In some ways this Saturday was just like so many others here. We got up early (sort of as I slept in until seven or so) and got our breakfast, showered and headed off to do our weekly shopping. I thought it would be good to shop every two weeks and just pick up milk and other needs during the week. However, the load was so heavy, Elder Morgenegg suggested that weekly trips would be better so now we shop weekly and since the store is open 24/7 it is much quieter early in the morning before the mall opens and the world gets moving. It makes for a much lighter load to take home in our cart also so it is the best way to shop. After we got home and put things away we were off on another adventure. We discussed several options, some we will save for days that are not good for outside adventures, another we will save for another Saturday when it is sunny like today was. Now it is almost eight at night and it has been a very full day.
We decided to revisit the tram we took out to the end of the line last week only we got off when we got to the “end of the line.” It is not really the end just as far as it goes before it comes back.
First some pictures I took on the tram on the way out. They are not as good a quality taken through the glass of the tram but I hope you get the idea of what we saw.
As we told you there are actually some streets with what appear to be single family houses. We don’t see any of these where we normally travel so this was interesting to us.
Many of the houses have high fences that you can see over on the tram and gates like this one does.
Another house we saw. There are many along the route the tram takes. I imagine they don’t like having the tram in their back yard. One interesting thing. The workers who collect the tram fees get off before the end – several stops before the end. Maybe they go on break because today the same two got back on at the same stop when we returned.
After we got off the tram we crossed the street and walked away from where the tram goes. There are marshrutkas and other trams you can take but we decided to walk as the place we were going was not too far – we hoped.
Not far from where we started walking the road was divided by a very nice island along the middle. There were several flower groupings and the grass was actually being watered. We haven’t see that anywhere else. Since we were heading toward the University and the Botanical Gardens perhaps this is all part of that.
Along the way we saw some more single family homes. this one seems very nice. Most had nice lawns and lots of flowers.
Dnipropetrovsk National University Botanic Garden – Sadly when we walked up to the gate we learned that they are closed on Saturday and Sunday so we were not able to go in today. We will save this for some day when we have a week day off work – not very often does that happen but you never know.
A view into the gardens – there appear to be pathways and lots growing.
Oles Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University – This appears to be the main building although there are many others as well. It looks very modern.
More lawn sprinklers.
Just past the University we noticed a pathway into a wooded area. Later we learned this is Yurry Gagarin Park. We decided to walk in and see what all we could see. Maybe it is not the botanical gardens but it seemed interesting anyway.
As we walked back in we could see many walking apparently through the woods so we walked along to see what was there. There seem to be tall buildings in the back. Perhaps campus housing?
Yes, these seem to be dorms or at least apartment buildings.
There is a playground there as well.
A large athletic field with a track of sorts going around it.
Past the field more housing.
So now we went back into the woods.
Hooded crow again
Camera shy hooded crow
Okay, I tricked him and got a pictures=.
There were so many birds singing we stopped to see if we could see them. We were not successful but it was enjoyable to listen to the variety of voices.
This is a thick lush forest
More of the forest
All too soon we were back on the road we went in on but farther along the way.
Pigeons are everywhere here and I am amazed at the color variety. There are pigeons like you might see in NYC or elsewhere in the states but there are also brown ones like this one.
There are also white and various combinations.
There is graffiti everywhere here just like at home but sometimes it is very creative like this one.
This is one of many vendors along the roads. This one specializes in cigarettes. Smoking is a huge problem here. Not inside, but just outside any store or restaurant or bus. You never see it in stores – although you can buy the cigarettes there – but right outside the smoke assails you.
Across the street from the botanical gardens is the Dnipropetrovsk National University of Railway – Transportation). It is a beautiful building with carefully manicured lawns and bushes.
As we often see, there are beautiful almost new buildings right next to ones that seem to have been abandoned.
On our way back we decided to make a couple of stops.
We saw a small Renok on the way to the gardens and decided to go in. I am so glad we did. There were not many vendors there but they had amazing strawberries and beautiful apricots. We even though we didn’t come prepared with bags they gave us bags and we bought a large container of strawberries and five apricots for 94 grivne (about $3.60).
This tram goes a different direction and seems to be much older than the ones we usually ride.
We also stopped at ATB and bought two 2.5 grivne (that is about 9 cents for a nice sized full cone) ice cream cones. The missionaries told us about this great deal and we bought some the other day. It was a great treat to eat while we waited for the tram to come.
Before we got on the tram we went inside the TTs Materik Mall to see what was there. It is a very big mall on three levels but we went upstairs to the second floor and there is not much there and you could see there was not much up there either. There is a very large Cilpo on the first floor which we might go to if we go out this way again.
Since there was almost no one on the tram I snuck a picture. They now have TVs on most of the trams. You can see the trams are actually quite nice inside.
This vendor sells only bread – any many different varieties.
Here is another home behind a brick wall on the way back home.
I thought this store looked interesting.
In the “dump” near our apartment there are often what we call Ferrell dogs napping during the day. We think they may run wild during the night.
A rough calculation shows we walked about three or four miles on our adventure and then there was the mile to the tram and the mile home. I think we got enough exercise for one day.
After we got home we were both very tires so we rested a while before we did our Saturday chores.
Hope you enjoyed another Saturday adventure.