russia: kostroma

When I first put Kostroma on my list of places to go it was because I saw a pretty picture on social media. I was thrilled when I realized it was also listed in my guidebook.

Kostroma is one of the so-called Golden Ring towns around Moscow. The 2010 census said there were almost 270,000 residents in a city a little over 330 kilometers northeast of Moscow. Fun fact: Kostroma is the name of the East Slavic goddess of fertility. Why this name was chosen for a town name, I don't know. 

The first official mention of Kostroma in written history was in 1213, but there are a few arguments that the city was older, even arguments saying several centuries older. There is the thought that Kostroma was founded in 1152, and there are thoughts that the history of the town could go as far back as 400-600 CE.

Like pretty much every town in Russia, Kostroma was taken by the Mongols when they were creating the largest empire the world has ever known. When Mongol warriors moved on, they left locals (Russians) in charge, as they did in most places they conquered during that time.

Kostroma finally received official town status in 1719, despite being around for several hundred years at that point. In 1773 a massive fire destroyed much of the city. The rebuild included streets radiating from a single point near the banks of the Kostroma River. Legend has it that Catherine the Great dropped her fan on a map of the city, and told architects in charge of rebuilding to follow her lead.

When I booked my train tickets to Kostroma I thought it was a small town, so I booked tickets for two night trains in a row. I also booked the dates by accident. 

When I made the booking, I thought it was in February, but I actually clicked on the dates in March, whoops! Thankfully the dates in March were still on a weekend. Also thankfully, when I double checked the train departure time in February I did so before arriving at the train station, so I noticed the mistaken dates before getting to the train station and getting frustrated with myself.

My train arrived on time in Kostroma, as expected. Since it was still dark when I arrived, I stayed in the station for a couple hours, sitting on a chair near a plug. The station was not exciting, but they can't all be.

The train station in Kostroma is nowhere near the city center, but I had all day, so not long after daylight I started walking. Not too far from the train station I saw a mosque, which is not something you see a lot of in Russia. It wasn't particularly good looking, but the recent weather had left lots of puddles, so the reflection in water was quite nice.

I kept walking along the main street, enjoying the random buildings along the way. Since it was still before 0900, there weren't many other people around. 

Eventually I got to the place where I took my favourite photo during this trip.

The Church of the Saviour in the Ranks is a typical Orthodox church, originally built for merchants. What made it special for me is the location, on one end of an arcaded central market. As a puddle had helped me make a nice photo of a mosque an hour earlier, another puddle helped me make a photo of this market and church. I love reflection photos.

I wanted to see the inside of the church, and take photos, but there was a service taking place when I opened the door so I only stayed inside for a few minutes, and took no photos.

This church and market were close to the main square (the 'center of the fan, if you will,) from which some of the streets of the city radiate. Named after the town hero, Susanin Square is quite pretty from a couple perspectives.

Standing in the middle of the square (which is a landscaped area in warmer months,) I had the perfect viewpoint of the former fire station. It has a gorgeous fire tower, (used to watch out for fires back in the day,) but is now used as a history/art museum. Really photogenic, if you have the patience to wait for a moment when no one is walking in front of the whole thing.

Since I love to find Lenin statues, that was my next goal. I'd found two of them listed on a map, so I headed up Lenin street toward one of them. The walk was rather long, and not through a pretty part of town, to say the least. I finally got to the statue, it was less than impressive. He was pretty small, compared to other statues, and in a very small park/square off an intersection.

If I hadn't been looking for this Lenin statue, I never would've noticed this one, (partly because it is in such a random part of the city,) mostly because it would've been super easy to walk right past the area. Anywho, I took my normal photo with the statue, then found the closest bus stop. 

Even though I love walking, I didn't want to spend another hour and some getting to my next sight.

After hopping off the marshrutka, I stumbled upon two churches on my way to another church. The first church wasn't amazing, but I did like the cemetery that surrounded the church. The second church was wooden, and surrounded by a fence, and the gate was locked. I wish I had been able to enter that one.

My next sight is probably the most visited sight in Kostroma. 

