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: vyborg, st petersburg, and peterhof

Claire found the focus of our next weekend trip: a city called Vyborg, way up near the border with Finland, not too far from St Petersburg. I don't remember where she learned about it, but I'm glad she said she wanted to go.

I know I've written it before, but the cities along the western border of Russia have a lot of fighting in their histories. All of them have been part of more than one empire/country during their pasts, I like learning the different names they've had because of the different languges of their rulers. The different rulers of Vyborg include variations of what is now Russia, Sweden, and Finland. 

The Swedes were there first, then there was a lot of back and forth between Finland and Russia, with Russia winning out.

Vyborg is 38 kilometers south of Finland and 130 kilometers northwest of St Petersburg, with a population of about 80,000 people. Legends say there was habitation here as early as the 11^th or 12^th centuries, but there is no proof. There is proof of people being here in the 13^th century, so that's the accepted date.

The reason the city exists now is because of Vyborg Castle, which was built at the end of the 13^th century. 

The town was originally on the island along with the castle, but was eventually moved because there wasn't enough room on the island.

Wikipedia tells me the city produces paper, has a facility for the exchange of electricity between Russia and Finland, and the Nord Stream offshore pipeline starts at Vyborg.

We chose to fly to St Petersburg, then spend the rest of the night in the airport, as it was cheaper than taking the train. I'm not sure how I feel about us making that decision because it wasn't better environmentally, buuuut.... We spent most of the time in Starbucks, dozing on and off and chatting.

Around 0530 we got a taxi to Finlandskiy Train Station, where it was easy to buy the next tickets toward Vyborg. A 2.5 hour ride and we were there. The train station in Vyborg is small, but grand. Even better was the city sign on the other side of the parkplatz out front.

It was easy to walk toward the city center, with a couple things to see along the way. One was a sculpture of an octopus, the other was an abandoned ship. Maybe a Viking ship? I don't know what kind of ship it was, but I do know it was abandoned. The view across the water from the abandoned ship gave a hint at the castle we wanted to see.

Instead of heading straight for the castle, we chose to walk through another section of town. This brought us to Red Square with a Lenin statue in the middle of an otherwise wide open square. We also strolled through a park with a statue of a moose. Since Angela is from Canada she said the moose made her feel like she was home, hee hee. Near one end of the park was a tree that had been carved with indigenous designs on one side, and a face on the other. Beautiful. I admire people who can create such beauty. I do not have that talent. 

We found the stelae designating Vyborg as a city of military glory. Considering how much fighting has taken place in and around the city, that's not at all surprising.

More walking brought us to the area that has sections of the old city walls. We got on top of that area, but it wasn't impressive. Instead of sticking out, the area near the walls has been filled in with dirt, so a walkway has been created; along the pavement were a bunch of statues. The lineup was nice, but I kept thinking it looked out of place. The statues should've been inside, or in a park. 

After coming back down from the wall section, we kept going until we saw a church, the Transfiguration Cathedral. The outside was yellow, not very interesting. The inside was beautiful, with a lot of colour. As we were leaving we realized a baptism ceremony was starting, so we stayed as quiet as possible.

Nearby was the Lutheran Sts Peter and Paul. The 'moody' gray sky and ruins out front made the exterior photo of this church far better than anything I took inside.

At that point we were a bit cold, and a little hungry. (Maybe it was just me who was hungry.)

We found a small cafe where the girls had coffee and I ordered 'grilled' vegetables, I'm sure the waitstaff thought I was crazy. (Who doesn't?)

We headed in the general direction of the castle, passing the city market on the way. We didn't need anything, so all we did was a quick walkthrough.

One of my apps said a clock tower was a sight, but when we saw the tower we were less than impressed. Part of it is under renovation, and the bottom is covered with scaffolding and rubbish. It was in a small courtyard, so there was no good viewpoint.

What was more impressive was City Hall. The building was nice, and there was a statue of Torgills Knutson in front. Maybe he was the founder of the city? City Hall was on one side of a small platz, the bridge to the castle was on the other side. The edge of the bridge provided a great viewpoint to take a photo of the castle with a perfect reflection in the water. That was by far the best part of the entire castle visit.

As we got close to the ticket desk we got to see all the scaffolding around the castle up close. Not at all pretty, I hope it all finishes soon. When we got to the ticket desk we discovered the all too common practice of charging foreigners more for entry. This time it was double the price for Russians: 700 rubles versus 350.

