It's our last day in Ukraine and we're totally bummed we're having to leave.
We set out early for a literary walk to visit a few sites related to authors I read before the trip. First on our stop is the last residence of Polish author Stefan Grabiński. He had spent some time in a tuberculosis treatment center but had returned to Lviv where he died in extreme poverty. He had several known residences in the area but it seemed fitting to visit his last.
Next is the childhood home of Stanisław Lem, author of Solaris. He was born in Lviv in 1921.
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, author of Venus in Furs, was born in Lviv in 1836, not far from this statue.
When we finished our Literary Walk, we headed to City Hall, the direct center of the historic area. For a small fee you can climb the 400+ steps up its 19th-century tower. It rises about 65 meters above ground and you get a nice view of the city in every direction.
A few blocks north of the historic center is an attraction we found on Atlas Obscura and had to see for ourselves. The Yard of Lost Toys began years ago when a resident of the building found two toys and put them out in the alley in case the owner came looking for them. They never did but the collection kept growing into a massive display. There are so many toys behind the complex it would be difficult to get a full picture without being on one of the balconies looking down!
Another site we came across while out walking was the former home of Raphael Lemkin, the man who in 1943-44 coined the term "genocide." He was an internationally renowned lawyer who was a member of the Nuremberg Trial prosecution team, and he became the father of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.
Later in the afternoon we found ourselves in the beer museum, or the Beer Cultural Experience Center, as they call it. It includes tons of information about Lviv's long history of brewing. We've been in several beer museums but this one was one of the better ones.
The museum also had tons of costumes used in the Ivan Franko movie that had just been released in Ukraine. I can't wait to see it when it's released in the US!
Our last stop before drinks and dinner was the House of Scientists. There were currently no tours open because of a conference taking place inside, but a nice lady said we could walk around on our own and snap some pictures.
Right before dinner we went to the famous Pravda Beer Theatre. It's a three story building directly on the main square and a lot of people go there for the live music every night. When we left we went and had a delicious dinner at a quiet Georgian restaurant around the corner and then headed back to our hotel. We're going to miss Ukraine!
Слава Україні! / Slava Ukraini!
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