Visiting the Molochna colony - part 2

Victor pointing out an inscription on a Mennonite gravestone at the Ohrloff cemetery

The Heinrich Reimer mansion in Juschanlee, on the site of Johann Cornies' experimental farm.

The mansion is now used as a hospital.

Old windmill ruin at Alexanderkrone

The village of Kuruschan where the Harder orphanage had a farm

Fields in Kuruschan, where the orphanage farm was located

A drive through Grossweide

The site of the former orphanage in Grossweide. A school is now located on the site. When we arrived around 6:30 pm, there were two ladies sitting on the bench. Our guide talked to them, and it turned out that one of them was the principal of the school. They unlocked the school for us and gave us a tour!

The main school building

The woodworking shop

The school museum

In the centre, the lady in charge of the school museum, and to her right, the school principal

Playground

The sun was setting by the time we left Grossweide.

Visiting the Molochna colony - part 1

We had arranged for Victor Penner, a Ukrainian with Mennonite roots, to take us around the former Mennonite colonies of Molochna and Chortitza. I can't imagine a more knowledgeable or enthusiastic guide then Victor.

The first day we visited the Molochna colony. We left our apartment around 9 am and didn't get back until 10 pm.

Sign at the city limits of Molochansk (Halbstadt)

Former Mennonite church in Petershagen not far from Halbstadt. It was restored in 1999 and is now again used as a church and is also home to some elderly people from the surrounding village.

The former Girls' School in Halbstadt, now home to the Mennonite Centre.

Entryway at the Mennonite Centre

Dining room at the Mennonite Centre.

This picture of the orphanage in Grossweide was hanging on the wall.

The former Mennonite secondary school in Halbstadt

H. H. Willms flour mill in Halbstadt. The building is not in use now.

The driveway to the Lichtenau train station. It was from this station that my maternal grandparents left for Canada on June 23, 1924.

Lichtenau train station

A memorial bench at the front of the Lichtenau train station

Lichtenau train station

Our Airbnb apartment in Zaporizhia, Ukraine

We're staying in Zaporizhia for 6 nights. We booked a studio apartment through Airbnb for approximately $25 per night. Like most ex-soviet countries, the main entrance to the apartment building and the stairway are a bit rough, but the interior of the apartment is quite nice. It needed a bit of cleaning and now we are settled in.

The apartment building. The passage way in the center leads to a parking area and the  building entrances.

The black door is the main entry.

We're on the top floor to the right.

The living area.

Kitchen

Bedroom

Visit to Chernobyl (yes that one)!

When we began reading about Ukraine, we discovered that it was possible to visit the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site. At first I wasn't sure I really wanted to go, but then decided to, because it was such a significant event in Ukraine.

The "exclusion zone" is the area 30 km around the failed power plant site. It can only be entered with prior permission and as part of a guided tour. You have to pass through two control points

The welcome sign to the town of Chernobyl. Chernobyl is still partially occupied, mostly by workers at the the power plant. They are finishing the new Safe Confinement on the destroyed reactor, as well as decommissioning the other reactors at the same site.

Duga was a radar system used as part of the Soviet anti-ballistic missile early-warning network. There were three separate sites and one of these was located close to Chernobyl. The tour made a stop here to see the huge antenna arrays.

View from our bus on the overgrown road to the Duga site.

At the main gate of Duga

Antenna arrays

Our next stop was the buried village of Kopachi. There were a number of villages in the immediate area of the disaster that were severely contaminated. As an experiment to deal with the radioactive material, almost all of the houses of Kopachi were torn down and buried.

The village kindergarten was one of the few buildings that survived and can be visited.

Kindergarten

Before having lunch at the canteen at the power plant site, we all had to screened for radioactive contamination. 

Canteen

Lunch - borscht, pickled vegetables, rice & mystery meat, a bun, and kompot juice.

At the site of No. 4 reactor, now covered by the new Safe Confinement.

From the reactor site we then went to the nearby deserted city of Prypyat. Almost 50,000 people lived here in 1986. A few days after the accident the whole city was evacuated over a 3 hour period. People were told that this was a 3 day evacuation, but it ended up to be permanent.

Sign at the edge of the city

Apartment building

Hotel

Civic centre

Amusement park

More apartments

Soviet style art

The main square