| May 2007 Ukraine, Part Three After a while, it became increasingly apparent that we were lost. And unlike men of the United States, our driver was finally able to stop and ask for directions. It was an interesting moment, because our driver stopped to ask a cop. Nothing against cops, but only the day before, on our ride back from Sofiyivka Park down in Uman, a cop pulled over our driver. He didn't pull him over for speeding or not heeding a traffic light or sign, the cop pulled us over to make us give a woman a ride into Cherkasy. And she wasn't an ordinary lady. She was a little bit circus like, and like Mike Meyers often states, smelled a bit like "cabbage." The three of us kept asking DiAnna, "What is she saying?" But the woman never stopped for a breath, like some alien dropped upon us who keeps droning on and on about planting rhubarb for twelve hours a day on the fourth moon of Jupiter. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that moment. Especially a fly who understands Ukrainian!  Excuse me, Mr. Officer, are you busy? Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  OH, that driver is so busted... Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber And I say this is interesting in part because I saw a couple of these police batons at local markets, for sale next to some hats and other Russian army stuff, and it was a rare thing because we didn't see anything like this at any other markets but that one. I can't really see a use for such a baton, unless it was being used to shoot a movie or TV show, or being used to make up a really boss halloween costume. Any other use would probably be illegal, and considered impersonating an officer. It just shows how everything is for sale.  The sign says, "1,100-year old Pereyaslav Welcomes You" Translation by DiAnna Sheller Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  One of several Windmills dating back to the 17th centuries. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  A traditional rural Ukrainian home Note the horse on the roof, they are on many houses in Ukraine. Historians believe Ukrainians domesticated the horse 6,000 years ago. Also note the way the door swings. Some gates also swing this way. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber Even though the people who put the village together have gone to great lengths to make it look like the original spot of the village, it is not near a water source, and is not exactly on a major road. But they are quite convincing in the way the village looks as if it had sprung up there. With more help in translation from DiAnna, she told me how many of the buildings came from all over Ukraine. Some were transported intact, and others were disassembled and put back together onsite. She added that most of them are as original as they could be, with original wood, sticks or bricks. However, she said some were completed with "fake stuff." When we entered, and throughout the village, we passed gravestones that came from a Cossack graveyard dating back to the 1600s. The village became a sanctuary of sorts for the stones, which would have been lost had they not been moved. They came from an area that the government flooded to put in a reservoir and dam.  Traditional Ukraine stick and straw shelter The shelter may have been a home, or also been used to keep grain, livestock, or other possessions dry. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  There is a cross on the steeple. The building is most likely part of the Ascension monastery. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Ascension Monastery Nicole waiting for people to clear out to take some pictures Photo by Sam Sinke  Nicole at Ascension Monastery Photo by Sam Sinke  Steeple of a cathedral built between 1695 and 1700. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Ukraine Sod or Cob House Many houses like this, dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries have been excavated at this site. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  The same Cob House, showing the thatched roof Photo by Sam Sinke  Log Home, with a lot of carvings and adornment Note there is another horse on the eve of the roof. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Inside one of the very dark log homes Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  The Ascension Monastery and Cathedral from the late 17th Century. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  A closer look at the intricate carvings on a Log Home Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Front door, with an interesting lock system Photo by Sam Sinke  Thatched retaining wall, filled with mud, clay or a concrete material makes up the foundation of this home. Photo by Sam Sinke  Closeup of a thatched roof. The straw was really thick on a lot of the homes. Photo by Sam Sinke  The underside of the thatched roof, showing roof supports. Photo by Sam Sinke  Ukraine Gravesites Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Gravesites Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Gravesites Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Moss growing on a Gravesite. While it looks great, the moss or lichens will slowly destroy the gravemarker. Photo Courtesy Derrick Sheller For many Ukrainians, I have read how the Cossacks were much like the Wild West of the United States. Heroes and stories are similar. And from what I can tell, this era holds a similar place in the hearts of many Ukrainians.  