russia: ulyanovsk

Everyone who has been to Russia has heard of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Everyone who traveled to the former Soviet Union has heard of the guy. He is such a part of the history of this country that his body was embalmed and is on display in a mausoleum in Red Square in Moscow. (Though I've read that this is exactly what he didn't want.) I've certainly taken pictures of and with statues and busts and profiles of him in many cities.
Since moving to Moscow I figured one of my weekend trips should be to the city in which Lenin grew up, which is now called Ulyanovsk.
He was born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, in 1870, in Simbirsk. (The city was renamed for him after he died in 1924.) 

He was born into a big family, with a bunch of siblings. His social and political activism started early, as his older brother was executed for views the government of the time didn't appreciate.
The train from Moscow to Ulyanovsk covered nearly 900 km and took 14 hours. Ulyanovsk is one time zone to the east, so in a way it took 15 hours. I left Moscow at 1900 local time and arrived at 10 the next morning, local time. The only benefit to such a long train ride is that I didn't have to wake up early.
I arrived in Ulyanovsk (population a little over 600,000,) at Central train station. The station wasn't big, but did have cheap hot chocolate in the little coffee machine I've come to expect in every Russian train station. I'd like to point out that Central train station was on the edge of town, not central in any way. 

Stations 1 and 2 were far more central. Sigh.
As the weather was good (-1C, with a blue sky,) I decided to walk the entire way to the accommodation I'd booked. It was a long walk, but hey, why not.
There was a steam engine on display not far from the station. I don't think it gets many visitors, simply because it is basically in the middle of nowhere.
I found a statue of Lenin's father, Ilya Nikolayevich Ulyanov. The statue has a little boy as part of the design. I decided to treat the weekend as a sort of 'meet the family' trip, so I took my photo with the statue.
There was also a church called All Saints Temple, or something along those lines. (Translating church names can be just as difficult as menu translation.) 

Bright blue on the outside, with another shade of blue (and gold,) on the inside.
I also took my photo with the first quirky monument of the weekend: a monument to the ruble, the currency of Russia.
I finally arrived at my accommodation and checked in. After relaxing for a bit, I walked out and started toward the main tourist section of the city.
My first sight was Simbirsk classical gymnasium. It is now a museum, but was one of the schools attended by Lenin back in the day. Entry fee was 100 rubles, and though I didn't have to join a tour I couldn't exactly wander on my own. The lady who took the entry money opened up each room as we walked, then let me look around until I was ready for the next room. 

The first floor was boring, the second floor was much better. The second floor had two big classrooms (with maps of the time,) and a science lab. Some parts of education back then would seem like another world to us now.
After leaving the school museum I noticed the statue of Marx on one side of the school. I don't know how long the statue has been there, but I imagine part of the placement is because the political system Lenin designed was a form of Marxism.
From there I followed my phone map to my second quirky monument of the weekend: a monument to the letter ë. Pronounced 'yo' it was invented in Simbirsk, somehow separate to the rest of the alphabet. I was expecting something small, but it was as tall as I am!

From there I just wandered, as the sun was going down. Late fall and early winter in Russia is tough in terms of length of day. Photos don't look as good when your camera starts showing more of a blue light.
I found the giant statue of Lenin, on one side of a platz with a big government building on the other side. Since he is from the city, I expected something more spectacular.
I found a small park, but the fountain was covered and protected for the winter. Booo. Sometimes I wonder why Russia has fountains at all, since most of them are covered and empty for so much of the year.
Walking in the other direction took me past a few more monuments. The one that sticks with me the most is that of one of the soldiers who died in the siege of the school at Beslan. 

It was dedicated to all who have died in such situations, but had his name in particular.
Next up was the building of the state pedagogical university, which I think was named for Lenin's father. Big building, same pattern of architecture on all four sides.
On the edge of the platz in front of the university was a statue of a guy on a horse. Boghdan Lhitrov was a founding father of the city, I suppose it is fair that he gets a monument.
Not too far from there I saw the Lenin Memorial building. The entire exterior is being renovated, there is scaffolding everywhere. Just seeing all the construction taking place was disappointing. I didn't go in, I put it on the list for the next day. I imagine it'll be several years before the renovation is finished.

At that point it was almost dark (the sun officially went down a bit after 1600,) so I found a place to eat dinner, visited a supermarket, and went back to my accommodation.
The next day I finally got myself packed up and checked out about an hour later than originally intended. Oh well.
I went back to the statue of Lenin, and set up my tripod for a photo. I also used the tripod for a photo with a nearby (very faded,) city sign. This city sign had both city names, Simbirsk and Ulyanovsk.
My first museum of the day was a house where Lenin lived with his family for four years. The house was part of a three museum ticket, total price 150 rubles. It was cheap, but each museum also charged 100 rubles to take photos, argh.

The first floor of this house had photos and information about the entire family. I loved it, since you don't normally see this information when when learning about Lenin. The second floor had furniture from the family. There wasn't a lot of privacy, and the beds didn't look very comfortable.
Apparently the family liked to play chess, four people at a time. That was a nifty looking board to see.
Not far from this house was the giant Lenin Memorial. It's a really big building, built around the house in which Lenin was born. That house should've been open, but wasn't because of the massive renovation being done on the memorial building. I have no idea if any renovation is being done to the house, but I hope not.

The memorial was the second part of the three museum ticket. Due to the renovation, it was totally lame. There were a few models of places I've already seen, and a couple big paintings. Then a second floor had a lot of paintings of people important in Russian history and the politics of the area. There were no items really connected to Lenin, nor any photos of him, or more information. I was disappointed to say the least.
I walked out of there, and made my way to a cafe. One omelette and a big tea later, I started walking again. I found another quirky monument, a sofa dedicated to Goncharov. Really close to the sofa monument was a statue of the Goncharov. The statue looked across the street at the art museum named after Goncharov. 

He was a writer in the early 19th century, still revered around the city.
I kept going, it didn't take too long to get to the eternal glory obelisk. Very tall, with a star on top. It turned out to be a part of a big war memorial. There was a monument dedicated to those who fought in WW2, an eternal flame, and another monument to those who fought in Afghanistan.
Really close by was another small museum. This one was dedicated to a secret group of insurgents from the Simbirsky Social Democrats Group, formed in 1904-1906. The museum is actually a small house with secret spaces all over. The house was originally owned by the dad of one of the group members, who deliberately built in the hiding places. It was neat to see, and didn't take long.

From there I headed toward the 3rd museum of the multi museum ticket. On the way I found another Lenin monument in a park. I always wonder how someone decides to put one of these in a particular place.
The next museum was in an older quarter of the city, filled with wooden houses. They are pretty, especially the windows. Nearly all of them could use a good amount of updating.
The third museum was another house in which the Ulyanov family had lived for a few years. The entry was actually through the house next door, with a tunnel built underneath.
The basement and first floor weren't interesting. There were photos and information from Lenin's life, as well as more models of places I've already seen. 
The second floor, which again had furniture and other real life items was interesting. 

Back in those days the family didn't have electricity, and this hasn't changed. I got there at sunset, so it was pretty dark as I walked through the whole thing. There were candles and such, but it was still pretty dark.
After that I was feeling 'done' with the city. I found a place to have dinner, then took public transport back to the train station.
On the way back to Moscow I was again in 3rd class, platzkart. Again my bed was already made up, and had two usb ports :)
I'd love to see the Lenin Memorial when renovation is finished, (when will that be?) But I doubt it's a big enough reason to return to Ulyanovsk.