We insisted on paying the local price, using our work visas as proof that we live here. It definitely wasn't worth 700 rubles. The museum inside was three floors, with each section focusing on different aspects of the history of Vyborg. 

There was the flora and fauna section, the Finnish section, etc... The section about life when Viipuri was Finnish was my favourite area, especially because there were quite a few photos.

After leaving the castle we kept going over the bridge, to the other side of the water. There was a statue of Peter the 1^st over there, as well as another set of old city walls. These were far more photogenic than the first walls we had seen.

At that point we decided we were done with Vyborg. It wasn't getting any warmer, and we got lucky with train timing when we got to the station. After arriving back in St Petersburg we went straight to Namaste (our favourite restaurant in the city, an Indian place,) for dinner.

The next morning we slept in, as we always seem to do on the Sundays of weekend trips. Eventually we packed up and checked out, I'm ashamed to admit we ate breakfast at Starbucks. We got on the metro, exiting at a station called Moskovskaya. I was hoping to see the 'main' Lenin statue of the city, and take a team photo, but that did not happen. Instead we discovered a construction fence surrounding the entire platz, argh. If we read the sign correctly, it wasn't going to be finished for at least 6 months. Sigh.

Since Angela still hadn't spent much time in St Petersburg, Claire and I decided she should see Chesme Church. 

It isn't big, and the interior is boring, but the outside is nifty. Pink and white stripes. It was easy walk from the Lenin statue, and for the first time Claire and I noticed the cemetery behind the church. Since the church is dedicated to a military victory, and most of the graves were copies of each other, I'm pretty sure the dead and buried were from the battle. Or military at the very least.

That ended up being the end of our city touring. We discovered it would be the same price and heaps faster to take a taxi out to Peterhof, than to make our way to the train station and take an elektrichka. Yay for taxi apps. Well, sortof. 

The driver wanted us to cancel the ride, then pay him the same price in cash. I said no.

Claire and I had seen the gardens of Peterhof during an earlier visit, but we hadn't seen inside the palace itself. Angela was pretty stunned when we walked into the gardens, she said they were the kind of thing you imagine when you think of royal gardens. The take your breath away kind of beauty. Yay!

Entrance into the palace was more than double for foreigners than for Russians. ARGH. 1000 rubles versus 450 rubles. We showed our work visas, but the ticket lady said we also needed a document showing we were properly paying our taxes to get the lower price. ARGH.

There are signs all over saying it is okay to take photos and videos, but to turn off your flash. When we got to the first staircase it was super impressive and I asked Angela to take a photo of me because there was no one else around.

About 3 seconds after she took the photo a docent came running and started yelling at me, saying no photos allowed. I was completely confused, as all the signs had said photos were okay. She said something about photos not being allowed in areas where traffic flow was restricted, meaning small rooms and stairwells. Since there was no one else in sight I didn't understand, especially since there was plenty of room for plenty of people to go around me if those imaginary people all came rushing at once. The lady threatened to call security, I said go ahead. She didn't, we kept going.

Walking through the palace was a workout for my neck. Many of the floors were beautifully patterned in wood, the ceilings were painted and hung with chandeliers, and most of the rooms were very very extravagant. Way too much gold, heaps of mirrors, etc... 

The room I found most fascinating had portraits all over the walls, with very little blank space. It felt as if all those paintings were looking at me.

Somehow we got stuck between a couple tour groups, argh. One docent yelled at us for not moving along more quickly, even though we were not in anyone's way, and not holding up a tour group. We stayed near a couple doorways until a room cleared, then took photos, which somehow was the wrong thing to do? Maybe these people just don't like independent foreigners? We weren't the first people to wait by these doorways to take these photos, so being yelled at when others hadn't been yelled at was really frustrating.

After being totally blinged out in the palace we decided to walk around the gardens a bit. It wasn't summer season yet, so there was no entry fee for the gardens. Pretty, and much less crowded than the last time we'd been there. There is a view of the back side of the palace and main fountain (which wasn't running yet,) which is iconic, I wish I had a camera that could capture it properly.

We also walked to the area where the property borders the water. Gorgeous, as always. There is a lighthouse out there that is quite photogenic, though not extravagant.

Our taxi back into the city took a lot longer, but that was because we wanted to go into the city center. We started dinner with gelatto, which made sure we had plenty of room :) From there we walked to Namaste and ordered food to go.

Next up was a quick metro ride, followed by a bus ride back to the airport. Checkin and the flight were easy, we arrived back to a snowy Moscow.