Brotherhood Statue in Kiev, commemorating the 325th Anniversary of the Treaty of Pereiaslav. The village was later renamed Pereiaslav-Khmelnytski in honor of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, one of the men in the statue, the man who signed the treaty and swore allegiance to the tsar in Moscow, forever and fatefully tying Ukraine to Russia. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Same Brotherhood Statue in Kiev. Photo Courtesy Derrick Sheller  The Brotherhood Statue in Kiev, under the Friendship Arch. The arch is called "The Yoke" by the locals. The arch is 50 meters in Diameter and leads to a viewing deck of the Dnepr River. Photo Courtesy Derrick Sheller  A second shot of the Statue. The Brotherhood Statue is made of bronze, and the two men are holding up the Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The other statue in the back is made of granite and includes the people participating in the Pereyaslavka Rada in 1654, the fateful years where Ukraine became forever tied to Russia. The period after this time is called "The Ruin" in Ukraine. Photo Courtesy Derrick Sheller  Ascension Monastery Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Windmill dating back the the 17th century. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Sam Looking inside a Windmill. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Another windmill Photo by Sam Sinke  Large beam protruding out the back of a windmill Photo by Sam Sinke  Inside a windmill, showing the rotating "point" Photo by Sam Sinke  Inside windmill, showing the inside of the wall and the gap between it and the rotating "point." Photo by Sam Sinke  Another picture of the rotating point. Often stairs came down and rotated with the building. Photo by Sam Sinke  The back of the windmill, showing the beam out the back and the door into the windmill. Photo by Sam Sinke  An odd angle, but a clear look of the entire backside of a windmill Photo by Sam Sinke And I climbed underneath some of them to try to get an idea how they worked, hence the picture of my bum Nicole took as I was about to crawl inside. The whole building sits on a rotating point, not quite built in a perfect circle, but rather an octagon of large wood beams. Jetting out the back of each windmill was a large beam of wood, some of them still standing straight out from the building, others fallen limp from years of rotting and disrepair. These large beams are meant to turn the unit, either by getting many people to turn the unit or by using a large animal tethered to the end of the unit. And I would imagine, even though the windmills are quite large, that if the rotating point was greased properly, the windmill could probably be turned by one person. The windmills were obviously brought in from higher ground, for most of the village has too many trees, there is no place in the village where the windmills now stand for the wind to pick up any speed, and it just looks odd for any village to have any reason to have, say, more than one or two windmills. One of them is probably original. But there's no guarantee. The whole place seeps history from every relic. And even though we found it strange that it was just us and the school kids, there was something about the place that lead you to believed there was a purpose to all of the preservation going on around the grounds. May 2007  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Linen from the inside of one of the Cathedrals Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Inside a Ukraine Home Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Inside another Traditional Ukraine Home Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  The top of a traditional Ukrainian woven fence. Photo by Sam Sinke  A traditional Ukrainian woven stick fence. Photo by Sam Sinke  School kids, on their last two weeks, on a field trip. Photo by Sam Sinke  Traditional, Handmade Ukrainian Furnishings Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  A salvaged church or Cathedral tower Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Thatched building Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Stilted house, built in the trees, using the trees as a foundation and wall support. Photo by Sam Sinke  Inside the stilted house, I reached up through a window and clicked a couple pictures, then cut and pasted the two together, showing the room from floor to ceiling. It looks cozy, and could be yours for $75 per month, plus utilities! Photo by Sam Sinke  A pile of bricks being recycled into a new wall for a home in the village. Photo by Sam Sinke  An open area in the village, showing nothing in particular. So why did I take the picture? I'm not sure. Photo by Sam Sinke There were barns and lean-to sheds full of wagons, farm machinery, and other odd pieces for making things. And one uique set of stones was used for making wagon and ox-cart wheels several hundred years ago, and by the looks of them could still be used to make wheels today. The stones were mostly used to shape the metal used for the outermost part of the wheel and the inner wheel hub. And there were several pieces that were clearly for making rotation points, places where wood attached to the metal, and placed showing where parts had been greased.  