Hutsulchnya Museum

We then walked a short distance to the Hutsulschyna (Hutsul) Museum. It was starting to get quite hot out and right in the middle of the day, so we were happy to be doing activities inside (by the way, Brooke didn't get a sunburn).

The Hutsul museum had many different artifacts from the Hutsul region in their day to day lives. There was a section on the different musical instruments that are commonly used, most of which we saw last night at the wedding. The trembitas are typically made with trees that have been hit with lightning. An instrument we hadn't seen before called a lira was a very unique instrument that uses a crank to make a similar monotone sound similar to a bag pipe, and then has a set of keys to add in different pitches.

There was a room of axes and different weapons. Included in this room were the typical Hutsul belts that we usually wear on stage. We learned that they are very wide in order to provide back support when cutting down trees.

The rest of the museum were collections of typical Hutsul dressings, paintings, dishes, and artwork. Another feature point was a replica of a Hutsul house that they had put together. I don't have too much more to say on it, partially because I'm a bit museum'd out and also because we were starting to get very hungry.

After the museum we made a stop at a Ukrainian church that was on the way. It was a Ukrainian catholic church and was the largest church in all of the Kolomeya region. I was told that the name of it is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The icons inside were beautiful and the church had a very grandiose feel to it. Unfortunately we only had a couple of minutes to appreciate it.

I don't think I've mentioned this before, but our typical days have had us eat at very long intervals. Lunches have been quite late and then dinner times are usually after arriving late to the hotel. Everyone has been doing pretty good with it, but by the end of the 2nd museum, everybody was famished and ready to eat.

Luckily the lunch stop was just a short bus trip away. The starter was a tasty salad that Brooke said was the best one we had yet (I think it was because we were so famished and anything would be the best one we had). We were also served a cup of soup and the best perogies we've had yet 😉! I was so hungry that I was on garbage disposal duty with the young girls we were sitting with and was vulturing over some other plates. I was also trying to fuel up the body because we have to perform tomorrow.

Then it was back on the bus to head to Ivano-Frankivsk where our second major performance will be.

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