Lviv, Ukraine

Despite staying out as long and drinking almost as much, I didn’t feel too bad when I finally woke up today after noon. However, I did make today another lazy day and I felt bad for not doing more with my time. I showered, dressed, grabbed some cash to pay for the extra two nights I ended up staying at the hostel, and then did some research on getting a train to Chisinau. Unfortunately, no direct trains exist between Lviv and Chisinau and I probably would’ve had to go back through Kiev and Odessa to make it to Chisinau via train – something I didn’t want to do. Really, I should have started my trip through the Ukraine in Lviv and made my way to Odessa and then to Chisinau; however, I was still going off of the old plan I had created, which was arranged so because originally I was going to take a ferry from Georgia to the Crimea and it made sense to go to Odessa next since it was so close, followed by Kiev and Lviv; of course, thanks to the Crimea being Putinized, this plan was no longer feasible and the idea of a three-day ferry from Batumi to Odessa wasn’t something that appealed to me; so I flew from Batumi to Odessa when I should have thought it through and flown to Lviv instead. Oh well. So the best option was to take a 16:30 bus from Lviv that arrives in Chisinau at 10:00 the next day (long bus rides suck and I’m not thrilled about this option. Unfortunately, it was already too late to leave today, so I would be spending another night in Lviv (I can’t seem to leave this town! Not that that’s a bad thing, but I would like to get on with my journey). I did have the hostel manager purchase a ticket for tomorrow. I then went out to eat dinner and ended up at a restaurant named “Dim Legend” that had a dragon sculpture on its façade and bizarre rooms to eat and drink in (on each of the top three levels of the town house) and had a rooftop terrace with an automobile placed up there. I ended up having water, beer, and Cossack Kulish (a mix of millet porridge, beef, smoked pork ribs, onions, and carrots). After dinner, I walked to another theme restaurant: a chocolate factory; although this actually was a chocolate factory and had more rooms dedicated to selling chocolate treats than rooms for dining; it also used each level of the townhouse (I think it was four levels like Dim Legend) for its shops and dining areas. I walked up to the topmost level and had Yuriy Kultchytskiy’s spiced coffee (coffee with orange zest, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves served in a French press), a slice of Ukrainian cheesecake, and a slice of chocolate cake. After that sugar overload, I walked back to the hostel, bought some beer and water on the way, and then relaxed in my room watching some of Red Letter Media’s videos. I then went to sleep at 02:00.