Ukraine: uzhgorod

It's not a very good idea to travel to the east in Ukraine right now, so I took this long holiday weekend (9 May is victory day) to travel west; almost as far west as it is possible to go in Ukraine :)
My train arrived in uzhgorod on time, at 10am Friday morning, after leaving kyiv on time at 1830 the night before...I was in 3rd class, my preferred class of train travel in this country. The other three folks in my area were quiet, and nice, none of them was a smoker as far as I could tell...
The train station in uzhgorod is quite new, there is a sculpture in the middle of one of the rooms...everything looked really nice...

I walked to my hotel, it was an easy walk, and checked in...checkin time was 1300, but the lady was okay with giving me my room at 1100, yahoo...
After resting up for an hour, I walked back to the train station to book a ticket for the next night, then walked back into the centre of town...easy to follow the roads, and I loved walking over the bridge...the uzh river  runs through the middle of town, the city planners have done a great job making it a pleasant place to spend time...there are trees and benches along a sidewalk on each side of the river, so it's a fabulous place to walk...I saw a few people fishing near the bridges too...

After walking along the embankment for a while I turned into a park area, to take a photo of my favourite (and the only one I can name) Ukrainian poet, Taras shevchenko...there are statues of this guy in most Ukrainian towns, he is also considered the father of the Ukrainian language, which was once outlawed...
Continuing my walk I saw a pretty church, rather simple on the outside...I noticed the door was open but no one was going in or out...I went in and could see a set of doors locked and preventing further entry...howeva these doors weren't solid, so I was able to take a photo of the iconostasis, without anyone else in the photo...

I continued walking and found another park...a small park, but it was clearly a place people enjoy...I set up my tripod and took a phot of me with a 'statue' of two guys having a conversation on a park bench...
As I was walking through the city I looked at license plates and saw plenty from outside of Ukraine...Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary...uzhgorod is really close to the border with Slovakia an Hungary, and used to be part of the Austro Hungarian empire...walking through the city, I wouldn't have felt like I was in a Ukrainian town except for seeing Ukrainian words everywhere...the architecture and general feel of the town are much more 'Austrian'...

I walked up a hill and found another church...this one was also closed, because it was under construction...all of the construction was behind the iconostasis, so I took another photo of a pretty iconostasis without anyone else in the photo...
Continuing along the road, I walked to what used to be a castle...it's a museum now, though the outer walls have been preserved...you can do a wine tasting in the cellars (obviously I wasn't able to participate, booo)...one building has lots of exhibits set up, I enjoyed what I saw...one exhibit showed music and instruments of life back when...another showed typical clothing of life back when...one exhibit showed military weapons, mostly swords, knives, and guns...another showed flora and fauna and animals of the area...it's a well curated museum, with a docent in almost every room...

I walked to the botanical gardens, but discovered they had closed at 1600...why do they close so early, when it's light until after 2030 now?
Anywho, I circled around to the river, enjoying the water...I think I saw a naked guy living in a camp of his own making...hmmm...further along I saw an old decrepit train, who knows if it ever went anywhere...there was an entry gate up a set of stairs, it looked like a metro entrance...did it ever function in that way?
Next to that train is the philharmonic theatre, which was originally a synagogue...a beautiful building!!
At that point I felt like I'd seen what I wanted to in uzhgorod...

I bought corn from a vendor, yum! I walked across a pedestrian bridge, noting all the locks couples have closed onto the bridge...a countrywide and worldwide tradition...some of the locks are more ornate than others...
Eventually I walked past a supermarket, so I picked up dinner and water...the supermarket was close to a cemetery which I explored for a while...the cemetery was next to a church; the church looked really new (it was wooden) but the cemetery was totally overgrown...
A nice day exploring a nice town :)