Casablanca vibes
Lviv, February 2022
Photos of Lviv February 15-21, 2022
Continuing the account of my gradual dislocation as the full-scale invasion of Ukraine loomed in the immediate future. The first installment in here.
All photos: ©2022, William L. Brown
The name of this this accessory shop underscores Lviv’s “Casablanca” vibes. The famous film of that era takes place in a city thronged with European refugees fleeing WWII. There was no Rick’s Cafe, but I did meet with a group of ex-pats who had relocated from Kyiv at a pub owned by an American. There was a Fox News reporter and crew there, chatting up the group and the staff, mining our experiences about life in Ukraine,
I had a quiet, even fun, few days in Lviv before the last-minute, tense departure. But, I was thinking ahead, preparing if needed o ship my heaviest items to friends in Austria. I did not want to repeat the travel experience of teetering under the mass of the biggest back-pack ever seen - as my friend Jim described it. So, I repacked, removing all but essentials, and made shipping plans. I also made plans to ship my old laptop to a friend in Dnipro. I had plans to visit there in the spring so I was holding onto it until I could hand it over in person. I didn’t want to leave it in Kyiv to be looted by Russians, so I had it with me.
Wooden stairs! Their presence suggests my Lviv Airbnb apartment dates at least to pre-Revolution (1918) times, probably older. I never saw another such apartment building staircase in Ukraine in my three years there.
A view of the courtyard from the second floor. The building design with exterior apartment doors on a common terrace is not typical of Ukraine. I was to encounter similar designs in Hungary over the next few weeks.
This building is on a narrow side street just off the Opera House square in Lviv’s city center, a prime location. Looming invasion or not I had work, shopping and exploring to do.
My lesson plans that week focused on the online Wordle game, a recent social-media rage. Students enjoyed it, and the lessons included a statistical breakdown of English consonant clusters (sc, dr, gh, cl, etc) to help in their puzzle-solving. Those lessons were eventually all cancelled as war-tension rose. Students were getting out of Kyiv or out of Ukraine. Some of them I never heard from again.
Lviv’s outdoor bazar was big, filling a couple of streets. It featured clothing more than anything else.
I found the fruit and vegetable section closer to the indoor market.
The Soviet-era “renok” indoor marketplace. This room was not in use at the time, possibly due to Covid restrictions.
This is the meat section. A sign says “Please, wear a mask.” Only a couple of people are wearing masks — technically, with nose or nose-and-mouth exposed. Covid protocols had largely broken down in the two years of pandemic. There were no US or EU government support programs for people or businesses put out of work by shutdowns. It was a choice of risking exposure at work, or having no income.
A significant number of people did not believe COVID was real. This was due in part to skepticism following a half-century of the Soviet health system: unreliable government information, deaths from a botched vaccination campaign, and corruption. It was also due to a current Russian misinformation campaign that planted fears and encouraged conspiracy theories. My manicurist friend and her boyfriend did not believe they were being told the truth about COVID, and thought that the vaccine would reduce fertility in women.
The sign says “Our Store” and “produce.”
A city-center neighborhood. The building at the end of the street has a more Austro-Hungarian architectural style than the others. Note the cobblestone streets - a Lviv feature.
This coffee-point was one of the few apparent signs of military preparedness, other than seeing more people in uniform on the streets than usual. The Military Coffee chain was founded by veterans, a powerful force in Ukrainian politics and society.
The war started in 2014. Many Ukrainians who volunteered were Revolution of Dignity protestors. As protestors they fought to keep Ukraine free of Russian influence, desiring a join the Western economy and political system. As soldiers they fought to keep Ukraine free of Russian invaders. So national sovereignty and political and economic freedom and independence are important to these veterans. They get strong social respect, but like veterans everywhere they don’t get the kind of post-service support or benefits they feel they need.
The package contains a seed-bar, a popular Ukrainian snack-food. I frequently bought such seed bars from the bulk aisle at the supermarket.
This storefront is for rent. There were several empty properties due to economic hardships during the COVID shutdowns. I took photos of many to send to a friend in Kyiv. She was panicking. She could not keep up the rent payments for her little manicure shop because all of her customers had fled the city, many to Lviv. I suggested she follow her customers. I hoped she and her boyfriend would at least come to visit while I was there.
I came upon the temporary US Embassy in Liviv near the city center, but this is not it. I did not take a photo for security reasons. The Astoria Hotel in the photo was at the far end of my street. Perhaps they were hoping US embassy personnel would be lured to them by the flag.
The embassy moved from Kyiv to Lviv the same day I did, Feb. 14th. However, as Russia ramped up military preparations on the border and stepped up attacks and provocations near occupied areas, the embassy staff left Lviv at night to sleep in nearby Poland. Just before the Feb.. 24 invasion, the embassy completely relocated to Poland.
My students gave me suggestions for restaurants to try in Lviv. I was particularly urged to go to the one with a gold coffee machine. However, I got a stomach bug as soon as I got there, and could only deal with simple foods. So, I ended up cooking most of my meals - such as this borsch.
Thank you for reading! More to come….