Village worker using a Scythe to mow the yard. When I started snapping pictures, he put the Scythe away. I wished I could have gotten a close-up. Curious bit of trivia: A Scythe blade is called a Chine. The rest of the parts are called the Grip, Stem, Snath, Tang, Heel, Ring, Beard, and the tip is called a Toe. Photo by Sam Sinke  I was fascinated by the gates, and I can only guess they were built this way to keep livestock from jumping the fence at this point. This gate deserves further study. Photo by Sam Sinke  Another shot of the gate and the larger gate next to it. Photo by Sam Sinke  I've been wanting to show this to you "Plastic Sled Quarterly" readers for some time now. Wooden sleds! How sweet and cool are they!? I'll bet you could still catch wicked air on these babies! Photo by Sam Sinke  Yeah, there are some shots here of some wagons. But forget them. Who cares. Check out the wicked sleds behind them! I couldn't get any closer because I'm already leaning over a fence telling me not to go any closer. But.. But... But.... sleds! Photo by Sam Sinke  St. Michael's Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  An establishing shot of St. Michael's Cathedral Photo Courtesy Derrick Sheller  Inside St. Michael's Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Inside the steeple of St. Michael's Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Inside St. Michael's Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Pile of wheat or other tall grass Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Home of an early industrialist. They were in the process of refinishing the thatched roof. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Cathedral Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Post Office. I was corrected by DiAnna on this one (thanks again!). Oh, and my fiance Nicole said, "I told you so." DiAnna also adds, "The blue and yellow house towards the bottom of the blog is actually a post office of the 1800s (note pictures of couriers on horses). The sign does have the town name in the center, and it says 'Poltava Gooberniya' (county) right below. Obviously, Pereyaslav belonged to the Poltava county during that time. You can also notice a double-headed eagle above the entrance, which is the emblem of the Russian Empire (at that time, Ukraine was considered a Russian province)." Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber The oldest known map in the world was found in Ukraine, dating back to about 10,000 B.C. The second oldest map, about 5,000 years old (about 3,000 B.C.) was also found in Ukraine. Older maps were believed to be lost when the Great Library at Alexandria Burned to the Ground.  Small Fortress in the middle of the village. Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Worker building Fortress Walls Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Inside the Fort Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Worker giving me a strange look, trying to figure out why I'm fascinated with him working on a fence. Photo by Sam Sinke In combat, Ukrainians had the first bow built that wasn't a longbow, allowing warriors to shoot easier from a horse.  Pottery Carving of Agricultural Activities Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Pottery Carving Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Pottery Carving Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber  Large wooden carving, a motherland statue. This one is interesting, merging the hammer and the sickle. Usually the two are used as two seperate tools, showing strength of industrialism and strength of agriculture. Photo by Sam Sinke We spent a few hours at the place when DiAnna backtracked through the place and met up with us to tell us it was time to go. And we missed very little of the place. The only thing I wanted to see was more of the antique farm machinery. And in hindsight, I would have liked to see more of Sholem Aleichem's signs and tributes to him, things we missed but I found out about later when we arrived back in the states.  Sign with the name of the village (Pereyaslav Khmelnystky Agriculture Museum of Life... I think that's what it says...) and another 17th century Windmill Photo Courtesy Nicole Weber I quickly assessed the situation, pulled out my duffel bag, and put it on the reclined part of the driver's seat when I realized that the driver was going to try to drive us into Kiev with the seat in the fully-reclined position. The driver got in, shuffled around a bit against the duffel bag, then announced that it would work and it was even more comfortable than the original seat. Nice slam against Volkwagen, I guess. We only had about an hour and a half to go to get into Kiev. Well, we were only supposed to have an hour and a half left. That would be if the driver knew where the hell he was going. Kyiv is a really big city, and getting much bigger every day. With over 3-million people living there, the place will likely reach twice that number soon, because there isn't an area or part of the skyline at this momen that doesn't have a huge construction crane in it. I'm guessing by the number of these cranes that operating one has been the fastest growing job in Kiev in the past few years. The second might be begging for tourists' dollars, or Hrivnas, but I guess I'll have to do more research on that one. It seemed that way to anyone making common sense observations. We arrived on the outskirts of Kiev, and after our driver took his 5-minute smoke break, we arrived on the expressway, where drivers went as fast as their cars could go. The city and the highway were busy, yet we saw very little bumper-to-bumper traffic. We were finally in Kiev. | Sam's Blog Archive |