We had a few problems using the GPS when we drove to Kramatorsk to visit Stacy. You remember Stacy, if you read the blog regularly; she stayed with us back in June for a few weeks. She returned to Ukraine a few weeks ago to teach English for the year in the city of Kramatorsk. We were here almost exactly a year ago, visiting Doreen, who was doing the same thing. Since we had driven here before you’d think it was easy, but we leave the bigger road after awhile and head through the countryside to get to the city, and sometimes it is hard to tell which way the main road is going driving through villages, when the power cord kept losing the connection and the GPS would try (or succeed in shutting down.) I really think the battery in the thing just can’t hold a charge.
We didn’t turn it on until we were through Dnepropetroesk- we went under the fancy sign entering the city at 7:07 am and drove out of Dnepro on the left bank of the river onto the highway an hour later. Garry had got Maxim to change the GPS back to English before we left – it was set for Russian. We have trouble getting the names in sometimes in Russian, since road signs are in Ukrainian, and they can be quite different. We have the same problem with the map book in the car. When we left the village Garry commented on the fact that it looked like a fine day for driving, however I wasn’t so sure when we got on the far side of Dnepro, and there was some snow on the ground.
Anyway, we decided that we could just follow the road and had turned it off (well Garry had tossed it in the back seat) when we followed what seemed like the main street in this town and ended up at a dead end. So I held the GPS, trying to get a good connection so it would have power, and Garry tried to follow the directions, for some reason I can’t explain he has it set to talk as a rather stern-voiced British lady. First she tried to send us over a closed railroad crossing, then she wanted us to turn and drive trough what appeared to be a field with a path cutting through it, two tire tracks to follow. Garry said he would have ignored her, but two cars turned in just ahead of us.
We wandered through a few twists and turns and came up to the railroad tracks again. There was a way under; as you can see in the photo we took. Yes, we did go through the tunnel, or drainage ditch, it’s a good thing we drive a Lada, because an SUV would have never fit, even the Lada seemed tight, but we had seen a classic Lada disappear through as we approached (Garry started in, and then backed out to take the picture!) Any way, we followed the tracks out to a large road – the town seemed bigger on the other side of the tracks and then we were back on the road to Kramatorsk.
Kramatorsk is in the hilly mining district of Ukraine, I got a nice picture of a mountain of tailings as we drove through a village, with a little snow on top.
We got to the city just before noon, and Garry once again proved he can find places we’ve been before, first finding the church and then the apartment (it’s the same one we stayed in with Doreen.) We brought Stacy some frozen veggies from our garden, and a dead duck (it could be the same cute duckling she was holding back in mid-June) since it was decided that we aren’t keeping all the ducks this winter, the ladies have been turning them into dinners (don’t worry, three different colored mamas will be laying eggs next spring if all goes as planned.) Stacy had lunch ready for us, and we hung out talking for a while before going on a walk to see some of the sights she has found so far while exploring the city, the WWII memorial, which has an eternal flame, the Lenin statue (he’s holding his hat in this one) and over to the park with a lovely Orthodox church, before heading back, with slightly cold cheeks. It was just above freezing, but there was a scattering of snow on the ground in some spots, Stacy said the ground was white when she woke up a few days ago.
Stacy had invited Pastor Yura and family for dinner, but he came alone, they had their first baby just six weeks ago. We had a good time, Stacy made a lovely meal, and the discussion was good too. Garry drove him back to his home, and afterwards we played Scrabble (I won for a change) I checked the email before bed, and discovered a little job in the messages, so I took care of that on Stacy’s computer, while she and Garry discussed politics (Garry had been reading a book she had on Boris Yeltsin.)
We had a nice breakfast with Stacy- delish lemon poppy seed cake- and then headed out to Donetsk, which is nearby. Not as nearby as the first try woth the GPS as sometimes typing names is English gets you to the wrong place too! Seems we chose Doneskey and headed in the wrong direction out of Kramatorsk- when we retraced our steps there were many signs going out the other direction for the city we wanted. It is one of the cities where the Euro 2012 soccer matches will be played.
We found a nice new mall after getting into the city, and went bowling and shopping before finding the Lenin - he's got his hat on here- and a hotel. The hotel's elevator only goes to the 7th floor and we are on 8 but otherwise its a great Ukrainian hotel!
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