There is a tradition you have to follow: to enter the shepards’ house you should bring a loaf of bread, salt and say something similar to “God bless your home, please let us come in”.
These guys live there in the warm season (5-6 months) and once it gets cold they go down back to their homes in the village. They take their herd with them and sell the cheese for living.

These are the first two stages of the cheese (called “first cheese” – yellow and “second cheese” – white), the third cheese is the actual brynza. These wonderful hospitable men invite you to share the food with them – the taste is very interesting. We bought some cheese from them (600 grams = €4,5) and shared it with our families back home.

This field looks very small from the village – you can see it on the picture (the lonely tree in the middle of the picture is the spot)

The whole tour (car ride, the hike itself, chese tasting and the guide support) was 50 UAH for two (~€5). I strongly recommend trying this hike if you happen to be in the area!

Complicated, but totally worth it. We took a train from Kiev to Ivano-Frankivsk (a night train that arrives at around 6am), then took a bus to Kolomyja and from there took a bus to Sheshory. The round trip for two was roughly 600 UAH (~ €60). Another way would be travelling by car (but keep in mind that the roads are quite bad, so a city car would struggle). You can also fly to Lviv and hire someone who would take you around – this is a good option for foreigners who don’t speak Ukrainian (I know one guy, totally recommend).

Housing and food

We stayed at a wonderful small hotel called Filvarok nad Hukom (= “a lodge upon a curvy mountain stream”), we paid 400 UAH (~40€ per night with breakfast), they have bikes to rent, a small outside swimming pool, sauna, pool, and some other goodies. I have to mention this a very good price for what you’re getting – I would rate this hotel close to good European ***. They can also advise you on things to see and even book you a tour with an experience local guide who speaks 5 languages.

We had lunch and dinner at a restaurant called Arkan. It is very close to the hotel, to be honest it’s if not the only restaurant in the area. We loved the food – it’s fresh, authentic, rich and inexpensive.

And I wanted to share some more pictures of the village to show why I call it the little Scandinavia:

p.s. It is a pity there’s not much information about Sherory in English, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments below.

p.p.s. All links in this post lead to relevant sites, I have not been paid for reference, this is purely mine recommendation.

It’s hard to stop in the whirlwind of events and thoughts, but I want to make a small list of things I’m missing already from my Munich life.

• mvv.de which at any time of the day tells you how to get places and is so accurate I still think it’s magic. We don’t have anything like that here. I’m thinking I should leave the house 20 min earlier just to be on the safe side and catch that bus.
• Dallmayr – the lovely chocolate treats.. mmm…
• Cycling. Miss it… A lot… Can’t. Do. It. In. Ukraine. I guess that was one of the “living in Europe, riding around on a low-frame bike with a basket in front, with flowers and baguettes in it, having a dress on and a straw hat” kind of dream. I lived it. Done.
• I also honestly miss online banking when everything is easy. And online shopping when everyone ships to your country, your money is already in Euros, no converting fees, delivery delays and “sorry, Ukraine-where? I don’t  think we ship there – is that in the United States at all?” (over-exaggerating here, but it’s close to reality)
• I also miss Yohannes’ studio and all those wonderful bead stores. Apparently we have the same thing here, but it’s expensive :-(
• And those little places I love – the Asian across the street from the office, Dolce Vita (cheers, ladies), Ice cream Parlor at Turkenstrasse, that Greek place and all good-quality Japanese restaurants. Awww.. But the most I miss Le Pain Quotidien, though I found this new French bakery in Kiev – they have sandwiches equally good, no lemonade just yet.

• The main thing that makes my heart sigh are the greatest people I met and were lucky to be friends with. I really, really miss you guys.

But I’ll be back! Some day. I mean I have to ride a bike in my summer dress and stuff it with baguettes from Le Pain, and see you all once again, right? RIGHT?

There’s so much I can write about Rock im Park, so much… But I’ll round it up to 5 tips I figured out can save your festival experience.

1) Buy tickets in advance – 130Eur pre-sale instead of 170Eur – makes 40 Euros or 10 beers on site.

2) Unless you’re the rock-star with a spirit, find a way not to camp. Camping gets dirty.

Really dirty. Naturally it’s your own responsibility to clean up after yourself, but well… Let’s say not all the rock stars with spirit care :-)

I did Couch Surfing with a wonderful girl and it made my festival as enjoyable as it could – thank you Tina!

3) Check the weather forecast and plan for the opposite. It said sun AND rain this time, so I took water-proof shoes (kind of) and a rain jacket – they won’t let your umbrella in, absolutely no chance. For hot weather take shorts and bikini tops (if you’re a girl, shorts for guys, skirt is also an option – looks awesome). Nobody cares what you’re wearing, honestly, but it’s the best outfit for +30 and the straight sun. Also, no dark clothes. The look on the left is WRONG. No, the glasses and the hat are a must, but no black! I had a reason for jeans, but the shirt was a mistake. Only white. Better with no shirt on, just the bikini top.

Also if you have to carry a bag, think twice. Boys do it great, somehow they never need a bag – how do they do that? But a small bag is ok, over the shoulder one works – you can always feel safe with it, even in a crowd.

And shoes. Well, the most comfortable you have and the least expensive so you don’t cry over a beer spill or worse ;-)

4) Have the line up with you – you don’t want to miss your favorite band. There were three stages this time and I lost my print-out on the first day so I always had to ask the guys “so what time are…” and “what stage is…”

5) Be yourself. Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. Have earplugs if it’s loud for you – you won’t look less rock-ish or anything, but you’ll be able to hear the next morning ;-) Those festivals are the Notgiveadamnia, nobody cares, everyone is enjoying and celebrating life.

