russia: tomsk

My train made up the lost time, and arrived on time in my next city, Tomsk. I didn't have any specific reason for choosing to go to Tomsk, it was just noticeable on the map, and there was an easy night train there from Krasnoyarsk.

Tomsk has a little over half a million residents. It's one of the older cities in Siberia, more than 400 years old. There are 6 state universities with over 100,000 students in all.

Tomsk was originally founded in 1604, after the Tatar duke of Eushta asked the Tsar for protection against Kyrgyz bandits. (Ironic that Kyrgyztan later became part of the Soviet Union.)

For quite a while a good number of the city's residents were exiles, but from what I can tell, that's how much of Siberia was originally populated.

The train station in Tomsk looks big from the outside, but the ceilings are quite low inside so there is no sense of grandness, darnit.

Walking to my hostel was easy in terms of which streets to follow. It wasn't as easy in terms of where to walk. The sidewalks were covered in a mix of snow, slush, ice, and water. Let's just say I was glad I had waterproof boots. Some of the sidewalks were practically small ponds!

Checking into my hostel was easy enough, though the lady was rather confused by my request to be registered. I don't know why, as it only took her about an hour to go to the office and back with copies of everything, but I'm guessing she rarely has foreigners as guests, and even fewer who want to be registered. Another guess is that her hostel isn't official, so registration might identify her as an illegal business owner?

After sorting myself out, I started walking. The first sight on my list was an NKVD museum. It was small, in the basement of a building. 

I think it was actually a former NKVD prison of sorts, so each room was actually a former cell. There were displays of items of former prisoners, maps with statistics and plain numbers, photos, etc... Well done. One of the maps showed all the different camps that existed at one time, as well as how many people were imprisoned. Impressive numbers, in the wrong way.

I walked up Lenin street, heading in the direction of a Lenin statue. Tomsk is often called a university town, and I think most of the people I saw were students. I didn't feel as though I saw elderly folks at all.

One of the stores I passed was called Eva, it sold Belorussian women's clothes.

Further along I found a bridge with locks of love. It was a tiny bridge, not necessary or pretty. But locks of love seem to exist all over the world, so why not in Tomsk too? Not that far away I found a monument to Chekov, a Russian writer. Apparently he once ate at the restaurant next to this statue. Why is his meal in Krasnoyarsk worth putting up a statue?

Further along the street I came to a huge drama theatre. Based on the outside, I'm guessing the inside is quite grand, though I didn't get to see it for myself. 

On a platz off to one side of the theater was a monument marking 400 years of city existence. Behind the monment was a giant flagpole with a giant flag.

More walking brought me to a church. Even when the outside of a church is boring I want to go inside. This one was pinkish peach outside, and not very interesting inside. Sigh. I always hope.

At that point I finally got to the Lenin statue. He sits in the middle of a big traffic circle, so getting to the statue wasn't easy.

From there I walked up the hill, which brought me to the entrance of another church. 

The walls around this church were painted puke yellow, not a shade anyone loves. I did like the bell tower, which was separate from the church building. The iconostasis inside was plain wood, which I also loved.

Further down the same street was a Catholic church, but it wasn't open to visitors.

Next up was a museum, the Tomsk history museum. Just outside the building is a big rock, there is a sign on the rock that basically says the city was founded here in 1604. The view of the city from the rock was decent. 

The museum building was two floors, though all of the exhibits were on the second floor. Photos and items mostly, not a lot of signage in any language. I liked the items used by kids, like toys and clothing. They were simple, but things that kids today could still use, if parents didn't want to spend money.

I opted not to pay to go up the tower, I didn't think Tomsk city views would be that amazing.

Dinner that night was at an Asian place. The soup I ordered wasn't as spicy as I wanted, but it was still good. I've mostly given up on getting properly spicy food in Russia.

The next morning I packed up and checked out, leaving my bag behind. I decided to check the train I'd booked, so I would know how long I had to wander around the city that day. Imagine my surprise when I realized I'd booked it for the wrong time. Sigh. Thankfully, it was easy to go to the train station, and essentially switch it out for a different ticket. The second train didn't leave at a particularly convenient time, but oh well.

My first sight of the day was a monument to aerospace something or another. Quite a big monument, sitting on a small platz on a street corner.

More walking took me past the next two sights, which were wooden buildings with intricate carving in a couple places. One of them was called the Peacock house, as some of the carvings were peacocks. The other one had a dragon carving. Whoeva did the carving had far more talent than I do. (Which isn't saying much, I guess.)

While I walked toward my next sight, I stopped to take a photo of a blue building, I just thought it was photogenice. A guard came running outside and told me not to take the photo and to come inside. Eeek. I went inside, having no idea what I'd done wrong. They got a guy who spoke some English, he asked me why I'd taken the photo. I told him I thought it was photogenic. Clearly he didn't think so, but I think it was obvious I was just an innocent tourist. They made me delete the photo, and I asked what the building was. They didn't really want to tell me, but did. A police building. I'm not sure why it was such a secret, but oh well.

After getting out of the police station, I followed the street until it met up with Lenin street. 

The day before I'd walked the northern half of the street, this day I walked the southern half. First up was a monument of a baby in the middle of a giant cabbage. I think the building behind it was an obstetrician's office, or maternity ward. Interesting, but weird.

From there I crossed the street and walked until I got to the entrance gate for Tomsk State University. A classical university campus, from an American perspective. Obviously everyone else walking around was a student. The snow was cleared from the sidewalks really well, but was piled up pretty high everywhere else. I wonder how much snow Tomsk gets every winter.

After the university campus I kept going south on Lenin street, all the way to the end. This was the huge WW2 memorial I've come to expect of Russian cities. There was a tall statue, an eternal flame, and plenty of plaques with the names of soldiers on them.

The back side of the memorial looked over the river and landscapes, it was quite pretty. I would've enjoyed the views for longer, but the wind was not fun.

At that point I was cold, and felt as if I'd seen most of the city, at least from a visitor's view. I walked back to the same restaurant as the night before, ordering less food this time. 

Everything was good, and I walked out without feeling like I needed to be rolled in a wheelbarrow.

I hadn't originally planned to sleep a second night in Tomsk, but that's what I did after rebooking my onward ticket. Thank goodness the ladies had plenty of room. I grabbed my pack and went to sleep.

The next morning I packed up and checked out again, this time a lot earlier, at 0600. A quick walk to the train station and I was gone. Maybe Tomsk has more to offer in summer?