When I first saw this photo I thought how incredibly

cool it would be to have a vintage amusement park slide:

As I read the article that was attached to the photo I developed a lump in my

throat and felt very sad.  You see, this slide is standing in what was a day care

center in Pripyat, Ukraine, the town beside the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear power plant accident in history happened

at Reactor 4 in the Chernobyl Plant.  A "zone of alienation" was established

around the plant, extending 30 kilometers in all directions, and still stands today.  Residents were evacuated, never to return. 

Ukraine officials and members of the International Atomic Energy Agency

estimate that the area will be inhabitable - unsafe for human life - for 20,000 years.

Ironically, this has been International Earth Week.