L'viv.

Hi friends! I am back and we had tons of fun!! On the way there we all got to experience the joys of riding third class on an 8 hour train ride. Those joys include finding different ways to leap or climb into your bunk, figuring out which car is yours since the old ladies are mean and like to deceive you, and dehydrating yourself so that you wouldn't have to use the train toilet. I got too thirsty. I gave in. I have used a train toilet.

Lviv was an adventure. I would say "trip" but I feel like that implies we knew where we were going. Also... I promised you pictures. So I got really excited when I packed my backpack and my heinously large camera fit in perfectly. So I whipped it out when we got to the famous cemetery, only to discover I hauled the whole thing to Lviv, and in my pack all day only to realize I forgot the memory card. So I am borrowing pictures from others, and I learned a very important lesson for our big trip coming up soon, and that lesson is BRING THE MEMORY CARD!! Also I learned the lesson called "Charge your kindle before you depart on a long train ride", and "Remember where you put your train ticket so you dont put the whole car into a panic looking for it only to discover it was in your pocket the whole time..." Yep that happened.

As a group we learned.. Ukrainian words. Because dears, it turns out eastern Ukraine does not enjoy the Russian language. Everyone here in Kiev is bilingual, so its whatevs that we only know Russian phrases. Good think Macall and Jamies host mother taught them a few things.

Lviv is so beautiful though. It didn't receive a lot of damage during WW2, and so most of the original architecture is still in tact. The streets are all narrow and cobblestone and it was quaint and adorable.

This was a Jewish synagogue. The Nazis put those circles in the window over the star of David and took it over. Lviv was hit really hard by the holocaust and had hundreds of thousands of Jews killed. Lviv used to belong to Poland.
This was our hostel! 12 bunks in this room, but we had our own toilet and shower so we were all happy. Free breakfast, too, and the staff was really nice. The downstairs was like a cave, and the rest was this tower with one winding staircase that lead to the rooms. We were at the very top! Killer stairs.
We hiked up to this place called high castle. We are pretty sure it's where a castle used to overlook Lviv, anyways, you can see the whole city from up there.

This was the famous cemetery. A lot of famous political leaders are buried here. It was HUGE.

Also we went to this palace! It was soo pretty!!
And I pretended to be Juliet.
And Lauren was.. Romiett.
Which reminds me that I am in the mood to pop into the opera house for another ballet sometime here soon.


We had a really fun time! Before we left we made a list of things we wanted to see and got them all checked off, and spent a decent amount of time at our favorite Ukrainian buffet.It was good to see how we all do traveling together for our big trip at the end of this month. Also, for me to see how long I can go without talking to Fiance. It was 2 days. Before I emailed him from a hotel lobby across from the opera house. I went there to use the bathroom, and I saw the computer just chilling there for the people staying there to use... so next thing you know I am on my email saying hello.

On the way back my girls all got to be in the same train car, but I took one for the team and took the ticket that was all alone. It was ok, besides the fact that my things kept falling down through the crack in my bunk onto the man below me ha ha poor man.

GOOD TIMES IN LVIV!!
Next vacation: Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Dresden


Luvs,
Kayla


P.S Jamie thanks for your pictures.