And now pictures, pictures, pictures (thank you Marianna and Boris!)

Main stage

Muse performing. I forgot to say that they don’t let you in with big cameras. If you’d like to take pictures have a small camera or your cell phone with those pixels – yeah!

This was so smart – the survival kit with the tape as a strap. Quite a lot of people were carrying juice cartons like that. Oh, right, forgot to mention – they don’t let you in with cans or bottles, only paper cartons like that. Though I don’t think there’s actually juice in those ;-)

For the headliners it gets crowded – if you want to get to the fan zone, get there for the previous performer – they may just close the barrier for entrance.

If you keep your eyes wide open and sometimes off the stage you can see the stars. Literally, we saw Kate Nash watching 30 Seconds to Mars this close. And then you can post those paparazzi pictures in your blog and be all “Oh my God, Oh my God, I saw Kate Nash!!!”

(she’s the girl on the right, by the way. Wait a second, is she actually wearing different socks?)

Once we went to see the interview of Alice in Chains and there was a trampoline right next to the lounge they were in. And then one of them said “Screw the interview I want to see 50 people on this thing jumping”. The banknote was passed to the guard. Everyone was hesitating if it’s for real and we were already jumping ;-) Yours truly bought another “I love” t-shirt. Again.

Thank you guys for the fantastic experience! It wouldn’t have been the same without you!

And somehow I have mostly pictures of concrete buildings that look very soviet. I don’t know. I’m Ukrainian. Concrete building don’t shine their authenticity to me. Well, I won’t try to form any prejudice here, just the facts.

You won’t read much about Bucharest in travel blogs neither there’s much online in general. It was my first trip ever with no research beforehand. I just came. Wrong! Have I read anything about Bucharest I would have probably gone out exploring rather then staying home scared for the whole day till the locals rescued me.

Bucharest is a very big, spacious city. Huge buildings which remind me of “Khrushevki” in Kiev. Actually if you take Kiev, leave out the beautiful ancient sights, take a bit of greenery out as well, rewind it 50 years and add some depression in the air, you’ll get the Romanian capital. Oh, and wires. Everywhere – the sky is black with hanging wires. I’ve never seen anything like that before.

Again, I don’t want to sound rude – I don’t have anything against Bucharest. It’s pure facts here. Like this one:

What do you think that could be?

No, not a nest on a stick, and no, it’s not a giant Shashlik left-over. That’s something called a Pyramid of Victory. I’m serious:

We also saw the police show-off

It was Europe day by the way

All in all it was nice. Bucharest has something Mediterranean about it – the lazy spanish-like gardens, a little shabby, very warm and loud. Everything is cheap, hairdressers are good, taxis is the main means of getting around (the public transportation stops running at 11pm). An amazing flea market. A big expat community and great friendly people.

I actually don’t know why I’m listing those things here – is anyone likely to go to Brighton any time soon? No? Well, then I’m wasting my time :-)

So there were:

The Open Studios on the beach front facing the sea.

Basically different artists sit together and work in variable techniques (enameling, pottery, paperwork, glass jewelry) and you can come in, take a look and buy something you like. We did.

Then there’s the best shoe store on Earth – softest leather from Brazil (?), as Vogue said “Whilst in Brighton North Laines a visit to Yoma Boutique is a must! A treasure trove of the most stylish shoes, bags, and clothes. Not to be missed!”. They said it.

And the Appendage store with handmade goods (36 Kensington Gardens). If you’re into handmade you’ll get out of there with dozens ideas to note down.

And last but not least the Cream Tea:

with their best cakes cut so perfectly that it still makes me wonder – what kind of knife do you need to cut a blueberry like that?

Thank you and until next post – cheers!

See?
In the next post I’ll show you some places we’ve been to with links or addresses. This time I will try to share the great sunny Friday downtown Brighton.

I don’t know if they had a special occasion or if it was pre-May-the-1st day, but the streets were jolly and generally festive.

The main sight of this town is the Royal Pavilion, built for then Prince Regent, looks rather weird – such an Indian look for the British seaside. I don’t know more, the website does.

Well, until the next post, enjoy the pictures here :-)

*and yes, I have this mania f taking pictures of my feet – what do they call it?

There were 3 things that will stay in my heart and I want to carve them in stone here share:

• Antropologie store on Regent’s street. It’s something special – like a treasury with carefully selected pieces. They even have a green wall with live flowers.
• Hand dryers in Tate Modern (also spotted at Gatwick airport).

• Going to plays in London. We’ve seen “Women beware women” at the National
  
  and Psy Circus at the Peacock Theatre.

It was the most inspiring long weekend I’ve had. You can see some pictures here if you like. An extra applause to Le Pain Quotidien – pastries worth dying for.

Yours truly adores London:

(press play for a full impression)

There is so much said and written about Camden that I will most probably not be original at all. Probably the only thing I could share here is a tip that saved my budget a big one – HAVE A LIST. Not only it’ll prevent unplanned buys but also will keep your eye sharp. I was hoping to get quite  a few things during the UK trip and I must say it was a great success! Everything you might want IS there, it’s just a matter of how hard you’re looking for it.

Along with my quest I had a very inspiring conversation with a local silversmith and guess what? She loved my ring (the first silver ring I ever made, some pictures of it here).

If you’re there with your camera, don’t try to sneak-pic – most of the sellers don’t like it. I always asked. Most of them said no.

I honestly don’t know what else to say here – it’s something you have to see yourself I guess.

P.S. Girls, lacy dresses, polka-doted thighs, hats, fake Ray-Bans and Oxford shoes are totally taking over this summer ;-)