Ipatiev Monastery is like the city in that it has multiple founding dates. The Wikipedia article says the monastery was founded in 1330 by Prince Chet, an Orthodox convert, a Tatar. The article goes on to say that some historians think it was actually founded by Yaroslavich, in 1275, but then declined as the whole region declined. Looking at the history this way, Prince Chet only revived the place. I don't really care which is the correct founding date, as it doesn't impact the experience of a visitor.

The Romanov family was a big fan of this monastery, several of them visited or lived in the monastery. The house in which Tsar Mikhail Romanov lived in has been preserved, near one of the walls of the area. It wasn't difficult to find the entry gate, as there is a lovely mural painted above the gate, with a cross on top of the whole thing.

There is an entrance fee to visit the monastery, there is also a photo fee. Argh. Put the fees together, it's not terribly cheap. Women have to wear headscarves and skirts, both are available to borrow, and they do make sure you're wearing them. 

I'm not sure wearing a wraparound skirt over a pair of pants and a winter coat is particularly respectful (because my opinion is that it looks ridiculous,) but it isn't my choice.

I think there are typically two churches to visit in this monastery, but one of them was closed for renovation. Argh. The main church was plain white on the outside, which didn't prepare me for the riot of colour inside. The interior wasn't big, but it was tall, and every square centimeter was painted. I might've gotten whiplash from the way I was trying to look in every direction at the same time.

Even the hallway outside the church was fully covered with frescoes. Neither the inside nor the hallway were bright, but there was just so much colour that I loved it all. There was a gold iconostasis up front, but it didn't stand out because of all the colour everywhere.

As the moastery is on the western bank of the Kostroma River, not close to the city center, I chose to walk back toward the city center. The bridge I crossed probably has a great view of the monastery on the river, but that side of the was being redone, so I didn't get that view. Argh.

On my way back into the city center I passed a big rock monument. Since rocks are generally quite boring, I read the accompanying sign, which said that this was where the city had been founded.

I walked through the arcaded market this time, but on the other side from what I'd seen previously. Vendors were selling the same things I've seen in every Russian market: produce, dairy, second hand goods, etc...

I kept going, and eventually got to the central park. In one area of the park was a huge Lenin statue. Not only was the statue quite big, it was on a big and fancy pedestal. Definitely one of the most grand Lenin statues I've seen.

I attempted to go to the teapot museum next. I love tea, how awesome did this museum sound? I was gutted when I got to the entrance gate and discovered you have to call ahead of time to arrange a tour, and you have to have a group of at least six people. Needless to say, its not likely I'll ever get to see this museum, darnit.

I did get to see the cheese museum, which also requires a tour. The tour is in Russian, so I didn't understand much, but it was fun to look around in each room and try to figure out what the guide was saying. 

Russian cheese isn't all that exciting, but it was nice to try to learn a bit about the history and industry in Russia.

After that I had one more museum to visit, this one dedicated to the Romanovs. Go figure, when I got to the ticket desk I had to try to sort out a bunch of different ticket options. They had an English menu as well, but the options didn't seem to be the same as the Russian menu, which made it even worse to sort it out. I finally chose two areas to visit, after which they tried to get me to buy a three area ticket. Argh. I had to repeat several times that I just wanted these two areas. 

Then when visiting the first room I discovered it had a separate photo fee, but the second area didn't.

The museum exhibits were nice, but I was so annoyed by the ticket process that I didn't enjoy it as much as I should've. I did appreciate the grand staircase with pieces of art displayed on the walls along the stairs. Very nice.

After leaving this museum I decided I had seen enough for the day. It snowed briefly while I walked to a cafe, thankfully not for long. I killed a few hours in the cafe, then walked back to the train station where I killed a few more hours before boarding my train and departing for Moscow.

I'd like to go back to Kostroma, to see a couple more museums and views, and experience the town in warmer weather :)

russia: irkutsk and angarsk

My bus from Khuzhir to Irkutsk dropped me off near the bus station in Irkutsk around 1530. My train didn't leave for 4 hours, so I figured I might as well see something.

