Commuting back and forth in the Ukraine
So, you know about my passion of the game of memory and combining two identical corners of different cities into a memory set. And as Lviv is a twin city of Cracow, it would be a good bridge to carry me back to my Ukrainian story to have a picture of a horse carriage from Lviv... Wait a minute! There is one!
But this snapshot is an obvious media manipulation.
There are no tourist carriages in Lviv. This one has been used on a movie set on Rynok (main square) when I accidentally passed by with my camera.
What tourists rather spend their money on are "Kumpel Tours" - "Buddy Tours". During a buddy tour every body but the driver may drink beer.
What you can also always do when a bit tipsy, take a tram. They are in a bad shape (you can look it up in a previous post about Lviv) and they sway you like a boat on a sea for the roads, mostly covered by cobblestone, are all bulky from years of exploitation. It will bring you in a very good mood.
Just make sure you do not run into the traffic as a unthoughtful pedestrian. Zebra crossing is meaning nothing. Cross the road where you want and count on the kindness of the drivers. According to insiders, when the car has plates from Lviv and area, it will stop and let you cross the street. When the driver comes from Kiev it is a lost cause. However, you should be always careful, so the local tour guide: there are enough stupid blond women in the city, who have their cell phone in the one and their little dog in the other hand while driving. This apparently causes injuries.
The cars on Ukrainian streets reflect contrasts that Ukraine consists of:
Sometimes you need to think twice which is a tourist attraction and a movie set and what is for real:
You know which is which? Of course, it is easy. And the hay trailer is of course commonly used transportation in farm areas. And this will take our journey to the most exciting part of our little trip here. The highways.
This is a highway:
This is a car going in the proper direction.
And this is a car going in the wrong direction because the road is less bumpy on the other side:
I do not want to lie to you. The way the roads look like and the drivers drive in the Ukraine was not such a big shock in the end. Poland 20 years ago looked exactly the same, my father never drove differently.
Some manoeuvers were very familiar to me:
Sorry for the quality of the pictures. Bumpy road and the cossack driving style are for sure two good reasons. And then I admit I was also sitting at the most deadly seat on the bus and from some point on you only can cope with the situation thanks to some stronger alcoholic products which are good and necessary in the Ukraine. Have a look at what was going on here:
Yeah, we are taking over, the cars from the opposite direction are taking over, there are cows crossing (in assistance of a babushka) the street. What you do not see are the two village boys sitting on a small motorcycle on the right edge of the road driving in the wrong direction.
What is a good medicine against psycho drivers in all eastern European countries are good looking female passengers. When a young woman sits next to the driver in the bus it means for him an honor that only a bus driver may receive. But one unspoken part of the special treatment is that the girl is in authority. He will stop for her anytime she needs to go to the rest room (this kind of consideration is not self-evident in the countries of eastern Europe) or when she desires to buy something and she can effectively hold him back when he drives crazy.
This is how a Ukrainian woman tames a Bohdan-Chmielnicki-look-alike bus driver.
Please, note the decoration: among the flowers the holy icons. Them and the beautiful Ukrainian woman are the two factors determining the well being of passengers on the bus.
