It has been very hot here. We actually have been using our air conditioning and it is nice to take out the humidity and lower the temperature a bit. The humidity is only in the 50th most days but even though New York had higher humidity – humid is humid and we were sweating.
In retrospect our adventure was perfect for a July 4th weekend. We have learned that Ukrainians are very patriotic and that they truly honor their soldiers, those who are currently soldiers, veterans who have served in the past and those who died fighting for their country.
We went to a park close to the park we visited a few weeks ago that has the amusement park in it. It is called Heroiv Memorial Park. It is set in a circle around a large fountain with walkways in a circle and in radii to the fountain. We walked a little ways to get there from the tram and it is a small park. At first we thought – we this is nice but we have seen parks. Then we got to the other side of the fountain and found a true treasure. Below are the pictures of our adventure.
As we leave our apartment building we have a locked gate to go through. One the inside there is just a latch to open but from the outside you have to know the code to get in. Here is our gate into our building.
Here are the ten stairs up to our gate.
I have put up pictures of these tire planters. This is a picture of number one Polia (we are at number two) and their planters. The woman we mostly see here is often out working in her garden, watering, weeding and planting more.
Here is the entrance to one Polia. She just recently painted the stairs red.
This planter is actually in the parking area, the one in the front is a pussy willow (in Ukraine it is called “kittens”)
When we leave our apartment complex we use this gate. Elder Morgenegg is using the “magnet” to open the door (I say magnet because it looks like a roundish magnet – it is actually some kind of sensor)
Here is the gate from the outside of our complex. If you walked in and straight ahead past the other buildings on the right you would come to the other entrance of our complex where there is a gate for pedestrians and a larger gate for cars to come in. There is also a guard house there to open and close the gate.
This is a view from our gate to the complex across the road. The car entrance is always open here. There is not a guard or a place for a guard. There is at least one other entrance at the other end and it is locked but this one is always open.
The lone tire of tiger lilies is outside the nursery school under our buildings. We pass by here every day.
After we left the tram we walked up a small hill. This is a view from near the top. It is hard to decide if it is a hill but it is. Compared to our weekly walk to the office this was easy. It was nice that it was so shady as it was very hot.
This was the entrance into something that looked like a park but seemed more private – perhaps an apartment complex.
A view up the last of the hill.
As we entered Heroiv Memorial Park there were a lot of statues. This is one that I took a picture of. I don’t know what it represents.
This is a view from near the entrance to the fountain in the middle.
A closer view of the fountain.
There is a large playground as well. We sat in shade for a few minutes to rest and looked around.
I thought this round multi person swing looked like fun and the children on it seemed to think so as well.
The trees were strung with lights -ready for Christmas? or just still strung from last Christmas? or maybe they just leave them up all the time. We have seen places that are often lit up at night.
Another “Christmas tree”
A monument in the park – no idea what it means. I looked online and there is information about other parts of the park but not this statue. It is pretty cool.
Here is a close up. While we were sitting in the shade for a while two little girls tried to climb the sides – they didn’t get up very far but it was fun to watch.
Then behind this statue area there is the real memorial. It was very impressive. I am just going to put up the pictures I took and let you look at them with any dialog. We spent a while looking around. It seemed almost like a place to be reverent.
Then we walked around a corner and found a more current memorial.
These seem to be pictures pasted on a wall perhaps by families and some others perhaps by an organization. The dates are as current as 2017.
A long view with Elder Morgenegg walking along.
Next to the Heriov Memorial Park is the Rocket Park and Museum. We will go there another day.
Then there are several official office buildings. They are very nice buildings and very well landscaped. I was careful taking pictures as we are not to take pictures of government buildings.
Across the street is another section that is some kind of a memorial perhaps government related.
Here is another fountain we saw. I almost never have my picture taken so I had Elder Morgenegg take my picture here. The water is very green and ugly looking but the fountain is very nice.
After we left here we walked farther north to the Central Renok where we wanted to do a little shopping. We found yet another mall just next to the Central Renok with another grocery store – this one is called ?????? or Buffet. It seems very nice but different from where we usually shop. The produce looked very nice and the cheese section was much like Adams where I often shopped in New York. It also had a large section with prepared foods. It didn’t seem to have as large a section of canned and packages things as other stores have. Mostly it was a chance to go inside and cool off for a minute.
Then next door to Central Market. I like to go int he back section where the local farmers bring in their produce. We bought a large container of raspberries, a large bag of dark currants, and a large bag of cherries. These were 1 kilogram each and the total cost (we shopped at three different vendors) was 83 grivne or $3.18. Delicious.
Then we went to the branch building to use the bathroom and get a drink before heading home.
After we got off the tram we stopped at a yarn shop on our way home. We needed string for an activity we are planning and no one sells string. I bought a thing (not sure what they are called – yarn comes in skeins – is this a skein too?) of tatting thread and I think it will work fine. After I struggled to tell her what I wanted we learned she spoke English (that sometimes happens) and she was surprised I only wanted one and didn’t care what color.
Then we headed home. We took a little nap when we got home, got something to eat and then cleaned and did our laundry. It was a good day but it was very hot (in the 90s with high humidity) and we were glad to be home with air conditioning to cool us off.