands of geese between here and L'viv and the closer to L'viv, the more there were. It was really easy to see the white ones against the emerald green grasses, more difficult to see the gray ones against the darker roads. There were geese by the dozens in gaggles kilometer after kilometer. And some ducks, too, but they were much harder to see unless they were actually swimming in the ponds, streams and slimy pools by the tracks. (click on this thumbnail to see a photo I found on the web of geese in Ukraine) Goats by the tens and dozens, and cattle by the tens and dozens as well. Did not see any sheep at all that I can remember, though. Ravens and crows - lots of ravens and crows. A few dogs here and there, a couple horses pulling wooden wagons with car tire wheels, several cowgrannies and cowgrampies (heh heh) standing around watching over their herds and flocks (altho I don't think goats come in flocks - Sue will have to tell me what a herd/flock of goats is really called - a band??). This is one of the nice things about such a long train ride - it is not all in the dark, but there is afternoon viewing of the countryside and morning viewing as well, with bouncy clickity-clackity sleep inbetween. Lots to see when the tracks aren't lined by trees and bushes!

Unfortunately, it's not easy to get good photos from the train. I've tried in the past and they usually turn out horrible, so ... no photos of the countryside. The windows are usually filthy, on the outside, on the inside and inbetween the outside and the inside (double-paned glass - Mel tells me that I can't make a past tense adjective, that is why "double-paned" looks so weird to me as I write it, but you know what - this is my blog and I'll make a past tense adjective AND noun if my mood so dictates. And it does! At least the glass was not double-pained. ha ha! I know, I know - it was a very short night and I'm just not really responsible for what I find hilariously funny right now...) They look fairly clean in this photo, but really, they aren't - trust me! Altho, when I think back to "the way it used to be when we first got here", they aren't as dirty as then, when you could barely see out of them. Many things have really improved a LOT.

This is Mel yesterday afternoon just before the L'viv-Kherson pulled into the L'viv train station. He had gone to buy a banana for me. This train station is very pretty, altho the front entrance is much nicer than here by the tracks.

So, there you have it - our trip to and from L'viv on the train, all mixed up together in one post. More later! About actually being in L'viv.

Oh - and when we got home today, I discovered that my blue beta fish is still alive, and my Cheyenne cat is still alive, and my plants are all still alive, and my 4 guppies are still alive and...ta da! I now have more guppies! I had no idea any were due. Cool - huh? I hope they survive the adult! There are at least 4 babies in there, all about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long.