Omsk
was my second destination in my New Year's trip. My guidebook doesn't
have wonderful things to say about the city, it simply says you're
likely to transit through there simply because it is a transport hub
in Siberia.
Omsk
is the seventh largest city in Russia, 2200 kilometers east of Moscow
with a population of over a million people.
Omsk
was first established as a wooden fort in 1716, and given official
town status in 1782.
Wikipedia
goes on to say development of the city was catalyzed with the
construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in the 1890s that affected
significance of Omsk as a logistic hub. Many trade companies
established stores and offices in Omsk defining the character of the
city center.
After
the October Revolution the White Army took control of Omsk and named
it the capital of Russia, and put the central bank in charge of
securing the gold reserves of the Russian Empire. The people guarding
the bank were actually Czech POWs who had gotten stuck in the country
after the revolution and WW1 chaos.
The
Red Army took control of Omsk in 1919. During WW2 the Soviet
government recognized the value of the location, and basically made
Omsk the capital in waiting, in case the Germans took control of
Moscow.
Regarding
the history after WW2, Wikipedia says following the dissolution of
the Soviet Union Omsk experienced a period of economic instability
and political stagnation. Most of the city's large businesses, which
had previously been state owned, were fought over by members of the
former party elite, the emerging nouveau riche and fast growing
criminal syndicates.
The
most notorious cases involved the privatization of Sibneft, a major
oil company, which dragged on for several years.
Until the end of the
1990s, political life in Omsk was defined by an ongoing feud between
the oblast and city authorities. The resulting conflict made at least
two points of view available to the public and served as the impetus
for some improvements to the city's infrastructure and cultural life.
These
included the construction of new leisure parks and the renovation of
the city's historic center, the establishment of the annual Siberian
International Marathon and of the annual City Days Festival.
Despite
this, internal political competition drained the Omsk's resources and
served as a major obstacle for smooth government operations and city
development.
As
much as I love the Russian train system, and sing its praises
regularly, I don't love each and every train ride. I sleep best when
in a cool/cold environment. It seems to be a Russian thing to keep
interiors much warmer than I prefer. Unfortunately, this also goes
with trains in the country. Sometimes I get lucky, and a train is
relatively cool.
The train ride from Tyumen to Omsk was not one of
those rides. I woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat
because it was so hot. (No, I wasn't sick.)
The
train ride was around eight hours, but I moved an hour to the east in
terms of time zones during the ride. I stayed in the train station
for a couple hours charging my phone, then walked outside to walk to
my hostel. The first Lenin I got to see in Omsk was right in front of
the train station, yay! Nothing unusual about this statue, but I
always love seeing a Lenin statue :)
The
walk to the hostel was easy, and I may or may not have stopped in a
few bakeries along the way. I need to stop this carby habit when
traveling.
Finding
the entry door to the hostel was a bit of an adventure, mostly
because the man who answered the phone when I called did not speak
clearly. My Russian skills are not great, but they get even worse
when the person with whom I'm speaking mumbles. Argh. Eventually, I
figured out where to go and got myself sorted out.
Even
though the booking site I'd used said this hostel would have wifi, it
didn't. When I mentioned this to the manager he had no idea what I
was talking about, and was unable to help me. More argh. I had enough
data on my phone plan to deal with this, but it was still annoying.
Eventually
I walked out to start exploring. I'd wasted way too much time in both
the train station and hostel, but these things happen. Go figure, I
walked out the door to blowing wind and snow. It let up sometimes,
then started again for the rest of the day, much to my annoyance in
taking photos.
I generally love winter, but I hate trying to keep
snowflakes/raindrops off my camera lens.
My
first sight was a church, St Nicholas' Cossack Cathedral, partly
under renovation. I was still able to go inside, as it was only the
back end of the church that was covered in scaffolding. The inside
was completely different from anything I've seen before. There were
the usual icons all over the place, but there wasn't an iconostasis
up front. Instead, it was a large mural of Jesus on the wall.
Not
far from the church was the first city sign I got to see in Omsk,
this one was all ice. The name of the city spelled out (in Russian,)
in blocks of ice. I loved it.
I kept
going, finding myself in front of the Omsk State Music Theatre, where
the city was in the process of decorating for the holidays. I could
see city workers cutting blocks of ice to use in the decorations,
which was fun to watch for a couple minutes. They were using a power
saw to cut the ice!