I will be back to St Petersburg.

cyprus: girne/kyrenia

After seeing postcards of Girne at a shop in Lefkosa (the northern side of the city of Nicosia,) I knew I wanted to visit. The postcards all showed a picturesque harbour, I wanted to see it for myself.

I had to get up early to make this day trip happen, which I wasn't keen to do, but oh well. My sunburn from the day before had fully set in, so wearing clothes to cover my skin didn't feel very good. On the other hand, I knew I couldn't wear anything with straps again, or the sun would've felt even worse.

Since I'd already figured out where the bus stop would be in Lefkosa, it was easy to get back to the bus stop. I saw just one person in the streets of either side of the city, thankfully it was someone with food. Pretzels are just as good a breakfast as any other, right?

The bus was right where I expected it to be, and after boarding it didn't take long to depart. This kind of bus doesn't usually have a departure time, I was worried I'd have to wait for it to fill up, which could've taken the entire morning. It wasn't full when it departed, but I didn't care.

A bit over an hour later, we arrived in Girne.

(Since Turkish is the language spoken on this side of the island, that's the name I'm using. The name in Greek is Kyrenia.) I used the maps to figure out where to go, which didn't take long.

I walked through a parkplatz and what I thought was a small park to go toward the city center. When I stopped to read a small sign I realized it wasn't a park, it was an old Ottoman cemetery. Pretty flowers around the area.

I followed the city streets as they sloped down, passing what used to be a couple of towers in the old city walls. The walls don't really exist anymore, but some of the towers still stand.

The government seems to be renovating a lot of the historical bits and pieces, probably in an effort to attract more tourists. I also passed a church that was missing a roof. I love old buildings!

Eventually I made it all the way down to the harbour. It wasn't quite as pretty as in the postcard photos, but that didn't surprise me. Or maybe I was there at the wrong time of day, who knows. Restaurants had crammed themselves into the land side of the harbour, you actually have to walk through a few seating areas to get to the boardwalk along the water.

All the restaurants were really cute, but I wasn't hungry and didn't want to pay those prices.

The harbour itself was also really crowded with boats. There were some bigger boats, which seemed aimed at tourist group tours. There were smaller speedboats, and fishing boats as well. The fishing boats were not all in great condition, I could smell stale water from time to time.

The harbour is protected by a wall, which was nice to walk along. It's a man made wall, with a concrete sidewalk for most of the way. This 'arm' reaches out mostly parallel to the harbour, so boats don't have a lot of area to play with when they're entering or leaving the harbour.

I walked to the end of the arm, just because I could.

I left the harbour through another one of the many small streets that come down the area behind the harbour. The streets are all small, and the homes don't have much space. By this point I'd realized that many doors are beautiful, whether they're painted or made with carved wood, or a combination of the two.

At one point I came to what I thought was a church. As I climbed the steps I saw the sign that told me it was actually a museum, and was closed for renovation. Based on the level of dust and rubbish, I don't know if any actual work was being done at the time. I really wish I'd been able to take a quick peek inside, but it was most definitely closed and locked.

At this point it was around 1115, and I still wasn't seeing many people. I don't know if it was typical for a Monday morning, or what, but the whole town seemed really quiet.

I wandered through more small streets, though nothing more caught my eye. It's a small town that seems to depend mostly on the tourism monies that come from having a gorgeous little harbour.

I did skip one sight, that of a castle. I did want to see it, but when I looked at my watch I realized I didn't have time. The maps and apps told me there was a shipwreck museum inside the castle, which must be at least a little interesting. Maybe next time?

I made my way back to the bus stop, and found a bus that left just 15 minutes after I boarded. An hour later I was back in Nicosia.

ukraine: lutsk in winter

This was my second trip to Lutsk, and it didn't start out very well. I took a night train from Kyiv to Lutsk, arriving at 5 in the morning. The bad beginning to this trip was when I woke up in the middle of the night on the train and had to run the length of the train to get to the bathroom and puke. It was not at all fun, and I have no idea why I got sick.

My train arrived mostly on time, about 10 minutes late. That's not bad at all for an overnight train. When the arrival time is just after 5 in the morning, 10 minutes definitely doesn't matter. Because of throwing up in the middle of the night, I still didn't feel very good when I arrived.

I ended up sitting in the train station for more than three hours, hoping I would feel better, and trying to figure out what time the electric train to Klevan would depart.

