As Lea and Carter prepare to depart L'viv for home, we have been attempting to check off a few final tourist activities from our "to do" list. One of the last attractions is a mere two blocks from the apartment - the Palace of Arts, housing several collections of European and Ukrainian paintings.
Carter has been amazingly tolerant of our efforts to introduce him to high culture. He especially enjoys discovering images of animals embedded in the artwork in the museums we have visited. Unfortunately for him, the bulk of art exhibited in this part of the world seems to be portraits. As we entered the Palace of Arts today, we saw a grand painting that captures the history of Ukraine on a huge canvas. The painting had sections dedicated to the triumphs and tragedies of Ukraine, with many recognizable politicians, as well as historic and cultural icons. While we intended to see art, we were drawn to another exhibition in the facility.
The poster for the "Giants of the Ice Age" exhibit beckoned us to stop in. Since Prehistoric Forest back in Irish Hills, Michigan is closed, we thought this might be a good substitute for Carter to see some kitschy animatronic beasts. And it was. At first, Carter thought that seeing the animals was a good idea. But, confronted by the large, furry, moving, growling creatures, he reconsidered.
The exhibition had various activities for children: coloring, old-style movies, and an oversized jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle was a hit, as Carter liked finishing the picture of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. But when we started to look at the creatures, he was terrified. The animals were all furry - even the pleisiasaur (we have to check on the accuracy of that depiction with cousin George or our family's amateur cryptozoologist Uncle Brett) - and most of them made some kind of noise and moved their heads, necks, and mouths. After beating a hasty retreat from the monsters, we had lunch at a Milk Bar. We had been advised to go to one of these in Krakow - they are little cafes with a fixed menu. Whatever they have for the day they serve until it is gone. We had some nice soup, savory pancakes, and chicken. After lunch, we had a quick romp on the Taras Shevchenko monument until nap time.
Erik has an ongoing project - to be photographed in front of Lenin monuments while posing in the same manner as the statue. Today, we visited a new monument in L'viv, dedicated to Stepan Bandera, the hero/villain of WWII/post-war era resistance fighters (whether he is hero or villain depends on your perspective). Erik immediately noticed that the pose was quite similar to a Lenin statue that he had seen on another trip - the one pictured to the left in Tsyurupinsk, Ukraine. The juxtaposition suggests similarities, but this cannot have gone unnoticed by the Ukrainian monument designers. Why create a reverential public space for a local hero that looks very much like the same spaces the Soviets designed for Lenin - especially when that local hero was vehemently anti-Soviet?
Lea has repeatedly harassed Erik about studying an area of the world that lacks truly exotic cuisine (Malaysia, Thailand, and Italy have elections, do they not?). While Ukraine's food is not exotic, we have come to enjoy some local specialties (in no particular order):
1. Korona Intenza Extra Dark Chocolate with Orange Peel (Lea only). Lea claims that this stuff is awesome, despite Erik's protests. It is made by Kraft, so why can't it be found in the US?
2. Beer. L'viv is known for beer. Not only is the beer good, it is cheap. It is so cheap that people are out on the street chugging down Ukrainian 40s as early as 9:00 a.m. L'viv Premium and Chernihiv White are among our favorites.
3. Bread. Our love of local bread is as much about the price as about the quality. Carter likes the "lavash," which is akin to a Central Asian flatbread (lipeshka - like pizza dough and baked in a tandoor oven) rather than familiar lavash. He also likes what we have dubbed "sweet bread" which is a small braided bread similar to challah. A quirk in buying bread is that customers can buy partial loaves. One day, splurging on a large 80-cent loaf, we were asked if we were sure that we wanted to buy the whole thing. Part of our adjustment to life back in the US will be the $3.00 bread!
4. Ham. When buying meat in the open air, with passers-by taking samples, and refrigeration nowhere to be found, smoked meat is safer than fresh. We have seen some sights that would make FDA inspectors shudder: raw, warm chicken visited by many flies, whole rabbits displayed with fur on one foot, butchers carving up carcasses with cigarettes dangling from their lips. Consequently, a large amount of ham has been consumed in the Herron household. Much of this has been bought from the woman we have dubbed "the ham lady." She is not far from the "bread lady," from whom most of our bread is bought, and the "cheese lady" who provides for most of our dairy needs.
