October 16, 2010
We spent our first day in Donetsk getting a feel for the city by walking through most of the central area. The weather was fantastic and fall-like, much different than the rain that is projected for nearly all of next week. We started out meandering through one of the city parks filled with art for sale (along other assorted knick-knacks, candy, and cigarettes) and ended up crossing the bridge into lower Donetsk just in time to witness a Ukrainian wedding tradition. The bridge railing is filled with decorative padlocks, each placed there by a couple on their wedding day to seal their bond of love. Some of the locks are simply painted with hearts in what looks to be nail polish, while others are exquisitely engraved with flowers and the couples’ names. We were so excited to watch an actual Ukrainian wedding party with the bride and groom adding their lock to the bridge, not realizing we would see a dozen other brides taking their wedding pictures throughout the city. October must be a very popular wedding month here! Each bride was beautiful, and each dress different.
We also took a long walk down Artema Street, which has lots of restaurants, stores, a movie theater, a shopping mall, and numerous parks and statues (including the biggest Lenin I have seen yet). One of my favorite stops was the Transfiguration Cathedral, which had beautiful mosaics outside and amazing gold and silver icons inside. The outside was adorned with several “double crosses”, which I loved because it made me think of Pastor Vickie’s children’s sermon last Sunday about seeing crosses everywhere if you just look for them. I smile every time I see the picture we took, and it makes me think of home.
My favorite part of the day was just being together, enjoying our walk and experiencing new things. I was so proud of us in accomplishing simple things – finding a local grocery store, buying a snack in the underground “mall”, exploring some place new for dinner, and just experiencing Donetsk. It will be wonderful to see Katya on Monday and have her with us as we continue to explore, but our day together was also a special one.
Two questions arose at the end of the day: “Why is the statue of Lenin so large?” and “How many notaries does one city need?” (I counted at least four just on our walk).
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| Putting a lock on the bridge to Central Sherbakov Park |
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| Locks on the bridge |
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| The largest Lenin yet (he is facing away from a McDonald's) |
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| Transfiguration Cathedral in Donetsk |
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| Stephanie's favorite double cross |
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| Matt at the old Donetsk stadium |
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| Now that's a cannon |
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