I ended up not figuring that out, and assuming I missed it. I used google maps to figure out how to walk to my hotel for the weekend. They let me check in early, and I stayed in my room for a few more hours. Basically I'd been in Lutsk for something like six hours before I even started walking around the city to explore. I still didn't feel good/normal when I walked out of my hotel, but I was feeling cabin fever and didn't want to waste the entire day. What did help was the hotel lady bringing me tea, as well as a few biscuits, YUM.

I checked the temperature just before venturing outside, it was -9C. Not as cold as I've experienced in Ukraine, but pretty much the coldest so far this year. I bundled up and started walking. Everything was snow covered, and hadn't yet turned into ice, so it was cold but not difficult walking.

My first stop was in a small park. There was a large WW2 memorial, in fact it was basically the entire park. I stood in one place to take a photo before suddenly slipping and nearly falling. Apparently I was standing on part of the monument itself, whoops! I managed to get my feet under control and take my photo without falling, thank goodness.

I kept walking, and made my way to a large platz at one end of the old town area of the city. On one side of the platz is a theater in front. The statue in front is of a poet, Lesi. On another side of the platz is a giant sign saying I love Lutsk. I was thrilled that the whole thing was written in Ukrainian, as most of these signs I've seen have been written in English. The letters were white, which made it a bit hard to see, with all the snow everywhere. Of course I took a selfie with the sign. With the cold it was actually rather hard to smile!

Next to the square is a church, the Holy Trinity Church. It's fairly big, but when you go inside it doesn't feel that big.

As I entered I realized it wasn't nearly as crowded as the last time I visited, and one side of the church is being worked on, so there is construction stuff everywhere. It wasn't warm, but it was warmer than the outside. I sat (on a side bench, as Orthodox churches don't have pews and chairs everywhere,) and enjoyed the quiet for a few minutes.

I kept walking, and came to another intersection where I turned left. Not too long after I walked past a government building with a religious mural on the side. This is Ukraine, and such a thing is totally normal.

My next stop was Lubarts Castle. It looks more like a fortress to me, but who am I to quibble with the name. It's quite pretty with all the snow. The entry fee is a little over $1, I'm amazed that such a small amount can make a difference in taking care of the place. Inside the casle/fortress is a courtyard, off which you can enter a bell tower, the walls, and several museums.

This time I chose to go in the museum of books, since I hadn't seen it before.

The book museum was really small, but I liked it. Many of the books on display looked really old, and if I'd been able to read the signs I probably would've learned more about the books. I like seeing old stuff, even if I don't know what it is.

In the middle of the courtyard, below what is now ground level is a church. The entry has not been open the two times I've visited, so I really don't know if it ever is open, or if it's mostly buried. I find it fascinating that the ground level of the place changed so drastically.

After leaving the castle/fortress I walked to St Brigits Monastery.

It was originally a place of faith, and is again now, but the history is long and varied. It was built as a Catholic monastery, but over time (in the 19^th century,) was changed into an Orthodox complex. Unfortunately, somewhere around WW2, it also aquired an addition that was a prison. In this prison area, in the courtyard, the NKVD massacred over 3000 people. It looks really run down now, but I think it still functions at least a little.

My next sight was close by as well, the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul. You can't help but see it, as it is big, and set right on the edge of the street.

It is a Polish Catholic church, so there are benches in the sanctuary. I wasn't a big fan of the interior, though I don't know why.

I kept walking, and made my way to the Lutheran church, which was closed. It was also closed the first time I visited, so I'm guessing it is only open during services. It's not an eye catching building, but I tend to like churches no matter how they look.

More walking took me to the sculptor's house. It's not an official sight, in that you don't get to go inside and walk around. It is simply a private residence owned by a sculptor, and you can see heaps of sculptures all over the grounds.

The house itself is also unique, to say the least.

I soon found another open church, the church of Holy Protection. It was an Orthodox church, not very big. As I walked in, a lady was cleaning the floor, and she felt the need to talk to me. She asked me about my faith, and when I answered, she told me I was wrong. That's the first time I've been told my faith is wrong, it was not a pleasant experience. I've always believed everyone has the right to their own beliefs, but does not have the right to force those beliefs or act on anyone else. Her telling me I was wrong was pretty much the only part of the conversation that I understood.

I nodded and smiled during the rest, but I didn't have any idea what she was saying. I don't know if she didn't see that I didn't understand, or didn't care. Oh well. When I left the church she taught me how to make the cross properly. According to her beliefs anywho.

