This and That about L'viv

The subject of yesterday's blog, The Golden Rose, did not cover a few images from Staroyevreiska Street that I wanted to share.  This is going to be an image-driven post.  I'll have to wait for more energy to process some of the incredible things we've seen and learned in L'viv and Krakow.  For now, here are some photos for your entertainment.

We saw this doorway and I thought it was unusual, so I snapped a shot.

On the right is this lovely image of a woman.

On this left is a man.

Something didn't seem right about this side of the door.  There was this:

But then I looked down and saw this:

Good grief!

Unfortunately, this isn't a very good image, but check out how Steve Jobs' name looks in Cyrillic.

We had heard about a covered up well important to the Jewish quarter and thought this might be it.  Instead, it is a monument to L'viv as the "stomach of the Ukraine."

We also saw this restaurant, named for the poor Golden Rose Synagogue, which (as noted last night) was desecrated and destroyed by the Nazis.

We were especially taken with the menorah  candlesticks on either side of the door.

This fresco on the wall to the left of the restaurant struck me as charming.

This image was by the gates to the restaurant.

I think this was their disability accessibility image.

All of Europe, it seems, has appropriated the tale of St. George, the Dragon Slayer.  I thought this guy was pretty cute.

More on L'viv and the not-so-terrible-overnight train ride, tomorrow.

Remnants of the Golden Rose

It's been a packed 48 hours. Unfortunately, I only have energy for a short post.

We had an amazing day in L'viv yesterday, made possible in part by the wonderful people at the Swiss Hotel L'viv.  Not only were they able to accommodate two desparate women in need of a room, but they also worked with us on a number of other fronts.  We were able to leave our bags there all day, we received the 20% discount on dinner for a second night running and we had the opportunity to stay in the lounge until we had to leave for our train.  More importantly, they arranged for us to take a really meaningful tour of L'viv and they arranged for a cab to pick us up and take us to the train station.  I cannot offer sufficient praise for these people.

Breakfast was bountiful, as it tends to be on this side of the Atlantic.

Fortified, we made our way out to the city center for an exploration of Staroyevreiska Street.

We took a left turn and found a little book store displaying a map of the city center and a map of the Ukraine (as well as books, of course).  Unfortunately, their credit card terminal wasn't functioning and I forgot I had Ukrainian cash in my wallet.

We then decided to head down to the opposite end of the street.  We were looking for traces of Jewish life in the city center.  One of the things the old Interwebs put us on to was missing mezuzahs (a piece of parchment [contained in a decorative case] inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah [Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21]).  Lookey, lookey what we found:

You should look in the upper third of the photo above for a long hole pointed up on the left on the right hand side of the doorpost, like so:

We saw some other doorposts which were a little more ambiguous.

We later learned from our afternoon tour guide (the subject of another post) that there are a lot of empty spaces where Jewish life was once present in L'viv.

We had made up a list of the places we wanted to see in L'viv, and were hopeful that between our own explorations and the tour we planned to take in the afternoon, we might succeed in finding them.  One of the most important places we hoped to find was the site of the Golden Rose Synagogue ('Di Goldene Royz').  This synagogue was built in 1582 and was confiscated by the Jesuits.  The Jewish community was forced to pay a ransom in order to regain the synagogue.  Our afternoon guide later told us the story of  a rabbi's daughter-in-law who had negotiated the return, Rosa bat Ya'akov.  The synagogue was named the Golden Rose Synagogue in her honor.

The synagogue was desecrated in 1941, and destroyed by the Nazis in 1943.

There's some controversy about the site.  It was named a World Heritage site in 1998, but L'viv city planners had allowed developers to propose building a hotel.  After an article published in the Guardian brought the issue to world attention, the city fathers put a halt to the hotel development and commenced with a long-delayed Holocaust memorial.

Among the concerns expressed were that the hotel developer would endanger the ritual bath  and other Jewish artifacts, as well as possibly the remaining outer walls of the synagogue itself.  Here's what we saw:

The plans for the Holocaust memorial were displayed on the walls of the Golden Rose Restaurant next to the site.

While a Holocaust Memorial is important for L'viv, international pressure would be useful to make sure the project continues.  This image did not inspire optimism.

One lone soul can only get so far.

Surprise!!!

I, for one, was nervous about this leg of the trip.  It didn't help that I received VERY little sleep last night.

