A week in the placid mountains has restored my energy. Today I actually found myself contemplating the possibility of packing up my backpack again so... I seized that momentum and booked a ticket on the sleeper train to L'viv (Ukraine).
Or is to L'vov?
Hmm... my ticket says Lvov. L'vov is apparently the old name for L'viv in English. How old is old? I don't really know... old enough that the train station should have the name right by now, I think.
Does it matter? Aren't L'viv and L'vov similar enough that they must be the same place? Probably. The place I want to go - the place that sounds really cool and interesting and has a currency exchange - is a place my guide book calls L'viv. But I've been warned that there is actually a place that's currently called L'vov - a tiny little hamlet somewhere on the way to the Black Sea that isn't on my map. It could be that my ticket is for a train that goes there.
I'm pretty sure it's not, though. Lvov is what they call the city of L'viv in Slovakian. And of course, my ticket is in Slovakian. Don't ask me what they call the hamlet of L'vov in Slovakian - maybe they don't even realize it exists. Maybe the train doesn't go there... that would certainly make life easier.
I look at the list of intermediate stops on the ticket in my hand. The train stops 28 times on its way to Lvov, and of those 28 times only 2 are on my map. At least I think they're on my map... since the Ukrainian language uses the cyrillic alphabet I can't really be sure. Between the English spellings in my guide book, the Slovakian spellings on my ticket and the fact that they are all just estimates of the cyrillic original anyway, I'm really not quite sure. I'm not even sure it's possible to be sure. I would say I am about 95% sure that my ticket is for the place I want to go. It's good enough.
The good news is, once the train drops me in Lvov and I figure out whether I am in the city of L'viv or the hamlet of L'vov, if I don't like it I can always turn around and come back. It's only a 15 hour ride. As long as they'll take a credit card or good old fashioned US cash, I'll just hang out in the hamlet for the day, stock up on food supplies, take the next sleeper back to Slovakia and try again. Only if that happens, I might just find myself yearning for the placid mountains again.
Wish me luck.
Or is to L'vov?
Hmm... my ticket says Lvov. L'vov is apparently the old name for L'viv in English. How old is old? I don't really know... old enough that the train station should have the name right by now, I think.
Does it matter? Aren't L'viv and L'vov similar enough that they must be the same place? Probably. The place I want to go - the place that sounds really cool and interesting and has a currency exchange - is a place my guide book calls L'viv. But I've been warned that there is actually a place that's currently called L'vov - a tiny little hamlet somewhere on the way to the Black Sea that isn't on my map. It could be that my ticket is for a train that goes there.
I'm pretty sure it's not, though. Lvov is what they call the city of L'viv in Slovakian. And of course, my ticket is in Slovakian. Don't ask me what they call the hamlet of L'vov in Slovakian - maybe they don't even realize it exists. Maybe the train doesn't go there... that would certainly make life easier.
I look at the list of intermediate stops on the ticket in my hand. The train stops 28 times on its way to Lvov, and of those 28 times only 2 are on my map. At least I think they're on my map... since the Ukrainian language uses the cyrillic alphabet I can't really be sure. Between the English spellings in my guide book, the Slovakian spellings on my ticket and the fact that they are all just estimates of the cyrillic original anyway, I'm really not quite sure. I'm not even sure it's possible to be sure. I would say I am about 95% sure that my ticket is for the place I want to go. It's good enough.
The good news is, once the train drops me in Lvov and I figure out whether I am in the city of L'viv or the hamlet of L'vov, if I don't like it I can always turn around and come back. It's only a 15 hour ride. As long as they'll take a credit card or good old fashioned US cash, I'll just hang out in the hamlet for the day, stock up on food supplies, take the next sleeper back to Slovakia and try again. Only if that happens, I might just find myself yearning for the placid mountains again.
Wish me luck.
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