russia: chernyakhovsk

Chernyakhovsk ended up on my list of places to go because I saw a picture of it on social media. Since I'd been to Kaliningrad (city) previously, I was happy to have a day trip to another city in the oblast.

Chernyakhovsk used to be called Insterburg, when it was part of Prussia. Like the rest of the oblast, the city name changed in 1946, when it became part of the Soviet Union. As of 2017 the city had a population of a little over 35,000. Chernyakhovsk is named after Ivan Chernyakhovsky, a WW2 army general who led the group that first entered East Prussia in 1944.

Insterburg (the city,) was founded in 1336, on the sight of a former Prussian fort. Like everyplace else in what is now western Russia, this area has had a lot of fighting throughout history, and has been part of a number of different empires; these include Prussia, Germany, and the Soviet Union. Though I don't think Poland was ever in control, there were Polish troops there a few times, as well as a secret Polish arms trafficking group at one point. Wikipedia makes this group sound pretty intense, even if Poland itself wasn't controlling the area. 

After the Soviet Union took over in 1946 they deported pretty much everyone, and brought in Russians instead. Traveling around the area makes it obvious that culture and history don't really go that far back, since only two or three generations of Russians have lived here.

When I booked train tickets to and from Chernyakhovsk, I knew I'd only be there a day. I wanted to go as cheaply as possible, which usually means an elektrichka train, unfortunately there was only one each day going each way, and they were at the wrong time of day. I did not want to be going to Chernyakhovsk in the evening, and returning in the morning. 

I ended up booking spaces on a regular train, I ended up with an entire train car to myself on the way there. Fun. The lady working my particular car was fascinated by me setting up my tripod and taking photos, since I was all by myself. 

Arriving in Chernyakhovsk was almost creepy, as the train station was completely empty. I've been through a few stations without many people, but I didn't see anyone at all! Off to one side of the train station a couple old locomotives on display. They're listed as two separate sights, as they're different types, but they're next to each other, and both painted black, so it was just one sight to me.

100 meters after leaving the station I saw my first statue, naturally it was the guy after whom the town is named, General Ivan Chernyakhovsky.

Next up was a Catholic church. As this used to be part of East Prussia, which was Catholic, those churches still stand. Since Russians were moved in during the years the Soviet Union wasn't big on religion, I don't think many Orthodox churches have been built in the oblast in general. The church of St Bruno was built at the very beginning of the 20^th century, from 1902-1904.

I was walking on Lenin street, so I wasn't surprised when I came upon a bust of the main man himself. He was tucked into a small platz, kindof hidden from the street by a couple trees. Until far later in the day I thought this was the only Lenin in the city. Yandex maps doesn't show this Lenin, it only shows one other.

The main sight in Chernyakhovsk is Insterburg Castle. It is falling into ruin, meaning it is really photogenic. When I walked through the gate there were a couple informational signs, and ropes blocking off the most ruined areas. I'm not sure if there is a plan of any kind to renovate or rebuild any of the castle.

Lonely Planet says an eccentric artist watches over the place, which seems to be true. He seems to have taken over a couple rooms, somehow keeping them heated enough to sleep there and create various pieces of art.

After looking around the entire property I kept going, finding my way to what used to be Villa Brandes. It was originally built for the guy in charge of the city back in Prussian days. After the Soviets took over it was an orphanage. Now it's a kindergarten. The tower on one side is really photogenic.

Next to the kindergarten I noticed a street sign pointing to a tower of some kind. I found the tower, but I have no idea what kind of tower it is supposed to be. Not a water tower, it kinda looks like a guard tower, but I don't think that's right either.

From there I came back toward the city center, this is when I found the main Lenin statue in town. A full size statue, not just a bust. He stood close to a monument to soldiers, a tired out soldier is resting while sitting on what looks kindof like a stump? It looked rather awkward to me, but I'm sure there was a point to whoeva made it.