5. Cheese. Cheese seems to be labeled by countries rather than by style or content. All of it is made in Ukraine, and we have no idea if the country labels have anything to do with cheese from those parts of the world. Estonian is by far our favorite, but close behind is Irish, which has something green in it, possibly dried parsley. Another kind we like, not named after a country, is marbled. Akin to a colby jack, the cheese is orange and white specked, and it satisfies Carter's desire for orange cheese. At home, he is a huge fan of extra sharp cheddar.
6. Kishmish Grapes. Long gone since winter is approaching, these tiny, light green, sweet grapes have a strong but thin skin that pops when you bite into them. According to several sources, they are the same as Thompson seedless grapes. But, they don't remind us of grapes in the US.
7. Syrniki Cheese. Ukrainians use farmer's cheese, similar to a dry cottage cheese, to make pancakes called syrniki. Erik has made these a few times on our trip. In the US, we have only found this cheese in Cleveland's fabulous West Side Market. Paired with the Siberian berry brusnika, they are a wonderful breakfast treat.
While we have enjoyed the food on our journey, we are craving some spicy Mexican food. Brian Silver's son Nate's blog on the subject has made us drool with envy at those in Chicago. One of our first restaurant stops in Lawrence will be either El Mezcal or Tortas Jalisco... or both. Even a jar of salsa and some corn chips sounds good right now!
The Herron blog has reached post #100! To celebrate this milestone, we bring you Carter's Top 10 things in L'viv.
Although Carter cannot articulate his favorite people, places, and things in an organized fashion, we thought we would create a list of the top ten things we suspect he will miss about L'viv. Looking at L'viv through a toddler's eyes is quite different than through an adult's eyes. He could not care less about the beautiful architecture or the museums, although we have pointed out all of these things to him as part of his early cultural education. But he has really enjoyed his time here. There are several items deserving of honorable mention - mostly the people, Walter, Ewa, Jani (aka Thomas' mommy), and others, whom he has grown close to - and some other favorite places, such as the Taras Shevchenko monument which he loves to climb, the puppet theater, the lions that were displayed on Rynok Square but have now gone to sleep for the winter, conkers, and more, but here are the finalists:
10. Mushroom Ravi Place, aka Puzata Khata. Carter has been tricked by his parents into thinking that cabbage vareniki are mushroom ravioli, one of his favorite foods, so he loves to go to this restaurant and eat the ravi. Puzata Khata also children's playroom which he enjoys immensely. He even remembers that one of his bottlecaps - see #7 - is from the Mushroom Ravi Place. Every time we walk by it, he says"there's mushroom ravi place." 9. Balloons. For the first couple of weeks after our arrival in L'viv, Carter insisted that he wanted a balloon. We inexplicably could not find any. Then, suddenly, everywhere we turned, he could get a free balloon, usually from a political party or the local yogurt company. Balloons here are not knotted, but the ends are pulled around an odd piece of plastic which keeps the air from coming out (we just call these "plastics"), and these are attached to a plastic stick. These keep the balloons up in the air without helium. Carter loves playing with balloons and with the sticks. He has invented crazy games including how many balloons he can balance in the poor houseplant in our living room: "5 balloons in the plant (aka 3 balloons in the plant and 4 balloons in the plant depending on how many he has at the time)" and making letters and shapes out of the sticks.
8. Estonian Mac and Cheese. Finding toddler-friendly foods here is difficult. Children we have observed seem to be on a constant diet of cookies, candy, and chips. Carter's favorites from home were difficult to make here - no quesadillas, portabello mushroom ravioli, nutri-grain waffles. One thing we have made a lot here is macaroni and cheese on the stove (our oven does not work, as we have mentioned). Usually, this dish is synthesized with a Ukrainian-made cheese called "Estonian." Estonian cheese has been quite a staple of Carter's diet here, although the previously self-made vegetarian ("no meat") has started eating chicken and has turned into a huge sausage fan.7. Bottlecaps. Carter has become an obsessive collector. Like Bert, Carter has discovered the joy of bottlecap collecting, and has been gathering them as fast as his parents can drink fluids. In fact, he does not like to wait until we are done, asking for them when our bottles are still half (or more) full. He likes to count them, sort them by color and size, and make the shapes of letters out of them. He also keeps close tabs on the total number: the count is now up to 62.
