Sunday is kind of a lazy day for Ukrainians, just like it is for us.  People head to church, do the grocery shopping, have some outdoor activity (with the family or alone) and then return home a little early to rest up for the beginning of a new week.  In fact, since most people (as I understand it) work on Saturdays, Sunday is really the only “day of rest” people have.

By chance I happen to in Ukraine on a good Sunday.  Today is a religious holiday (the Eastern Orthodox equivalent of the Feast of the Assumption, The Dormition of Theo-something) and as a result, all the restaurants give a little extra freebie to their customers.  The cafe down the street had small slices of a sweet bread, kind of like a marble brioche.  The Ukrainian restaurant where I had a late lunch/early dinner was giving free shots of vodka, but I passed on that.

I had two goals for this morning: get some photos of City Park, and visit one of the grocery stores I had found the other day.  I got over to City Park around 10am, and there was already a good deal of activity.  Some vendors were still just setting up, but lots of the surrounding shops opened at 8, just like any other day.  There weren’t a ton of people in the park yet, so I don’t have any photos with big crowds.  Also, since it’s rude to take photos of people without first asking, it probably worked out best for me that there weren’t a lot of people around.

I had fully expected to do a little grocery shopping while I was here – it was never my plan to have every meal in a restaurant – so during my outings of the last couple days, I had kept an eye open for where I might do a little shopping.  I had thought I’d probably have to go to a corner bodega and maybe even haggle a little on prices, but the Western concept of the “supermarket” has made it to Odessa. (I did still find some corner markets that had “supermarket” on their signs, so clearly the term is still up to some interpretation.)

I came across two galleria-type malls yesterday, and both of them had a supermarket for their basement floors.  (Probably the same chain, but I didn’t verify that.) They are mini “all-in-one” type stores, kind of like a small Fred Meyer, or a Safeway with a few extra items. It was great fun exploring and seeing the differences. I picked up a small box of breakfast cereal call “Start!” – that’s the actual English name on the box, but oddly that’s the only English on it, even though the contents are listed in 9 different languages. In the tradition of Tony the Tiger, there was a cartoon lion on the box and the contents were indeed frosted flakes…

My afternoon outing took me to the Potemkin Stairs, and it is easily a bigger draw than Deribasovskaya street.  (Rather expected; even though I haven’t seen the movie that made the steps famous, I knew the name.)  Definitely an interesting place for just being a staircase.  You can get your photo taken on it for 5 hrivnya (about 60 cents), or if you like more exotic fare, you can go half-way down and get your photo taken with an eagle, a falcon, or a monkey. (I didn’t see the price of that, though.)  And across from the steps, on a pier stretching into the Black Sea, is the very impressive looking Hotel Odessa.  I remember seeing this listing when I was making my travel plans, and if I come back here in the future, I might have to stay there for at least one night.

Two final notes for the day.  One, today wasn’t quite as hot as expected (still plenty humid), and there was even a brief shower as I was heading back to the apartment.  Of course, this was also the day I had done a load of laundry and hung it out on the balcony to dry, so the weather was both a little good and bad.  And two, apparently I do look “a little” American.  While it’s true I never felt I was fooling anyone, it was a little funny to be told that right out.

And the word for waiter is “officiant.”  There’s a similar word for a waitress, but I’d have to look it up.

Oh, and on my way back to the apartment, there was a small orchestra playing in the gazebo at City Park.  I didn’t get a picture because I was on the wrong side.  I don’t know if they were play because it was this holiday, or if it was just Sunday.  Either way, it was a rather neat way to wrap up the afternoon.

I need to get to bed a little early tonight, so I can be up at 5 tomorrow morning.  My ride will be here at 5:30 to take me to the airport for the next part of my adventure, Donetsk and Mariupol.