Now that we have the court appointment behind us, we have a mandatory ten day waiting period. At the end of that period we still have to get Andry’s birth certificate, get a medical for him and get his passport. All those requirements must wait until we get the court decree in hand which could actually be more like 14 to 15 days instead of ten. So, we have time on our hands.
We decided to go to the Carpathians Mountains in the western part of Ukraine. That area is also the center for Ukrainian folk art and crafts. We also thought there would be things for the children to do such as horse back riding, playing with rocks in the stream, hiking in the forest and whatever. Since we have a farm in the mountains back home, this trip might help with our burgeoning homesickness.
We left Kiev early Friday morning. The kids slept for hours in the car. They would wake up to have lunch and then go back to sleep.
We had heard stories about the rough roads. Mostly true and there were no four lane autobahns or whatever you call super highways in Russian. Speaking of Russian, Yelana advised us not to speak Russian in the Carpathian Mountains, stick to Ukrainian since Russian is not popular in Western Ukraine. For us that means don’t say, “Spasiba”, say “Dyekooyo” for thanks and say “Kava s molokom” instead of “Kafe s molokom”. I think we can handle that.
We make it to the edge of the mountains and stay at a hotel in Ivano Frankviske which the guide books says is much like an Austrian hotel. However, it was far from any Austrian hotel I’ve ever stayed in. But it was ok. The receptionist however was terrified that we were not going to pay or bill or that we used something from the mini-bar. She asked three different times about the minibar and then when Pippa came down drinking from a large bottle of water that we carry with us, asked again if it came from the mini-bar.
Breakfast was uneventful. We made certain that Andry got his meal before anyone else, since in the last four meals, his meal came last, long after everyone else, or was forgotten all together. No mouth-watering German or Austrian breakfast buffet but at least they brought us food.
The mountains were further away than we thought. The ride through the foothills was extremely interesting. The country houses began to get more and more decorative and looked a lot like the eggs they create. Lots of bright purple trim, green trim and the more we got into the mountains, the more we saw pressed tin, first on trim, then entire houses with bright metal with embossed decoration in the metal.
It’s as if a region of relative poor people suddenly became wealthy. With as much money as they want they could build whatever they wanted to build. So they go down to the local Ukrainian Home Depot equivalent and pick out the gaudiest roof, siding, doors, windows, well shelters and fences in the catalog. They’ll put a blue metal roof with yellow siding and purple trim. We saw one large house with a bright purple fence, bright yellow lower siding and bright green upper siding; the roof was shiny tin. In the yard, there was a four-foot, green teapot. The teapot could be a covering around the water well. Maybe. We never did find out the function. Around one approximately six foot tall teapot there was a small cup and saucer.
Over each water well, the decorations get more and more outlandish. In fact, they began to be miniature copies of the onion-domed churches.
Speaking of the churches, they are all over the place. Grander and grander and more and more bizarre. Some were beautiful. Some were quite ugly. Some just gaudy. But they certainly make a statement.
They also build minuture churches along the side of the road. We must have seen 40 today. Yelana explained that these are build so people can worship frequently. They often put the structures where they feel an accident is likely to happen. Private homes also build the structures in their yards or inserted into their roadside fence.
The county esthetic is very different from the same kind of alpine area in Germany or Switzerland. In those counties, the esthetic all seems to be done in the same careful sensibilities with gradual differences region to region. In this part of Ukraine everyone seems to do their own thing.
But these people have a passion for flowers. They pack their little yards with every imaginable bloom. Some yards are breathtaking even if the esthetic sensibilities are a little over done, shall we say.
We stopped at a folk art museum in Kosiv.
Kosiv is the center of Carpathian folk art. Pippa bought a few things and then we set out to find the folk art market outside of town. We found it but there was no folk art. Instead it was a serious flea market for locals. We stayed for five minutes and then headed deeper into the mountains.
Then we had a stroke of good luck. We drove by a place that was sited by a beautiful mountain stream. It looked like a mountain restaurant but the gate for cars was locked. Vasilly hopped out and came back ten minutes later and encouraged us to go in.
It was perfect. There was one rustic lodge restaurant building and behind the lodge there were trails leading to covered porches overlooking the stream.
Each porch had a built in table and benches. The waiter comes and takes your order and you eat your meal in a very special setting.
But we had an episode of sullen anger with Andry. He had asked to cross the river to play on the other side and we said he couldn’t until later. Before we could explain why (we needed to order lunch first), he let us know how angry with us he was; he sat on a rock, sullen and refusing to speak. So we had no choice but to have a confrontation and explain to him our rules about such behavior. With Yelana there to translate, we thought it was a perfect time to establish some guidelines on ways to constructively communicate to us what he was feeling.
He came out of his mood with some help from Olya who stayed cheerful and coaxed him to go play. They ended up in the stream collecting rocks.
Andry and Olya tossed their favorite rocks to Pippa who was waiting on the bank.
The rock collection.
Then the kids discovered wild raspberries. At the end of the meal Andry asked if Ron and I would go pick berries with Olya and him. We jumped at the offer knowing he was trying to reconnect with us. We were so happy he did that.
The meal was good with special items from the region, including a spectacular desert––sweet large dumplings with whipped cream and berries.
We stayed for a very long time. The owner, in his Carpathian shirt, was very considerate and spent a lot of time suggesting where we should go on our trip. As we left a wedding group stopped to have their photographs taken in front of the picturesque stream. As Andry watched the couple on the hill he said, "now they will run." Sure enough. Holding hands the bride and groom ran down the hill and then had group pictures taken with the rest of their guests.
This lunch ended up to be just as we had imagined a perfect lunch in the mountains should be.
A couple of hours through the higher and higher mountains and we came to a complex of rustic log buildings. We stopped and looked at the detached log houses, all decorated in a rustic esthetic, but very nice. Andry rejected this place because he wanted to stay in a place with a balcony he could sleep on and see the stars. Olya didn’t like it much either.
So we drove another a little farther to a nearly identical place except there was no restaurant. We parents took charge and went back to the first place which, this time, the kids now loved because they saw it had horses to ride and in the back a fox in a cage.
After we checked in we heard lots of mooing and ringing of bells. The cows were literally coming home.
Olya and Andry watched the cow parade as the ladies walked back to their barns. Passing cars had to stop and wait.
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