Downtown

A drive into downtown Dnepropetroesk is always interesting, when the boys were here we drove to the dentist office at least once a month to get their braces adjusted. Seth and Jonah both got retainers in June before returning to Canada. We aren't sure how we are getting the bottom permanently attached ones off now that they didn't come back to Ukraine! Their teeth and jaws really look good though.



This is the street the dentist office was off of...you can see the parking patterns are always interesting--- a combination of angled (which sometimes extends into the sidewalk) parallel-style (not that anyone actually parallel parks, it's more pull up along the sidewalk style, or park straight behind the angle parked style) If there isn't a sign forbidding parking, then parking is obviously allowed, so you see lots of cars parked entirely on sidewalks, and in the walking space by the trolley tracks downtown. I think that's one of the reasons for the popularity of SUVs. Of course if you have a really expensive car you can park anywhere you want, just like you can fly past everyone at the red light in the lane for opposing traffic, if everyone doesn't get out of your way when you flash your lights behind them!








of course the most popular way to move around downtown is by foot, although you can catch a marshushka (the small vans that run specific routes) anywhere and the tram lines get you to most place on the right bank for 1.25 grivna per tram ride (the elderly ride free.)





A marshushka on the left passes an auftobus on the right on one of the cobbled streets downtown. The old cobbled streets are rather noisy when we drive up them in the Lada. There are a couple of them downtown, mostly the streets that run up and downhill.

The auftobus ride is the same price as the tram, and of course they only run the routes with the overhead lines. Sometimes you see the driver out with a stick trying to reattach the bus to the power. For some reason, men tend to drive the buses and marshushkas, but the trams are almost always driven by women. All forms of public transport tend to be crowded, standing room only during busy times of the day. It's a real challenge for me to stand up without landing in someones lap when they are turning, starting and stopping. Luckily many riders give up their seats to older people, mostly you watch for people getting up for their stop and move fast as you can.






this Mercedes is parked in the cross street- told you, more expensive car the less rules! This is in the prime shopping district on Karl Marx (most main streets in Ukraine are anmed after Lenin or Marx I think.)







I bet this is not officially licensed by the Jackson estate, there are a lot of Disney-themed things here too. This club opened downtown, and we happened to take a different street last week after bowling, and there it was! I have seen billboards for it for a few months, I had thought it must have been a tribute show, Micheal Jackson is much-beloved here. Western music is very popular, even stuff from the 70's when it was the only pop music they could listen too (no professional rock musicians were allowed in the old Soviet Union.)



Sometimes you drive past an older building and think what a cool facade, I have no idea what this building was in its earlier life, it seems almost theatre-themed, since there are classical-styled statues in the niches and a large cherub over the center balcony.










And sometimes you see a car and go...how did that get here? Garry noticed this one right away when we drove downtown for bowling last week. You see the occasional new Porshe sportcar, but American muscle cars? This is the only Ukrainian licence plate I have seen like this- it must have been special made since it's in English - the name of an internet cafe in Dnepro, I think, and it's made to fit a North-American car, instead of euro-style.