I checked the map and discovered a Lenin statue I hadn't yet seen, so that was first up. It was just a 10 minute walk from the station, so it was perfect.

Across the street from the man was a yellow church. The inside was about as exciting as the inside, I didn't even take photos inside.

Around the other side of the church was the property of the Volkonsky Decembrist museum.

The Decembrists were a group of military officers and minor nobles who wanted to make some changes in the governance of what is now Russia. The attempted coup failed, in December of 1825. Within a year, around 100 of them were sent into Siberian exile.

From what I've seen in various museums, they brought their entire lives with me. Wives often moved to be with their husbands, bringing what seems like all their household goods.

This museum was over two floors, and showed the house and lives of some very wealthy Decembrists in exile. 

I saw fancy dresses and furniture, tea sets and toys, even a big piano. Princess Marie (of Siberia?) wasn't allowed to go to public places of amusement, so she made her home a cultural center of the city. The piano was used for concerts back then, and it's still used for that reason, though I suspect the concerts are less often.

Great museum, and I didn't have to pay extra to take photos. I also noticed that docents didn't follow me around, and I was the only tourist there at the time. Quite nice.

From there it was a bit of walking to get to a quirky monument: one to a tourist. It's a statue of a skinny guy wearing a backpack looking up at nothing in particular. Cute.

Across the street from Mr Tourist was a supermarket, so I loaded up on non perishable food, mostly carbs.

When looking for places to eat online I found a listing for a place serving New Zealand pies. I couldn't resist, since New Zealand was the first country I ever fell in love with, and I miss their pies. I had two meat pies, which weren't completely authentic, but they weren't awful either. I couldn't say exactly why, but that's how they tasted to me.

I intended my fruit pie to go, but I ended up eating it before leaving the cafe.

From there it was a quick tram ride to the train station, in plenty of time to board my train.

I left Irkutsk on the evening of 3 March, and returned the morning of the 8^th.

Like many Russian cities, Irkutsk has plenty of public transport, including trams. I adore trams, I almost always choose them over buses, if given the choice. The tram I took from the train station brought me within a few city blocks of my hostel. Very convenient.

I was able to check in straightaway, also very convenient. I should have dropped my stuff, then gone right back out the door to explore, but I didn't. Sometimes it is hard to walk away from wifi and plugs.

I finally got out the door a bit after noon, having charged everything, as well as organized some photos and such. First on my list was a church, the Kazan Cathedral. To get there I got to ride another tram part of the way :)

The outside of the church was red brick, with blue domes. Nice, I guess, but I don't love brick.

The inside of the church was beautiful, especially with the light being very visible as it streamed through the windows. The entire interior was painted with brightly coloured frescoes. I could've stayed in there for a while, just enjoying the colour and light.

As I left the church I couldn't miss the signs on the insides of the interior doors, the signs were written in Chinese. Because of the coronavirus pandemic having started in China, I was expecting something more along the lines of instructions of behaviour for Chinese visitors.

I used a translation app to read the signs, which actually reminded Chinese visitors to buy items from the small shop in the church. Hmmm.

When I used my phone to check how long it would take to get to my next sight, it said 12 minutes by public transport, or 15 minutes by foot. Since the weather was amazing, I chose to walk.

Trubetskoy Decembrist museum was similar to the one I'd seen a few days earlier, but smaller. There is a combined discount ticket for the two, but you have to see them on the same day to use it, darnit. This one was smaller than the first one, but the building in which it was located was just as nice.

Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1790. He was a minor nobleman, from both sides of his family. Then he married a woman who was the daughter of a man who was also a nobleman, at least that's how I understand it. He chose a military career, which eventually sent him to St Petersburg, which is where the Decembrist rebellion failed.

This museum was also on two floors, the basement and the first floor. I assume there are offices or something on the second floor? Everything was displayed well, though there were fewer exhibits overall.

I walked to my next sight as well, since it was quite close. Even though the sign on the door said it should be open, the City History Museum was closed. Maybe it was because this was Sunday, 8 March, which was International Women's Day. Booo.

