Eternal flame to honor the Heroes who died defending the Homeland. If you are unable to see an eternal flame burning, that’s because it has gone out. The burner is on the base of the memorial immediately in front of the wreath. The memorial is in the center of downtown Uman‘, and the entire area is clean and well-maintained. The flower beds are all carefully tended. This seems representative of Uman‘, to an American who is only here for a few hours. The entire downtown is clean and well-maintained, bustling with people going to and fro, shopping, just hanging out. It also seems pretty poor, to my eyes. My hotel room, with private bathroom, cost $15, and was completely clean, the paint, woodwork, everything without flaw, in an older building. An economy room, with bathroom down the hall, would have been $9. I think I would never make much of a travel writer, because I see things through lenses like that of the Cold War, and present American hysteria about Russia! Russia! Russia! Central Ukraine is flat, rolling farmland, with really bad roads, and very nice people who are ready to help an American who doesn’t really speak Russian find memorials. They summon friends and relatives who don’t really speak English or German. In the end gestures suffice. It is hard to see these farming communities as Evil Empire, but then I haven’t arrived in Russia, to be sure.
