L'viv

Remember that saying about saving your money for a rainy day? Well, L'viv is known as The Rainy City. . . and our first stop was a Chocolate factory. Let’s just say I’m my mother’s daughter.

Okay, so I’m being a little bit dramatic. It’s not like I spent almost $50 on chocolate and had to count my pennies for lunch . . .or carry my bag with two hands so the bottom didn’t rip out . . . ;)

I honestly felt like I was at the grocery store! At least my gift shopping is finished J And believe you me, it’s going to make it home!

 













Besides the chocolate products themselves, the whole set-up of the factory was really neat! Downstairs, there was a café where you could sample the chocolate (straight, melted in a cup or as part of a coffee or treat), and a glass section where you could watch the workers form delicate artwork out of melted chocolate. It was clean, happy and so fairy-tale-like that I felt like I should be keeping an eye out for Oompa-Loompas! Upstairs was more of a zoo than a fairy-tale. The walls were lined with delicious, beautiful chocolate in all sort of fun shapes while the isles were stocked full of the world’s most wide-eyed chocolate lovers. By listening to the conversations and accents, you could tell that people come from all over the world for a taste of L’viv handmade chocolate.

Once we had safely exited the chocolate factory, we stopped by a graffiti contest in the town square. Here, people had large canvasses and ware paining graffiti on them. The are was spectacular, plus we got to make our won contribution to a mural for the public. It was neat to see the artist interact and to be a part of it myself. This is one of my favouite parts about travelling! To me, travelling is not so much about the experience that everyone talks about, it’s about having my own experience and contributing to that of others. I really like to feel what the city is all about and community events like this are what makes that possible. Plus, being a part of this graffiti contest and seeing things like  an impromptu break dancing contest in Kiev give me all sort of ideas for once I return to be involved in my own community in Canada.