Day of rest

Nevitsky Castle atop a mountain in the Transcarpathian Mountains.

A fun day at Nevitsky Castle. Work crew finally gets a day off!

There are many rumored stories of this castle, but we couldn't tell you what they are at this point. This castle is in ruins as you can see from the photo, as there have been many battles and hostile takeovers. This castle is located in the Transcarpathian area of Ukraine.

Another view of the ruined castle on a cool, overcast day high up on the mountain top.

Susan, Leroy, Dixie and Betty admiring the views. We climbed to the very top, of course, to view the entire town of Kamyanitsia below. We spotted the little church in the valley and the very spot where we were to picnic later.

Vova and Carmen taking a rest. They are hosting this God-given day of wonderful glorious rest!

Some of the crazier folks in the group decided to hike down the mountain, while other more sane folks took the bus down. The hikers beat the bus down; they knew the shortcut.

Doing what we do best: eating!

We took a journey through the mountains by way of the scenic route arriving at the picnic area beside a babbling brook in the Ukraine National forest. We passed apple orchard after apple orchard, bounced through many pot holes, and came close to the border of Slovakia.

We arrived to Anna and Volodia cooking chicken over an open fire. With cucumbers, tomatoes, bread and watermelon and cookies, we enjoyed a feast and a lively conversation about our work, the state of the union and the experiences of the Ukranian people.

The dacha of Nikita Kruschev is right down the road from our picnic spot. It has been in a state of ruin for years; however, recently this government has endowed a refurbishing project which appears to be progressing rather slowly.

This is the main house of the dacha; we checked out the bunker, the swim house and the gate house. Can you imagine just what type of decisions that shaped the world were made here?

This blog brought to you by Marci and Eric.