I kept going, to the main (only?) synagogue of the city. There was an information sign out front, in three languages: Russian, English, and Chinese. A good summary of the history of the synagogue itself, as well as of Jewish life in the area. As I was reading the sign a couple locals went into the synagogue and told me it was okay to come inside and look around.

This was the first time in a long while that I've entered a Jewish facility without having to go through a metal detector, or someone looking through my bags. This is a good thing, I think.

The 'sanctuary' was nice, two floors. Since I was in there by myself I was able to look around a little more than I normally would. I noticed some items on display, such as a prayer shawl that was a couple centuries old. There were other prayer shawls tucked into bookcases/shelves at the back of the room. Do people leave these shawls there during the week? I need to learn a lot more about how a synagogue works. 

After leaving the synagogue I walked back to a nearby main street, Marx street. This is the same street on which I'd seen the monument to a tourist a few days earlier. I ended up stopping somewhere for dinner, before a quick check into a supermarket.

The next morning my alarm went off as planned at 0630. I'd had a pipe dream of getting out the door by 0700, in order to get to the train station, buy a ticket, and get on a train to Angarsk. I did all that, but it actually happened 3.5 hours later. I was awake at 0630, and stayed awake, but couldn't get moving.

Buying the ticket was easy and cheap, less than $1USD. The lady selling tickets tried to tell me which train to take, but realized I didn't understand her. She wrote the number on a piece of paper instead, which made it obvious. She didn't have to do that, but I really appreciated her effort.

The train departed and arrived exactly on time, of course.

Angarsk feels like a smaller city, but Wikipedia tells me it has more than 230,000 people. It's a new city, having only been founded in 1948, and granted official city status in 1951.

It is 50 kilometers from Irkutsk, about an hour on the elektrichka.

When I got off the train in Angarsk I wanted to take a photo using my tripod at the train station. (So I could be in the photo, with the city name on the back side of the train station.) For the first time ever for me in Russia, a security guard/police officer came along and told me it wasn't allowed unless I had permission from the chief of station.

That didn't stop me from taking photos inside the station, as I walked through. The first floor was not very interesting, but the second floor was quite nice. 

Surprisingly, (to me,) there were quite a few people out front of the train station. I don't know if they were just hanging out, waiting for someone, or something else. I'm used to movement in front of a train station, going in or out, but not so much standing around.

It was an easy walk toward the center of town, Lenin street went straight there from the train station. My first sight in town was Lenin, the man himself. The statue wasn't memorable, he wore a coat and had his hands in his pockets.

Behind Lenin was a theatre, and behind that, a park. The park didn't have much, just a fountain and a small children's play area, with plenty of trees.

Across the street from the park, a block down from Lenin was a mini Eiffel Tower. I have no idea why such a thing would be here, it looked really out of place.

I kept going, eventually getting to the Park of Culture and Leisure. It was also smaller than I'm used to seeing, but did have a big ferris wheel, which was running! One of these days I'm going to have to ride one of these in a random Russian city.

From there it was a longer walk to get to my last sight in the city: the Trinity Cathedral. The outside was a boring white, with green towers and gold domes. The inside was fantastic though, and well worth the walk. Gold and colour everywhere, really bright and beautiful. I was happy to stay in there a bit longer, it was lovely.

From there it took me a little over an hour to walk back to the train station. It was easy to buy a ticket, and hop on the next train back to Irkutsk. This one was a LOT busier, with every seat taken. I had to stand for more than half the ride. The standing was easy, but moving out of the way for everyone who wanted to go up and down the aisles was annoying.

After returning to Irkutsk I went straight to dinner, at a place whose name translates to cheese and oil. Or is it cheese and butter? I didn't need to go out to dinner, but I wanted to splurge a little on my last night of holiday. It was good food, both in taste and look.

The next morning it didn't take long to get to the airport, where everything went smoothly.

I wouldn't mind going back to Irkutsk, there are still plenty of things to see, and I haven't (yet) been there in warm weather.

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: 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.