I only visited one museum in Chernyakhovsk, the city history museum. Entry was only 100 rubles, with a very small photo fee. The museum was two big rooms, on two floors. It was more set up as a display of small collections of different items, rather than a description of the history of the city. There were a bunch of telephones, a bunch of different uniforms, a bunch of dolls. There were radios, military medals, helmets, and documents, etc... In the middle of the first floor was a 'soldier' next to a jeep.

It seemed to be fair game to touch things, which was pretty neat. I loved seeing so many items not hidden behind a glass display case. There was also a city art museum, I did not visit that one. 

Following the museum I visited another church. The front of the church looked very similar to the first one I'd seen, with a very tall bell tower, and a red brick exterior. The inside was much more interesting though, as there were frescoes everywhere, and stained glass windows too.

After this church I felt as though I'd seen everything I wanted to see. Chernyakhovsk isn't that big. (With only 35,000 people it was never going to be big, or take all that long to see most sights.)

There was one more fortress/castle on the list of sights, but it was a bit further out, and I wasn't in the mood to go that far. 

Next time maybe? 

I stopped in a cafe, as I hadn't eaten real food yet, whoops. After the cafe it was an easy walk back to the train station, where I didn't have to wait long for my train back to Kaliningrad.

russia: kurshkaya kosa national park (curonian spit)

The first year I lived in Russia Claire and I went to Kaliningrad during one three day weekend. This is the region of Russia that is not connected with the mainland; it is an oblast surrounded by Lithuania and Poland, with one side on the Baltic Sea. It's a region of Russia that was part of Prussia before WW2, but has also been part of the Baltic countries it its past. 

During that particular trip we read the guidebook and wanted to visit a national park, but realized that public transport wasn't going to work out very well. We might have been able to get to the park, but I'm not sure we would've been able to see all the major sights. 

Ever since then I'd wanted to come back and see the park; this past summer while I was in the States I got an international drivers license so I could rent a car and drive around the national park.

Kurshkaya Kosa is usually called the Curonian Spit in English, but I'd never heard either the English or Russian name before moving to Russia. The entire spit is 98 kilometers long, making a barrier between the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea. The northern half of the spit is Lithuanian, the southern half is Russia. My trip was only around the southern half as I don't think you can cross the border in this particular place.

Kurshkaya Kosa is a UNESCO designated sight, as of 2000.

Wikipedia tells me the spit was formed waaaaay back in the 3^rd millenium BC.

There are several small towns/villages within the borders of the national park, but I don't think they get many tourists. There are other cities nearby with more accomodation and supplies. There are three or four major places to stop and visit in the park, I saw everything of interest to me. To be honest, if it hadn't been so rainy and windy I probably would've stopped to walk every boardwalk, and much further along each beach.

The entry fee to the park is 300 rubles per car, with an extra 150 rubles for each person in addition to the driver. That's a pretty sweet price to see a national park.

I opted to drive to the furthest thing I wanted to see, then work my way back. The first place I stopped was called Vysota Efa. Massive dunes are one of the main things to see in this park, this is a viewpoint at the top of the tallest one, which is currently 62 meters high.

To get to the viewpoint you walk up a bunch of boardwalk steps, there are three different viewing platforms. 

Only one of the platforms has any sort of cover, which I definitely noticed because it was really rainy and windy. Very very rainy and windy.

The pictures online are of beautiful dunes with nothing but sand. The dunes you see have plenty growing in them. Bushes, grasses, etc... Even so, the views were still really nice. You can see the Curonian Lagoon from these viewpoints, but it wasn't super pretty because of the clouds and rain. Obviously all the photos online show blue water and blue skies. I wonder how often that actually happens.

To keep the dune as it is, visitors are not allowed off the trail, or off the viewing platforms. They don't want people traipsing around the dunes, moving the sand around in ways nature didn't intend. It's a shame that people can't be trusted, as it would've been amazing to climb around all that sand.