6. Waterfalls. Carter discovered "waterfalls" shortly after his arrival. This term is used broadly to include actual waterfalls, water from faucets, and fountains. He loves to go to the fountains on Rynok Square to determine whether or not they are on. Now, they are all off for the winter.
5. The Tramvai. He loves riding the trams, but more importantly, he loves counting every one he sees. Each day, he will assign the number one to the first tram he spies and continue to count them throughout the day.
4. The Parks. Carter and Lea spent much of their time in parks - Striisky, the duck park, Ivan Franko, and the small playground up the hill. Lea remembers spinning him around in a beautiful leaf-covered Ivan Franko Park. He has really enjoyed the playgrounds, walking in the parks, feeding birds (of course), sledding, and attempting to empty every sandbox in town.3. The Apartment. Yes, this sounds crazy, but we asked him several times what his favorite thing is about L'viv, and he always says "the apartment." Whenever he asks why, he says: "because we're here."
2. Feeding the Birds. He has mostly fattened the pigeons in town, but he has also helped out the ducks and swans. Feeding birds was definitely his favorite activity in L'viv. After his departure Friday, they may starve.
1. Thomas. Most of all, Carter will miss his best friend. But, Thomas just arrived in his new home in Tbilisi, Georgia, and we must move on to our home as well.
Today we bid farewell to our good friends Jani, Phil, and Thomas. Last night, we celebrated our friendship at the Chicken Place, 
sharing good food and fun with the boys. Carter and Thomas devoured juicy bits of poultry and french fries (chips to Thomas) while Thomas entertained all of us with his renditions of "Wild Things," a la Sendak.
Today, the boys had one last chance for some afternoon play. Carter got to significantly delay his nap so that he could see Thomas a final time. Lea, Jani and the boys coincidentally met at the Mary statue, where they had met the first time. They fed the birds (of course), blew bubbles, climbed on the Taras Shevchenko statue, and ran around in the snow until it was time to come up to the apartment and say all of our goodbyes. Carter promptly went down for a nap, but just before he went to sleep, he told Lea "I had fun with Thomas."
Phil's new job takes the family to Tbilisi, and they depart for Kyiv tonight and to Georgia in a couple of days. We were incredibly fortunate to meet such a wonderful family with a son who has been such a good role model for Carter. Our sadness at their departure is eased a bit by our inevitable trip home - in one week for Carter and Lea. It is rare that you meet people and immediately become fast friends. We were quite lucky and hope to encounter them again somewhere in the world!
As Lea and Carter prepare to depart L'viv for home, we have been attempting to check off a few final tourist activities from our "to do" list. One of the last attractions is a mere two blocks from the apartment - the Palace of Arts, housing several collections of European and Ukrainian paintings.
Carter has been amazingly tolerant of our efforts to introduce him to high culture. He especially enjoys discovering images of animals embedded in the artwork in the museums we have visited. Unfortunately for him, the bulk of art exhibited in this part of the world seems to be portraits. As we entered the Palace of Arts today, we saw a grand painting that captures the history of Ukraine on a huge canvas. The painting had sections dedicated to the triumphs and tragedies of Ukraine, with many recognizable politicians, as well as historic and cultural icons. While we intended to see art, we were drawn to another exhibition in the facility.
The exhibition had various activities for children: coloring, old-style movies, and an oversized jigsaw puzzle. The puzzle was a hit, as Carter liked finishing the picture of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. But when we started to look at the creatures, he was terrified. The animals were all furry - even the pleisiasaur (we have to check on the accuracy of that depiction with cousin George or our family's amateur cryptozoologist Uncle Brett) - and most of them made some kind of noise and moved their heads, necks, and mouths. After beating a hasty retreat from the monsters, we had lunch at a Milk Bar. We had been advised to go to one of these in Krakow - they are little cafes with a fixed menu. Whatever they have for the day they serve until it is gone. We had some nice soup, savory pancakes, and chicken. After lunch, we had a quick romp on the Taras Shevchenko monument until nap time.
