Success! The Zhniva Ethnographic Festival in Pirogiv

For starters: Anyone interested in visiting the outdoor ethnographic museum in Pirogiv (whether during the festival or otherwise) should take the blue metro line to Vasylkivska station (currently the last station on the line) then take marshrutka (mini-bus) #172 southward. Its last stop is the park. I may have had to use the location of the sun to determine which direction was south in order to know where to wait.

(Do not follow the directions in the 2010 Bradt Guide to Ukraine, as - oddly enough - it says to go to metro station Libidska and take bus #27 to the end of the line. I read that bit of advice last night, and was very confused as that was exactly the bus I'd accidentally taken to the middle of nowhere yesterday! I haven't been at all impressed by this particular Bradt Guide in general, and this discovery rather cemented my dislike.)

Anyhow! I made it to the festival this time. It was an absolutely beautiful day for a festival - sunshine, blue skies with puffy white clouds, and temperatures in the low 70s. I've been to quite a few outdoor museums in my life, in several different countries. This was by far the biggest I've ever seen. I didn't even explore the whole thing - I was too worn out from walking. The park features historical buildings (shipped in and reassembled) from all across Ukraine. Most of them are open to visitors, and are furnished according to their period and location.

This is the view from the entrance, just to give you an idea of the scale of this place.

For the festival, the place was crawling with people in period and traditional dress, explaining exhibits, singing, dancing, playing various musical instruments, and selling a variety of traditional arts and crafts.

These were being hand-woven out of straw on-site



This sweet (and unfortunately, pregnant) kitty was hanging out, posing for pictures with passersby.

This toad was totally indifferent to people. One girl put her hand in front of it, hoping that it would hop onto her hand (I am *so* not in Korea!!), but it just hopped over her hand and kept on trucking.

I spent all afternoon at the park, and took a ton of photographs. To see the whole set, either click on the slideshow below, or for the direct link (better for slower connections), click here. Enjoy!

I took this shot from the window of the marshrutka on my way out - ridiculous traffic jam. It took a solid half hour to get out to the highway.