When I got back to where I'd parked I noticed another boardwalk heading over to the Baltic Sea side of the spit, so I kept walking. It was just as windy and rainy over there, but you're allowed down on the beach. I'd call my photos 'visual misery.' 

I imagine it is always windy there, so you'd never want to hang out on the beach, but it would be a nice place to walk in warmer and drier weather.

I hoped back in the car and drove to the next stop, called the Dancing Forest. The signs for the sights throughout the park are in three languages: Russian, English, and German. Since there is only one road going up and down the spit, it isn't hard to figure out where to go.

In addition to the dunes, there are several forested areas on the land. 

A while ago someone noticed that a few of the trees appear to be dancing. They're waving at the bottom, some of them are almost curly. Though much of the spit is covered in the same types of trees, the so called dancing trees are concentrated in one area.

Scientists don't know why some of the trees are shaped this way, while others are not. The government has built fences and boardwalks for visitors, you're not supposed to go off the trails. It's sad, because that rule is defniitely in place because of what we all know just a few people would do: ruin the entire area. There was one tree not behind a fence, so I stood with it to take my photo. 

Bark had been stripped away where others had clearly stood on the tree to have their photos taken. Sigh.

I wandered around like everyone else, enjoying the quiet, and the fresh air. (We don't get a lot of fresh air in Moscow.)

Near the dancing forest I saw another walkway leading to the other side of the spit, with more beach spaces. Even though the beach was similar to what I'd already seen, I couldn't resist walking up and down a bit. Since it was so windy the waves were pretty wild, I love watching the never ending motion of water.

Last up was Chaika Lake, or Seagull Lake. It's not big, and I didn't see any seagulls, but I did see a few swans and ducks. There is a boardwalk built out to one viewpoint, very nice. It didn't take long to see and take photos, but again I stayed a few minutes longer to enjoy the quiet, and fresh air.

I did make one more stop, to take a photo with the national park sign. I've done so in the States, so I'm definitely going to take such a photo in Russia!

russia: belgorod

I chose to go to Belgorod because I saw the name listed as the end of a train line. After traveling around this country, that seemed like as good a reason as any. 

The city is nearly 700 kilometers south by southeast of Moscow. It's pretty close to the Russian border with Ukraine, which is only 40 kilometers away.

Belgorod has a little over 350,000 people, and seems to be growing. The city name means 'white city' which probably came from all the limestone in the area.

Belgorod can be found in historical documents as far back as 1237. Like so many other cities along the western border of Russia, it has been involved in a LOT of fighting throughout its history. For the most part it has been Russian, though there were a couple years of belonging to Ukraine near the end of WW1, and Germany was in charge for a few years during WW2.

Perhaps the most well known (internationally,) person to come from Belgorod is Svetlana Khorkina, an artistic gymnast. She competed in the Olympics in 1996, 2000, and 2004, for Russia, of course. 

My train arrived at Belgorod's rather boring train station exactly on time (as nearly all Russian trains do,) at 0805 on Saturday. I was excited to find multiple hot chocolate machines in the station, each of them with rather odd prices. 28 rubles for a 130mL cup of hot chocolate, woo hoo.

It was an easy walk to my accomodation, where I was able to check in early. During this walk I was passed by two large groups of soldiers. I have no idea where they came from, and where they were going, but it was somewhat intimidating to be passed by so many people in uniform. 

After charging my phone and warming up for 90 minutes, I started exploring.

Before arriving in Belgorod I'd looked up Lenin statues in the city, the maps showed me two. I was somewhat surprised when I stumbled on another one not too long after leaving my hostel, meaning there were three in the city.

Belgorod has great pavements for walking around the city, it was easy to get to my next sight: the park of culture and leisure. There are several ways to get into the park, but I think most people walk in through the main gate. Just after the gate I saw my second Lenin statue of the day. Both statues were on tall pedestals.