As I walked back toward the big platz I mentioned earlier, I passed a sister city tree. At least, that's what I'm assuming it was, as it listed a few cities, and the distances to those cities. I don't know why else that particular set of cities would've been chosen to be on the 'tree.'

I had sushi for dinner that night, as I often have sushi when I'm traveling over a weekend in Ukraine.

The next morning I woke up early as usual, then didn't do much of anything for several hours, also as usual. Eventually I cleaned up, packed up, and checked out. I took my bag to the train station for storage during the day. While I was there I asked about the electric train to Klevan. It turns out it leaves every day at 0840, returning at 1700 or so every day. I should've gone the day before, but between feeling awful and not knowing the schedule, that just didn't happen.

My first official sight for the day was the Icon Museum. I'd never heard of it, and the people working the front desk seemed rather surprised to find a foreigner wanting to visit. The museum was two floors, with 3 rooms on each floor.

The icons on display went as far back as the 12^th or 13^th centuries! Most seemed to be from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Some were in better shape than others, of course. Different types of wood fall apart in different ways with different types of paint used to tell a story. I really enjoyed them as art, rather than religious items. I was the only person visiting while I was there, but there were three people working. The lights for each room were only turned on when I was in the room, they were all off otherwise.

Not too far from the icon museum was the military museum. The full name of the museum is longer, but I don't remember it. This was another place that seemed surprised to have a foreign visitor. I paid my entry fee, and started my tour by checking out the backyard. The yard displayed a helicopter, a plane, several tanks, and other vehicles and large items. I might've stayed out there longer if it had been a little warmer. Tromping through the snow wasn't so much fun. Many of the vehicles were open, so I was able to go in the (falling apart) helicopter cockpit. There were descriptive signs in front of everything, but since I don't know anything about this industry, knowing the name of a tank didn't mean much to me.

I went inside next, which felt amazing. I don't know how warm it really was inside, but I do know it was plenty warmer than outside. All through the three rooms were pictures and items of various times in military history. There were even some items from the civil war currently taking place in the east of Ukraine. One of those items was a sticker with the name of Donbas Independent Republic, or something along those lines. Argh.

After leaving the military museum I wanted a snack. I settled for something from a bakery not too far away. I stayed in the bakery longer than I should've, but the cold was taking everything out of me. At least I didn't feel like throwing up anymore.

I walked in the direction of the castle/fortress, hoping to catch a tour of the dungeon and tunnels under the nearby cathedral. When I got there I figured out I'd just missed the tour by about ten minutes, argh. I made a note of when to return, and where to buy tickets.

I continued walking, making my way to a monastery. I think it was the Benedictine monastery, though I'm not entirely sure. The sun was starting to lower in the sky, which gave me a couple great photos around that area. I entered the church of the monastery, which was quite small. I was the only one in there at the time, which I loved.

Near the monastery was a bridge over a river, but I don't think it was going anywhere I wanted to go. I crossed over, then turned around and came back; not very exciting, I know. While on the street again I noticed a water pump, which reminded me of what I saw at the one room schoolhouse near where I grew up in the states. Who uses this pump? How often is it used?

I walked to the old synagogue, another example of what was once a vibrant Jewish community that has gone away. This synagogue was also a fortress, to protect the city and offer worship. Sadly, it's now a sports club.

I saw a laundry line that didn't look very useful in the cold weather. It was covered in ice, and icicles. Very pretty, but pointless.

I went back to the cathedral to catch the dungeoun tour. The tour was in ukrainian, so I had no idea what was being said most of the time, but I've gotten used to that. It's not always hard to figure out what I'm seeing when I don't understand a tour guide.

I saw several tunnels, a couple piles of bones, and excavation work still taking place. For some of the years the Soviets ruled with Communism, the church itself was used as a market rather than a church! At one end of a tunnel I got to see the original metal gates from the 1700s, which are quite rusted. Even with the rust, I was impressed that they'd lasted for centuries. So much of what is built now won't last anywhere near that long.

As we exited, I saw the sun had set so it was dark. And cold, very very cold. I put up the hoodie on my sweatshirt, as well as the hood on my jacket.

I moseyed my way back to the same sushi restaurant as the night before, staying there for more than two hours. After eating I walked to the train station and waited for the train. Just before boarding, I noticed icicles hanging off my train, eeeek!!

The train ride back to Kyiv was easy and smooth, something I've come to expect from the Ukrainian train system.

I want to come back to Lutsk, mostly so I can go to Klevan and see the tunnel of love in winter.