We had breakfast at the hotel Wednesday morning (good but not as wonderful as dinner the night before- they had an English menu at the restaurant at the Central Hotel- looks like this hotel, like most hotels downtown, are working on additional rooms for Euro 2012. There are big highrises going up behind several hotels, I hope they get them done by next May!) Then we took the car and drove around the city a bit, and found the stadium where five games will be played for Euro2012.
Anyway we drove into the parking lot and checked out the Donetsk Shakhtar Museum and signed up for a stadium tour at noon. There is beautifully maintained parkland with ducks in the water, and bushes and trees around the stadium, even in the winter!
The photo is of the CCCP cup, the team won three times starting in 1961. The Eurocoupe that they won more recently was also on display.
The tour was a great deal as there was just the two of us and the guide did it in English for us. The team has been around for 75 years, and won that first cup 50 years ago, and the name is a word for miners- originally the team was named after a famous miner in the region. The team used to play with a pile of tailings behind the pitch, and in the Soviet era the players were on the mine payroll.
Anyway, we got to sit at the interview desk that is used for the media times and also sit in the locker room for photos, we even got to go out the player tunnel onto the side of the field (can't step on the grass) with canned crowd noise, quite the tour. We even learned all about caring for the natural grass pitch- the things on the grass are lights to keep it growing well, and they have heat pipes like the shop at home in Canada.
It took longer to drive home than we expected, sadly the road to Donestk is not ready for Euro 2012 yet- they are working on making it four lanes, not sure if they will get it done for May either. You get to see lots of piles of tailings from coal mines, I think Garry counted 17 just about where I took this photo.
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