Odessa

The market is a busy sprawl with a slightly concerning odor. Some sort of Feta cheese seems to be their main product. Odessa seems to be a place where life quality is still high. Even though prices have apparently sharply risen in recent years.

The background of the James Bond movie "From Russia with love" always sounded appealing to me. I arrived after a smooth night train from Kiev. 

I checked into "Babushka Grand Hostel" which turned out be very wise. The manager is from California and is on the run from the US Government. He used to supply famous people in California with electronic equipment - for example Clint Eastwood. He got caught leaving the US with 800000 USD in a suitcase. His assets (several million) in a Swiss bank got frozen recently after a successful request by the US Government. He now has less money than backpackers, but is quite happy with his situation in the Ukraine. Is girlfriend is 25. He is now suing the US Government because they are withholding his money.

The night life in Odessa is extraordinary and most people at the hostel were cool. In one club we got in trouble with the Russian Mafia. A Scottish friend decided to go on stage after he took off his clothes. We got shown to the door.

Occasionally cruise ships stop in the still busy Black Sea port and the tourist descend into the city. The city itself is ok - the parks are run down. But it has a lot of charm. At the seaside Ukrainians go sunbathing and occasionally into the still rather cold water.

Kiev

The capitol of the Ukraine is very much Russian. A statue called by expats the "iron tits" is a huge structure dominating the skyline. It is the main feature of whole park dedicated to mother Russia. Propaganda music is played over loudspeakers. Soviet weaponry is permanently displayed - everything from MIGS, tanks, helicopters and so on. Dotted all over the place are monuments that commemorate the Workers Partys struggle.
The main square in the heart of the city is were the non successful orange revolution took place. People are sunbathing happily after the rather harsh winters that besiege Kiev annually. Women show up in the shortest skirts possible and let there tits hang out. Almost no fat women are visible. The constant beauty is a bid intimidating and eventually annoying. President Janukovic once famously invited investors attending the WEF in Davos that they should come to Kiev during summer and fall in love with the women and country.

I walked to much, because I underestimated the size of the city. There countless places worth visiting. Mostly because of the size. But there are also monasteries with sarcophagus, countless gold roofed churches, Ladas passing by and good vistas over the surrounding area since Kiev is slightly elevated.
I also visited the Tschernobyl museum. I rather small shrine to commemorate the poor guys who had to clean the mess. The aftermath is still swallowing 5% of there annual GDP. I wanted to visit Tschernobyl, but the prices are over a hundred dollars.
Kiev is good fun - it is different: its a small time warp.

Lviv

After a horrible night bus from Krakow with 4 hours of waiting at the boarder. I arrived at a place that was far from being a city. First I got barked at by a vicious looking street dog. Then I found out that nobody speaks English. Everything is written in Cyrillic, so I also couldn't read anything. Eventually I found a bus that supposed to go the center. After walking from the center to the real center I found an ATM and a hostel. Then I slept a few hours and took a look at the city. Even though the western part of the Ukraine is very much in favour of Western European culture, the city looks Russian. There are some tourists, but they are on the sidelines. No EU money has not flown in yet and this is visible. The city it self is far from being a bijou with a few exceptions.
The part I liked the most was the cemetery. Overgrown by the forest lie countless gravestones from the past centuries. Some gravestones are very elaborate while others are wooden. Ukrainian nationalists got furious, when the government decided to start repairing works on the cemetery, because many supposedly Soviet heros are buried here.

Also just a few days before I arrived, the pro Russian government celebrated Victory Day. A holiday in honor of the Nazi defeat at the hand of the Soviets. But Ukrainian Nationalists complain that at that point in history the misery didn't stop. There were clashes and the Russian consul was not able to reach the monument. It was in the international newspapers.
I met very cool people in the hostel and went out every night. A delicious pizza costs 1.5 USD and a beer 0,5 USD. The national dish is Borscht. The main ingredient is beetroot and a oily bouillon. Some varieties are very good.
The clubs are cool a mostly full. We had a lot of fun and ordered vodka by the bottle.
I also visited my first opera in my life - Verdi. It was all subtitled in Ukrainian, so I couldn't follow, but it was still a cool experience.
After several really happy days I took the night bus to Kiev.