This park has several benches and cafes and such, and is probably quite a nice place to walk around and hang out in spring and/or summer. During winter there aren't many people, the cafes seemed closed, and the mini amusement park was closed.

I did find a monument to a family, as well as a monument honouring Marx and Engels, two of the original political theorists.

I kept going, and made it up to the 50^th anniversary of victory park, slightly further north in the city. It is also probably a better place to hang out in spring and/or summer. 

There is a fountain running down the middle of the area, though there is no water at the moment.

There are also several memorials in the park. One is to the victims of political repression, I always wonder how 'honest' this type of memorial is since Russia isn't known for political freedom now.

On the other side of the park was a small church, painted in two shades of blue on the outside. The inside was beautiful, and a total surprise to me. The entire interior was painted, I loved it. Smaller churches are usually less decorated inside, so this was a pleasant surprise. 

While I was inside I got to listed to two women singing. I'm not sure if they were singing verses of the Bible, or prayers, but it was beautiful.

I headed back toward the city center, eventually stopping in a cafe for a pot of tea. After warming up I kept going, and went to a convent. Or, as it is sometimes called in Russian, a monastery for women. The Mary and Peter convent, I think.

There were two main churches inside the walls, with completely different exterior appearances. I was able to look around one of them easily enough, in the second one a priest asked me to put on a skirt. 

(Thankfully there was a box of wraparound skirts near the entrance, available to borrow.) I was the only person in this second church, which gave me the time to look at each iconostasis and absorb the atmosphere of faith.

Next up was a stop in a bakery, yum.

Near the bakery was the huge building that is Belgorod State University. I ended up walking around the entire building, because it looked completely different from each side. One had mirrors and windows, another was boring Soviet, and yet another had a statue in front. The school dates back to 1876, and now has around 23,000 students.

The university building wasn't far from the Vezelka River, which was mostly frozen, and quite pretty. Crossing that river was a pedestrian bridge, which had the flag of the university in the middle.

I kept walking, and after just wandering for a while, ended up at another religious spot. I'm not exactly sure what I saw, but it seemed to be a small chapel, and a dome over some old relics. Online I was able to see that it is possible to take a tour, as the main building holds items from a saint, but that would be in Russian, which wouldn't help me at all. Oh well.

Further down this street I found a couple huge pieces of modern art. Both were made of wood, and I have no idea what each of them was supposed to be. More walking brought me to an eternal flame, which probably exists in nearly every Russian city/town/village.

This war memorial is on one side of Cathedral Square. (Which doesn't have any cathedrals on any side of the platz.) On another side of this platz is a big government building, the regional Duma. Rather boring, very Soviet. Just in front of this building was a stela marking Belgorod as a city of military glory.

On a third side of the platz was a big theatre, the fourth side was bordered by a street.

Though I'd only been walking around for around 6 hours, that was basically the end of my day. I stopped in a supermarket on the way back to my hostel to get food for dinner, and crashed early.

The next morning I was awake pretty early, but I didn't get moving for quite a while. I was excited to look out the window and see another sunny day waiting for me. I'm always a big fan of cities when the weather is good while I visit :)

I packed up and checked out, leaving my backpack in the hostel for the day. I walked to the third Lenin statue of the city, which was also on a pedestal, but a lower one than the two I'd seen the day before. On the way there I passed what used to be the city girls school.

On the way back from Lenin #3 I passed the only city sign I found. This one was a heart, with the name written in Russian on top. I was happy to see the name in Russian, as I think it's weird when a city name is written in a language that isn't native.

From there I kept going, to yet another church. (Now that I'm writing this post it seems I saw a lot of churches. Is Belgorod that religious?) This one was sea green on the outside, with beggars sitting outside the main gate.

The inside of this church was painted all over. The ceiling and main iconostasis were gold, the ceiling of the dome was painted with Jesus. There were people all over the place, praying to various icons. While I was inside a red carpet was rolled out, I got to watch the setup for a wedding. 