While Alexis, on the other hand, was very emotional.  She was returning to the place where for generations her family had lived, and the last members of her family to reside in the Ukraine were her grandparents.  Both her grandparents were born in eastern Ukraine, so she felt great emotion about returning here.  (I'm taking dictation.)  There's also the thrill of immersing herself in a slavic culture and language, which is something she has done for all of her adult life.  She has many questions about what the political situation is like here.  Flipping through the TV channels, she got a flavor for what it's like here. While in Russia the Duma is a rubber stamp, here it seems members of the Rada debate, fight and form blocs .  There's a vital political life her which does not exist in Russia.

Our flights were fine.  It was noteworthy that the flight from Warsaw to L'viv was very short.  The stewardesses raced down the aisle trying to sell their wares before we started our descent.   Once on the ground, passport control was pretty easy.  We found our bags, and then sought a taxi.  Alexis had seen a sign warning visitors to drive only with cab drivers wearing a badge.  They must have seen me coming from miles away as they clustered around me.  I gave them false hope by trying to put them off with a murmured "Moment", only to take a left at the Ladies.

We found our badge-wearing driver and were off.  Alexis's Russian served us in good stead as she chatted with the driver.  He was giving us a history lesson, while we were  looking out the windows.  One of the first things I saw was a cow eating grass while standing on the sidewalk--just outside the city.

Our driver pulled up to a very nice hotel which looked great.  The door man grabbed our bags, the counter clerks wanted our passports, and the reception clerk started to look up our reservations.  This is where we encountered our first serious problem of the trip--we were in the WRONG place.  We had been left off at #20, but our hotel was at #12.  We made our apologies and rumbled down the sidewalk to our "hotel".  When we made our reservations back in August, we were amazed at what a bargain this was.  We were going to have to pay $23. Note:  If something sounds too good to be true, that's  because it is. We found the sign for our hotel--the Book Room.

Through those doors lurks a dark and smelly vestibule, with uncertain wooden stairs leading up eight levels.  We lugged our suitcases up to the second landing and then Alexis left her bags with me and continued climbing.  When she got to the spiral staircase, she was really unnerved because she could not see the end of it.  The only light came from the windows  in the stairwell, but those windows ended well before the spiral staircase.  Once she reached the top of the spiral staircase, she was almost nose-to-nose with the Book Room.  A barely visible sign indicated as much.  The doorbell was broken.  Knocking, ringing and calling  brought no response.  She placed her ear to the door.  There were no sounds coming from the behind it or anywhere else in the building.  It seemed the building was largely derelict.  She made her way down the spiral staircase with trepidation, stumbling twice.  We would never have make it up the spiral staircase with our heavy, overloaded bags.  Alexis could not have carried the suitcase, her backpack, or her bag.  She didn't have to say a word.  I said, "let's go back to the first hotel," and so we did.  We landed at the beautiful Swiss Hotel.

We announced we "were back" and begged them to find us a room.

It took some doing.  The head clerk took our reservation documents and then asked us how much we were interested in paying.  I told him we certainly expected to pay more than $23.  After making phone calls and consulting with one another, the head clerk told us to leave our bags in the reception area and to follow him to a room for our approval.  This is an old European building, so one has to meander up and down stairs and left and right turns down corridors.  We saw the room and turned to him with glee.  Of course we were going to take it!  The price was great!  The room is beautiful.  We have an en suite bathroom and breakfast is included in the price (plus they serve until 11).  We were thrilled!  Even better news:  We get 20% off dinner at the hotel restaurant.

We decided to take a walk around the neighborhood before dinner.  It was very interesting.

Alexis was excited because she thought this was a film museum.  It turns out that it's a coffee shop.  A really cool coffee shop, but a coffee shop (they even had French macaron).

Our flight arrived at 2:45 p.m.  We finally settled the hotel business around 5, and so were walking at dusk.  The light was really rather wonderful.

 We were headed to the central square when this street caught our eye.

It means old Hebrew Street.

This lion is guarding the street.

We saw a lot of these around town.

And, of course, we saw a lot of these.

This was kind of a shock:

But maybe it shouldn't have been.

Tomorrow, the real adventure begins.  The clerks recommended the World of Coffee, a famous coffee shop (apparently it's been around a long time).  We'll probably stop there for lunch.

The dinner at the restaurant was excellent.  The service was beautiful and the food was delicious.

On the March--our last day in Copenhagen

I finally got enough sleep to feel human, and so was ready for the long day we planned.

We made a quick visit to Magasin (the department store) for some small purchases, and then headed down to  Amalienborg Palace--the home of the reigning queen.  Fortunately, it's a pretty short walk down Bredgade, Alexis's favorite street.  Along with Cafe Oscar and the Russian Orthodox Church, this is one of my favorite sites on Bredgade:

I LOVE this dragon!

