Lviv

Lviv Rear Window. It's only an hour's flight from Kyiv to Lviv but the two cities are utterly different. Kyiv, badly damaged in the war, has a 10thC heart, a grandiose 1950s Soviet centre and a mighty river running through it. Lviv, known by Poles, German speakers and Russians respectively as Lwow, Lemberg and Lvov, is a bit newer (13thC), has an intact, central European centre, and suffers from water shortages. It's always nail-biting, waiting to meet your host family when you're heading for immersion; but Mykhaylo Stepanovych and his grown-up son welcome me warmly to their 6th floor flat near the town centre; and speak slowly and clearly for my benefit. My room, which contains a fold-down bed and the family library, overlooks a charming "Rear Window"-type courtyard where washing hangs and a couple chat on a balcony. Everyone agrees to speak only Ukrainian. We rapidly reach a consensus that the best way to spend the evening will be to watch the Arsenal-Man United Champions League second leg on Ukrainian TV.