The view from the Panorama Restaurant

Beautiful city. Back in class on Monday I work with Dana on useful all-purpose phrases: "I'm going to say a few words in Ukrainian, and then switch to English"; "Britain supports Ukrainian membership of the EU and NATO when Ukraine has met the necessary conditions"; and "this is a beautiful city". In the afternoon Oleh Berezyuk, Director of the Mayor's Office, shows me round his department. It seems to consist entirely of enthusiastic young people, many of them unpaid volunteers. At the new smart new computerised "one-stop shop" for Lviv citizens Oleg thanks me for the embassy's major new e-government project, which is helping make this happen.

In the evening the Mayor, Andrii Sadovyi, invites me for a 1:1 dinner at the Panorama Restaurant, overlooking the opera house. It's a world-class view. Over 3 hours, we discuss the city's plans for Euro 2012; the political situation in Kyiv; and the future of Ukraine. After studying Ukrainian in post, and speaking nothing else for the last two weeks, this is the first time I've ever had a major meeting in Ukrainian, rather than English or Russian – although a few words of the latter creep in. I'm grateful to the Mayor for putting up with me.