The Cake Place

We have been in L'viv for one week and why did it take so long for us to visit the cake place? Paul Johnson, one of Erik's friends and colleagues at KU, visited L'viv in 2005 and found this cafe with one of the locals. He claimed that it has the best cake anywhere, and we agree. The cafe is actually called Tsukernya and you can envy us after visiting it on the web. All of the desserts are prominently displayed in a glass case - we promise to try every one before we come home to Lawrence! Carter wanted a big cookie and got it. Erik had a delicious piece of Viennese cheescake with raisins and a hint of orange. The cheesecake was not as rich as American cheescake; its texture was more like a dense slice of standard cake. Lea had the Prague tort: chocolate cake layered with chocolate mousse, coated with orange marmalade and a thin layer of chocolate sauce.

The visit to the cake place substituted for dinner as we enjoyed a large lunch at Kapriz, a restaurant frequented by the students in KU's summer program in L'viv (for those of you who do not know, KU runs a L'viv-based program in Ukrainian Language and Culture each summer). Erik spent the morning working on his book, as he has done almost every morning since our arrival, and Lea and Carter played in the park across the street from the university. Erik has worked in the office space in the apartment (a loft over the living room) and also in an office at Ivan Franko National University. The university has made him very welcome, providing an excellent space as a base of operations.

Carter has been such a trooper that we decided to get him a modest toy of his choice. Near the apartment is a large children's store with clothes, toys, and various supplies. It is nice to know that diaper re-stocking will be easy if we do not get back to Metro (though not cheap). It was an interesting store with everything from standard baby food, although we did not see the inexplicable "baby tea" found at Metro, to Legos, to $100 children's boots. Carter settled on a really hard dinosaur puzzle (made in Norway and printed in Russian).