From what I've seen, Orthodox weddings are quite small, it's the reception afterward that has all the people. Orthodox weddings also involve crowns!! I didn't stay for the ceremony, as that would've been way longer than I wanted to wait. (And it wasn't my wedding, nor of anyone I know.)

My next sight was another park, Victory Park. Like every other 'green' area of the city, this park must be better in spring, summer, or fall. In the park I found another war memorial, as well as an alley of heroes, with a row of busts. I didn't recognize any of the names, but that wasn't a surprise.

Right next to Victory Park were the three main museums of the city: a war memorial museum, the city history museum, and an art museum.

I started with the city history museum. The entry fee was cheap, woo hoo. The exhibits started with the flora and fauna of the area, which were as interesting to me as such things usually are: not very. The exhibits of human life were a lot more interesting, they had items, photos, and dioramas on display. Very nice. Nothing was in English, but I didn't mind. 

The war memorial museum annoyed me when I entered, as they wanted me to pay a higher price because I'm a foreigner. I said no, because I live and work in Moscow. In other words, I pay the same taxes Russians do, so I should be paying the same entry prices Russians do. I wasn't able to get around the photo fee, but I bet they didn't charge that to any Russians. Sigh.

The museum was quite nice, it focused on WW2. More photos, and items, particularly various medals. The main attraction of the museum is a HUGE diorama. 

The biggest diorama in Europe, or something along those lines. The whole thing is based on a tank battle which took place in 1943, as part of the overall Kursk tank battle.

The last museum was the art museum. Buying my entry ticket actually got me four tickets. One was to a temporary exhibit, another was to the main exhibit hall, and I'm not sure what the others were for. The temporary exhibit wasn't exciting, but I liked the main exhibit hall. I tend to go through art museums pretty quickly. Any specific piece of art catches my eye or it doesn't.

Even if it does, I don't look at it for long.

After leaving the art museum I went to yet another museum. This one was blue, and the outside looked pretty similar to a couple other churches I'd seen. The inside wasn't particularly memorable, but I'm always happy to see the interior of any house of faith.

By that point I was hungry, and I'd seen all the sights that had been on my list, so I walked to a pizza place. The pizza was decent, and my table had usb ports to use for charging my phone.

After eating I walked back to my hostel to pick up my bag, then walked to the train station.

On the way to the train station I saw one of the most unique things I've seen. A big portrait of Putin on the side of a building. There is definitely a cult of personality around the man, but I'm not used to seeing huge paintings of him.

Anywho, I didn't have to wait long in the station. The train departed on time, and was a smooth ride all the way back to Moscow.

I doubt I'll come back to Belgorod itself, but there might be smaller towns worth seeing in the area.

russia: obninsk

One of the many things I love about living in Moscow is that there are a zillion places nearby that are easy to visit for a day trip. I learned about one of them, a city called Obninsk, on social media. The city is 100 kilometers southwest of Moscow, with a current estimated population of 115,000.

Obninsk is a new city, founded only in the 20^th century. A research institute was built, then a nuclear power plant. The city was built to support the power plant. With the building of the city there was housing for the scientists, teachers, engineers, and workers coming to the area.

Obninsk is an official science city, it was actually the first science city, receiving the designation in 2000. Most of the decoration around the city is scientific, like depictions of spinning atoms. Wikipedia tells me the city is home to twelve science institutions. The main areas of interest are nuclear power engineering, nuclear radiation technology, meteorology, and ecology and environmental protection.

Fun fact: one of the sister cities of Obninsk is Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. Oak Ridge is also a city with nuclear power. (And a pretty good club swim team.)

I looked up transportation to the city, my first option was at 0700 on a Saturday. That seemed really early for a weekend, so I opted for the next train, which departed at 0852. That was still before I normally start work during the week, but seemed a lot more reasonable. As always, the train arrived on time, at 1042. (Have I ever mentioned how fantastic the Russian train system is, especially in regards to departing and arriving on time, no matter the weather?)

