Horyani Rotunda - Horyanskaya Church of St. Nikolai

Rode Klara's bicycle to Horyani to see the 12th Century Rotunda. Horyani is not far from Dravtsi. It is on the other side of the bazaar. The first part of the trip was easy, but once beyond the bazaar I had a climb for about two miles up a steep hill. When I saw the sign pointing to the Rotunda, I thought my climb was over, but it just led to another hill.

An old well along the way:

The Rotunda:

Near the church is a building under construction. Not sure what it is, but there is a cross on top, maybe this will be a chapel??

Beside the church is a memorial with a large cross; on both sides are mounds of earth. Are these graves of important people??

From the top of the hill,you can see for miles. 

Off in the distance you can see the Orthodox Church in Uzhgorod. It is at the horizon line, to the left of the large white triangular roof.

At least the ride back was mostly downhill. The road from the Rotunda was so steep that I had to go from side to side to control my speed, just as if I were skiing on a very steep ski slope.

At the bottom, I took a wrong turn, and stopped a man and woman to ask for directions. Very friendly people, went out of their way to walk with me to the intersection I needed. I had told them that my grandparents were from Dravtsi, and they were very interested. Wanted to know my ancestors surnames. I'm still in awe of how friendly everyone is here, and how willing to go out of their way for strangers.

The bike ride from Dravtsi to Horyani and back only took an hour, including the time I spent taking photos. Soon after I returned to Klara's, Misha came, and we spent the rest of the day finishing pressing the apples for juice.

After all the juice is squeezed out of the pulp, the pulp is dry, and in a block, like a brick.

The juice from the apples was boiled in huge cauldrons on the stove, to prepare for storage in jars. Misha estimated we made about 100 liters of juice, or 26 gallons. Misha said that this would all be gone by New Years.

Misha's youngest children, Katya and little Misha, came over after school. I helped Katya with her English lesson. Katya is 7 years old (8th birthday next week), and in the 3rd grade. She writes English in cursive. Below is a photo of one of her English workbooks. 

One of Katya's classes is a class in "Logic". Nothing like this in American schools that I know of, especially not in the third grade! I wish I knew Ukrainian better; I wasn't able to understand her "Logic" textbook, but from the examples and diagrams I saw, it looks like the "Logic" course is designed to teach "thinking". 

While Misha continued pressing the apples, I entertained the children, Katya and Misha. Little Misha's favorite toy is "Lego's". 

Katya and Misha watched Ukrainian cartoons on YouTube on my computer, until their mom, Miroslava, came to take them home.

I never knew what hard work it was to make juice with a simple press. It takes a lot of muscle to turn the screws of the press. I won't have any trouble sleeping tonight.