Not
too far from here was Lenin #2. This one was bigger than the first
statue I saw, but otherwise not any different from what I've seen
before. He was standing in the middle of Lenin platz, which was
actually more of a really big traffic circle. It wasn't super easy to
figure out how to get to the platz, in order to take the photos I
always take of Lenin, as there were no crosswalks or underpasses to
get to this platz. I had to cross the street and hope none of the
constant traffic hit me.
Omsk
is located where the smaller Om River meets the bigger Irtysh River.
To get to my next intended sight I crossed a bridge going over the Om
River. Very windy, to say the least. On the other side I walked
through Resurrection Square, which was actually more of a park with a
few sculptures on display. Not surprising, but it wasn't very green
at the time.
I
followed the pavement all the way through the park, and along the
Irtysh River until I got to what remains of the Omsk Fortress. Almost
nothing remains, there is just a big city gate. As it turns out,
there are several of these gates around the city, where the walls of
the fortress once stood. Though labeled as the fortress on the map,
there is nothing but the gate to make you think that.
More
walking brought me to a spot where I could see a big WW2 memorial,
but again, it wasn't easy to figure out how to get there. I was on
one corner of an intersection, but there were fences along the street
for quite a while, so I couldn't just run across the intersection.
There was no crosswalk in sight, so I ended up walking down my side
of the street for a couple blocks, crossing, then doubling back. Even
when I was on the right side of the street there was no pavement
leading to the war memorial. Omsk is strange.
My
last sight of the day was the Cathedral of the Assumption. Very eye
catching from the outside, and nice on the inside. Not only is it eye
catching on the outside, it sits in the middle of an open area, so
there is plenty of space to go all the way around and see the
building from lots of angles. There is a tall belltower over the
front door. The inside seemed unfinished to me, though there was an
iconostasis up front. The rest of the walls were white, which is what
makes me think it wasn't finished.
By the
time I left the church it was dusk, almost dark. I walked back in the
direction from which I came, stopping a few times to take photos as
the city lights came on. There is nothing spectacular about Omsk, but
I liked the way the night lights and snow made everything look really
crisp, if that makes any sense. The snow and wind had finally stopped, though it was still cloudy, which also made the crispness very quiet.
The
next morning I packed up and checked out, taking my bag with me.
Since I didn't want to carry my bag with me the whole time I walked
back to the train station to put it in bag check for the day. As I
walked back into the city center I just happened to stop into the
same bakeries as the day before, since I knew I could get tasty
treats :)
The
day started out gray, but cleared up as the day went along, woo hoo!!
Blue skies always help my mood and my photos. My dream weather would be rain all night, and sun all day, with a few snowstorms during the day.
I
found another city sign, this one made of whateva most city signs are
made from. This one also spelled out the city name in Russian, which
I always like a lot better than English, given that this is Russia.
Park
Pobedy (Victory Park,) was a long rectangle, with the end on the
Irtysh River. The middle was nothing in particular, but each end had
war memorials. The memorial at the end near the river was covered by
scaffolding, I think it is normally a three sided obelisk titled
"Glory to the Heroes." I wish I'd been able to see it. The
end near the street on which I was walking had a giant red star, it
stood out quite a bit in an otherwise white world.
I got
back on Lenin street and followed it until just after it crossed the
Om River, before walking through Resurrection Square again. When I
got to the fortress area I walked through the gate and kept going,
which brought me to another gate, a church, and plastic flowers
clipped onto trees.
The
gate wasn't exciting, neither was the church. I don't think you could
say the flowers were exciting, but they were clipped onto the trees,
which was definitely unique.
A pop
of colour when nearly everything else was white or gray.
The
cathedral I'd seen the day before looked a whole lot better when I
walked by this time, mostly because it was sunny, and a little
earlier in the day. Not too far away I found Lenin #3 in Omsk. I
wonder if there are any Lenins I missed? Why do some cities have numerous Lenins? This one stood in front of a
university building.
At
that point I felt as if I'd seen all I wanted to see in Omsk, as it
is a city that really doesn't have all that much going on. I made my
way to a small cafe I'd found online, this place specialized in
various versions of ramyeon. YUM. They had quite a few plugs, so in
addition to warming up and eating, I took the chance to charge my
phone.
After
killing some time in the cafe, I walked back in the general direction
of the train station, stopping one last time in the bakery I'd grown
to love. YUM.
I
don't think there is anything in particular I still need to see in
Omsk, but maybe the city looks completely different in summer? I
would hope there is a lot more colour everywhere. And I wouldn't mind
coming back to that bakery :)
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