17th June
We went to the Museum dedicated to the Chenobyl disaster of 1986. It’s amazing what the Ukrainian and Russian people were not told. People weren’t even evacuated for 36 hours & there have been many radiation associated deaths.
We are mastering the Metro quite well especially as station names are in English and also they are given a number. Trains are very frequent and it only costs 25c to where you want to go.
I went up to one of the cathedrals in the afternoon & it was an amazing example of mosaic art. It contained numerous museums which were interesting.
At about 7pm we headed to the Metro once again but with our luggage. It was a nightmare with the crowds and heat & by the time we reached the main railway station we were lathered in sweat!. We boarded the night train to travel further west into the Ukraine and it left exactly on time. We had to make up our own bunks and joy of joy I was on the bottom bunk. There were two Russian in the compartment & the guide translated the conversation of the older gentleman - the story of his youth was pretty terrible but he wanted us to know about it.
18th June
Slept quite well considering the amount of rocking and according to others the amount of stations the train stopped at!
Were picked up from our arrival station by mini bus for a drive of about an hour into the countryside. The roads were something to behold - just pothole after pothole and consequently the driver was all over the place trying to miss them. We arrived unscathed at a B& B where a shower and breakfast were the order of the day.
Did a tour of the town and visited a folk museum. It’s amazing how many crafts are continued generation after generation. Saw how they made the fancy Easter eggs from real eggs - it was an interesting process although some of it was like batik.
Went to a delicious patisserie where a big pot of tea and a fancy slice of cake set me me back just over $3!!
Some of us opted to be shown how to make Ukrainian dumplings by the owner’s mother and we then helped her to make them.
Dinner was homemade Borsch soup - very Ukrainian/Russian - followed by the homemade dumplings. Yum!
19th June
Off at 8:30 in a minibus to the nearby mountains. Arrived in a little village and started to walk uphill through fields of wild flowers and into beech woods - it reminded me so much of England, especially when I heard the cuckoo. At one stage we saw a snake and unlike my usual leaping about in fright I was very calm & watched it slither away - I know it wasn’t very big but I did find out later that it was one of the poisonous varieties!
Shepherd's hut
We could hear the cow bells from cattle grazing in the hills and later came across a shepherds house ( they call anyone who looks after the cattle shepherds). In the wooden house the open fire was smoking and we crammed inside to see where they made the cheese. Some of it rests on the rafters just above the smoke & that flavours the cheese. Cheese is made fresh each day and the fire never goes out. We tasted three types of cheese and they were all very good. A shepherd stays there all the time but there are three of them and they rotate at the end of each week.
The descent was pretty steep but there was a river waiting to restore us. When I plunged in it took my breath away as it was so cold but after a short while it became enjoyable & so refreshing after the walk.
We drove to the next village where we had lunch (3pm) at a local house. Started with Borsch & then had a variety of Ukrainian foods - very enjoyable. Out came the homemade vodka which we were all encouraged to sample and the glasses were refilled a couple of times. The lady then showed us some embroidery she had done - quite exquisite - and showed us the outfit she’s embroidering for her son’s wedding in a couple of months.
We went to the Museum dedicated to the Chenobyl disaster of 1986. It’s amazing what the Ukrainian and Russian people were not told. People weren’t even evacuated for 36 hours & there have been many radiation associated deaths.
We are mastering the Metro quite well especially as station names are in English and also they are given a number. Trains are very frequent and it only costs 25c to where you want to go.
I went up to one of the cathedrals in the afternoon & it was an amazing example of mosaic art. It contained numerous museums which were interesting.
At about 7pm we headed to the Metro once again but with our luggage. It was a nightmare with the crowds and heat & by the time we reached the main railway station we were lathered in sweat!. We boarded the night train to travel further west into the Ukraine and it left exactly on time. We had to make up our own bunks and joy of joy I was on the bottom bunk. There were two Russian in the compartment & the guide translated the conversation of the older gentleman - the story of his youth was pretty terrible but he wanted us to know about it.
18th June
Slept quite well considering the amount of rocking and according to others the amount of stations the train stopped at!
Were picked up from our arrival station by mini bus for a drive of about an hour into the countryside. The roads were something to behold - just pothole after pothole and consequently the driver was all over the place trying to miss them. We arrived unscathed at a B& B where a shower and breakfast were the order of the day.
Did a tour of the town and visited a folk museum. It’s amazing how many crafts are continued generation after generation. Saw how they made the fancy Easter eggs from real eggs - it was an interesting process although some of it was like batik.
Some of us opted to be shown how to make Ukrainian dumplings by the owner’s mother and we then helped her to make them.
Dinner was homemade Borsch soup - very Ukrainian/Russian - followed by the homemade dumplings. Yum!
19th June
Off at 8:30 in a minibus to the nearby mountains. Arrived in a little village and started to walk uphill through fields of wild flowers and into beech woods - it reminded me so much of England, especially when I heard the cuckoo. At one stage we saw a snake and unlike my usual leaping about in fright I was very calm & watched it slither away - I know it wasn’t very big but I did find out later that it was one of the poisonous varieties!
Shepherd's hutWe could hear the cow bells from cattle grazing in the hills and later came across a shepherds house ( they call anyone who looks after the cattle shepherds). In the wooden house the open fire was smoking and we crammed inside to see where they made the cheese. Some of it rests on the rafters just above the smoke & that flavours the cheese. Cheese is made fresh each day and the fire never goes out. We tasted three types of cheese and they were all very good. A shepherd stays there all the time but there are three of them and they rotate at the end of each week.
The descent was pretty steep but there was a river waiting to restore us. When I plunged in it took my breath away as it was so cold but after a short while it became enjoyable & so refreshing after the walk.
We drove to the next village where we had lunch (3pm) at a local house. Started with Borsch & then had a variety of Ukrainian foods - very enjoyable. Out came the homemade vodka which we were all encouraged to sample and the glasses were refilled a couple of times. The lady then showed us some embroidery she had done - quite exquisite - and showed us the outfit she’s embroidering for her son’s wedding in a couple of months.
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