City views

The band who greeted me! Actually this school group from Belarus was in I-F for Ukrainian Independence Day August 25 and played by the statue of Ivan Franko in honor of his birthday August 27, coincidentally my first day in I-F. The city was formerly called Stanislawiw, renamed in 1962 for the poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, economist, and political activist Ivan Franko (1856-1916). Behind the students and out of view is the Hotel Надія (Nadiya), formerly named the Hotel Ukraina (and some people still call it that) but they decided when the statue was placed there that Ivan Franko would never turn his back on Ukraine, hence the hotel was renamed. Visible in the background is the city's theatre complex.