Cossack village

Typical Cossack house

This morning we visited a replica of a 17th-18th century Cossack village. Most surprising was the typical house with a bench on the outside for additional warmth in the winter, a drying space, and sitting; white walls with pancake glass and a straw roof. Inside it was decorated with embroidery. The stove served for both cooking, heating, and a warm bed. It was also decorated with the tree of life, a flower for every birth and a cross for each death. The wooden church has 3 domes for the trinity and a balcony for the priest to address those standing outside the church (since the inside can be quite small and stuffy). Finally, they had a rich home with Ukrainian baroque decorations. They had the usual craft areas, blacksmith and a potter, where Mary fashioned a small pot (with a little help).

We went for a good tasting lunch in a restaurant out of town. We were served our first and only chicken Kiev, stuffed with dill.

That evening, we had our farewell dinner with Ukrainian folk music and lots of vodka. Mary was the life of the party since several non-vodka drinkers offered her their glasses. We started with horseradish vodka and wine? What did we eat? Chicken, it was good.

Farewell folk music

So how do I summarize this trip? It was good to go with friends: Bill, Flo, Ruth, and Emily. We ate together the whole trip and shared our impressions. We also met people from across the US and lets not forget Thunder Bay, Canada.

We'll say we went to Russia and Kiev, but it was all in one timezone out of 11, sort of like going from New York City then cruising the Hudson river, Erie canal and Great Lakes to Cleveland and call that seeing the U.S. St. Petersburg was as memorable as our first visit 11 years ago with better roads, more stoplights, and probably 5x as many cars. Moscow, especially the Kremlin was a surprise, who expected 5 churches and only 2 government buildings? The cruise was like going through the North woods of Wisconsin visiting villages and towns along the way. Kiev, we weren't expecting anything and found a beautiful city.

The highlight of the trip, however, were the speakers: university students, Daniel from Ukraine, and especially the World War II veterans and the engineer from Chernobyl. All in all a great trip - I know a lot more about Russian history, people, and the capital cities.