Bredgade has some wonderful window shopping, as I've mentioned before.  There are lots of antique shops and Danish Modern Furniture stores.  There are also jewelry and clothing shops.  The little number in the middle caught Alexis's eye:

We saw the same exact dress in the window of a Malmo store.

The palace is right on the water and includes a number of buildings arranged in a circle.

The flag indicates that the crown prince is in residence; there was no flag at the queen's residence, which means she's away.  We believe we heard someone say that the queen may have been part of the group who closed off the Karen Blixen home yesterday.

We were quite early, so we walked down to the river.  Directly across the canal from the palace is the Opera House which was a "gift" to Queen Margarethe on her 70th birthday (2010).

We watched the palace guard for a while,

and then it was 11 a.m., and the museum opened.

Our Copenhagen Card gave us access to the Palace (as it had to the National Museum and the Jewish Museum), and then we were ready to walk through the house.  The palace consists of four buildings of equal size, one of which is under renovation.  Only the museum is open to the public.  The interior tells the story of the Danish Royal family, and features rooms used by various monarchs over the past 200 years.  One of the cutest features was a sign at kid-level designed to engage kids.

While the Danish Royal Family was not the most powerful or wealthy in Europe, at one point the king and queen were known as in-laws to a number of Europe's monarchs (U.K., Russia, Greece, Spain, Sweden).  Alexis is intrigued by Princess Dagmar, who became Tsarina Maria Feodorovna, mother of Nicholas the last Tsar of Russia.  She was a beautiful woman.  Her sister, Princess Alexandra, became the Queen consort of Emperor-King Edward VII of the United Kingdom.  The two were very close until later in life when a rift developed.

The palace museum featured a number of rooms made up to look as they had when previous monarchs were alive.  My favorite rooms and scenes were these:

They had a nice display of the wedding of Queen Anne Marie of Greece (Queen Margarethe's youngest sister).  Apparently, when she and her husband had to abandon the throne in 1973, they had to abandon many of their possessions, including her wedding gown.

Frankly, I'm most interested in the Danish Royal Family because of King Christian X, the current queen's grandfather.  His story has heroic quality to it.  According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "both the King and the majority of the Danish people stood by their Jewish citizens and were instrumental in saving almost all of them from Nazi persecution and death." Another source reports, "In addition, he helped finance the transport of Danish Jews to unoccupied Sweden, where they would be safe from Nazi persecution.^[3]  With a reign spanning two world wars, and his role as a rallying symbol for Danish national sentiment during the German Occupation, he has become one of the most popular Danish monarchs of modern times."

The last symbol from the palace which caught my attention was this flag:

According to the placard, this is the royal standard which was hoisted on May 5, 1945, the day Germany surrendered.  The usual function of the standard is, as noted earlier, to indicate that the monarch is in residence.  During the last of the war years, however, it was not raised as King Christian considered his role suspended.  Apparently, Christian didn't support the parliament, so he's not really a democrat, but he did some outstanding things in his lifetime.

Our next target for the day was the Little Mermaid.  Anyone who's read Hans Christian Andersen understands why this is a must see.  It was worth it.  She was vandalized a number of years ago, but she looks pretty good today.

She's a lovely little thing.  I love her.

From there, we headed off to the State Art Museum.  It was a bit of a schlep, but we picked up some buck-you-uppo at a coffee shop at the Norreport Train Station.  It was then a pretty direct walk through a park to the Museum.  We focused on Danish art from the late 18th to early 19th centuries  My favorite piece was this one.

Look closely and you'll see that he's knitting...with FOUR needles!!

I'm also a sucker for these kinds of paintings:

This is, obviously, an Italian scene painted by a Danish artist named Carl Bloch.  The expressions on the three prominent figures' faces is fantastic.

I had to take a photo of this guy:

This statue is of a victorious foot soldier from the war of 1848-1851 which maintained the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from leaving the kingdom of Denmark.  It is also noteworthy as the first sculpture commemorating war to NOT feature a goddess, general or monarch, but rather an ordinary soldier.  It's a particularly poignant image as it represents a bygone era.  Within 13 years, the Prussians had victoriously claimed the two duchies.

We ended our day at another restaurant on the canal.  Dinner was good, but we have to prepare for our trip tomorrow to L'viv in the Ukraine.

Keep your fingers crossed for a safe journey.