The train station in Obninsk was not interesting, not at all. Nothing like a grand train station I always want to see when traveling in Russia. 

It was basically a set of two identical buildings, on either sides of the tracks. Each building had ticket machines, turnstyles, and a few benches, nothing else.

I arrived to a flat white sky. In terms of taking photos, this is basically the worst, but it isn't as if I could do anything about it. There was snow and slush everywhere, but it did not snow while I was there.

My first sight was a city stelae. It was nice to see, but I wasn't able to get close, as it was in the middle of a platz between two large apartment buildings. 

The platz was completely covered in snow, and surrounded by a fence, preventing me from getting close. Booo. That ended up being the only city sign type thing I saw all day. The stelae had the name of the city, as well as several scientific symbols, like the image of a spinning atom.

Next up was a science monument, this one to the pioneers of nuclear engineering. I liked it, even more so because I could take a couple stairs and be on the monument. The monument sits at the meeting point of two streets, in a triangle shaped platz.

I kept going up the street, to another monument. This one was a submarine, or at least the conning tower (is that the right name?) of a submarine. The monument itself is dedicated to the 50^th anniversary of the first nuclear submarine fleet. (I think.) It isn't a real submarine, you can't go inside anything.

More walking brought me to yet another scientific monument, this one to Igor Kurchatov. He was a nuclear physicist, most known for being the director of the Soviet atomic bomb project. (The Soviets didn't figure out how it all works until after WW2 was over.)

The monument was on a property surrounded by another fence. The first two gates I passed were closed, I didn't think I'd be getting close to this monument either, until I passed the last gate, which was open.

I continued down that street, passing some of the most boring apartment buildings I've seen. I'd describe the architecture style as Soviet brutalist. Concrete everywhere, with some patterning, also in concrete.

Next up was the Church of the Nativity. The best part of it was the colour, which was yellow.

Given the gray sky, and gray apartment buildings I'd seen, yellow seemed pretty darn gorgeous; on a day with better weather, the church would've been far less eye catching. The iconostasis inside was pretty, but there was no frescoe painting on the walls or ceiling.

Across the street from the church was a school of music, which had an interesting entryway, but the building itself was another example of 'boring.'

I kept going, eventually getting to the number one listed sight in Obninsk, a former estate of wealthy/noble families. Usad'ba Belkino isn't much to see anymore, it is just an abandoned building, totally falling apart. 

It is surrounded by a fence, so you can't climb in the ruins. (Maybe safety has actually been thought of in this country, once!) Despite the fence, you can stand close enough to see through the windows and holes to see where some interior painting remains. Lets just say that the interior decoration style of this house is not something I ever want to have in my own home.

This abandoned manor is in a corner of a park. The park is probably a great place to hang out in in summer, it is nice even in winter. I saw quite a few families on sleds and innertubes, sliding down small hills. 

There was also a small bridge of locks and a gazebo. Pretty, but not important in any noteworthy way.

It was a bit of a longer walk to my next sight: a cute statue. This one was called the Intelligent Cat. It sits right next to a big piece of granite. If I understand correctly, rubbing the rock brings good luck to students.

Almost across the street from the cat was my last sight of the trip: the city museum. Entry was only 60 rubles, so just under $1USD!! Considering how much there was to see, this was a great price. I really enjoyed this museum. 

Though there were no English signs or captions, the displays were set up in a way that I was still able to understand what I was seeing.

The displays were set up chronologically, with the major focuses being life here during the Soviet era, and the science industries of the city. There were photos and items and dioramas throughout the entire museum.

The museum was also hosting a temporary exhibit, a display relating to the artworks of Henri Matisse. Go figure, it cost more than the normal museum exhibits, but oh well.

After leaving the museum I walked to a cafe for a snack, then back to the train station for the easy ride back to Moscow. I'm not sure I would say Obninsk is pretty, but it probably looks better in weather that has some kind of colour.