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: kurgan

Kurgan is the 53^rd largest city in Russia, just over 2000 kilometers east of Moscow, with a slowly shrinking current population of just under 327,000. It ended up being the warmest place I visited during this mini tour of Siberia, with temperatures only slightly below freezing. Definitely not what I expected anywhere in Siberia.

Kurgan is the modern name of the city, it was founded as Tsaryovo Gorodische in 1659 by a farmer from Tyumen. Like the beginning of many Siberian cities, its early history involves time as a fortress and fortified city.

Kurgan was granted official town status by Catherine the Great (Catherine the 2^nd,) in 1782. This is also when the city took its current name. Wikipedia tells me the name comes from a burial mound, called a kurgan, that was close to the original settlement. The city moved a few times, but only by a few kilometers each time, and always close to the Tobol River.

The city got its first school, hospital, and fire station (with a lookout tower!) in the early 18^th century. During the years when being sent into exile was a thing, Kurgan was one of the cities that regularly hosted exiles.

Several of the so called Decembrists were sent to Kurgan. The Decembrists were a group of military officers and minor nobles that tried to revolt in December 1825. It didn't work, and they were all punished, along with their families by being sent into exile.

Before 1917, most of the houses of Kurgan were made of wood. (Typical in Siberia.) The wooden house tradition slowed down, but continued to hold on until the mid 20^th century, when big (boring and ugly,) concrete apartment complexes were built.

My train from Omsk was a nine hour night train, and arrived exactly on time in Kurgan. I stayed in the train station for a couple hours, for no reason in particular. My walk to my hotel only took 30 minutes, and was one of the more boring city walks I've done in Russia.

Finding my hotel was easy, but I was not able to check in early. Well, I was able to do so, but I didn't want to pay 50% of the nightly fee just to get into the room a couple hours early. Instead, I left my bag at the front desk, and went out to explore.

My hotel was really close to the city center, it only took me ten minutes to walk to Lenin Square. I intended to go there to see and take photos of the statue of Lenin. When I got there I discovered an ice festival, with sculptures placed all over the square, all around the statue. Totally awesome.

Because of the ice festival, the area around Lenin wasn't nearly as empty as I'm used to seeing. Most of the time when I want to take a photo with the man, locals watch me, but there isn't anyone in my frame. 

This time, I had to wait a couple minutes for people to move, then hope they didn't get in my frame while the camera was counting down. Since everyone in the area was taking plenty of photos, no one looked at me at all. Hee hee.

One of the ice sculptures was sortof like a giant wok on a platform. I think it was more a way to play on the ice, as opposed to an actual sculpture. I saw a few parents put their kids in the middle, then watched the kids try to climb out again, sliding all over while doing so. Really cute.

On one side of the square was an ice rink, not yet completely frozen.

From there I ended up walking along random streets, eventually ending up at the local Decembrist museum. It was in a yellow wooden house, one of the ugliest yellows I've seen. Definitely not the colour I would have chosen, but I didn't choose it, soooo... The entrance to the museum was around back, I wonder why.

I was happy to find a museum that did not have a foreigner fee for me. I was not happy when I saw a photo fee listed, argh. Just include a few extra rubles in everyone's entry fee, and stop these silly extra fees. They just make me feel like a human atm. Oddly enough, this was the first city in which I found postcards during this trip, and I found them at this museum. Even though I still had the rest of that day and the next to see the city, I bought the postcards. I also bought a magnet. 

The exhibits of this museum were all on the second floor of the house. The museum displayed furniture, clothing, personal items, and photos of the Decembrists, along with an information page for each room. There wasn't anything unique in this museum, but I was still glad I visited. The ladies who worked there were surprised to see me, as I don't think Kurgan gets many foreign visitors, and those who do come don't come in winter. All that on top of me being by myself, the ladies were fascinated. 

Kurgan doesn't have much to see or do, which is probably the greatest reason the city doesn't get a whole lot of tourists. After I left the museum there was nothing particularly exciting on the map that I wanted to see. I ended up walking the streets in a grid patterns, just to kill time and hope I'd see something worth taking a photo of.

I did find one photo to take, at a fire station of all places. Many Russian cities still have traditional fire stations, which include watchtowers. 

They look very similar to water towers, but have a balcony area at the top, where someone used to stand and watch the city. Before people were connected by phones and electronics, the fastest way for a fire station to learn about a fire was to watch the city.

This fire station was also painted an ugly yellow colour, so was the watchtower. The watchtower was shaped like a lighthouse, I remember wondering what the heck a lighthouse was doing in the middle of a city when I first saw it.

A review of this fire station on google maps says the fire station was completed in 1882, so it really is old.

I kept walking, coming to the platz in front of the Philharmonic Theatre. A good place to people watch, though not much else. I really wanted to keep walking around the city, but for whateva reason I was running out of energy. I found a nearby supermarket and picked up some snack food for dinner, then walked back to the hotel, where it didn't take long to check in.

I wasted time online for a while, then was able to convince myself to go back out for another hour. I walked back to Lenin Square, and was excited to find that most of the ice sculptures were lit up for the evening. I guess when they were built/carved, light wires were built into them, so the ice appeared to change colour, I loved it!

Obviously, there were plenty of locals out along with me, but at that point I stopped caring. The ice rink was finally completely frozen, and I noticed the 'walls' around the rink were also changing colour. Awesome. 

The whole area was worth standing around for a while to people watch. I did feel sorry for the kids who were dragged from one sculpture to another by adults. The adults took photos, then moved on, but didn't really let the kids play, nor interact all that much other than to take the photos.

I did not sleep particularly well that night, my room was quite warm and stayed that way even though I turned off the heat. I didn't have a window, so I wasn't able to do much. Ugh.

In the morning I did my normal wasting of time by putzing around online, but since I knew Kurgan didn't have a whole lot going on, it didn't really make a difference for the rest of my day. Once I did get going, it didn't take me long to pack up and check out, then leave my pack at the front desk.

When I looked at my phone, Yandex maps listed three statues of Lenin in Kurgan, so I decided I wanted to see the other two on my second day in the city. My walk to the first one was quite long, but since I had the whole day to get through, I didn't care.

Go figure, when I got close to the first statue I wanted to see, I figured out it was in a factory complex of some kind, behind a guarded gate. Argh. So much for seeing all three. If I had more confidence in my Russian abilities, I'd have asked the guard if I could just take a look.

I ended up turning around and walking back in the direction from which I came, thank goodness for clear, wide pavements the whole way. At one point I crossed the street because I saw a building with a large mosaic mural on one side.

It turned out to be a school.

As I got back into the general city center, I passed the suburban train station, which had an old looking city sign in front. Since I love city signs no matter how lame they look, of course I took a photo with the sign.

From there I walked all the way to Lenin number three, with a stop at a supermarket along the way. When I found this Lenin I was surprised to see that he was in front of a school. I've seen a lot of Lenins, and I think this was the first time I found him in front of a school. I don't know why, but that isn't a common place for him to be.

After seeing Lenin, I walked to Park Pobedy, or Victory Park. Getting there took me through some really boring residential areas. Since Kurgan was having such warm weather, the snow was melting a bit and getting to the ugly/dirty stage. I assume most winters are not like this in Kurgan.

Park Pobedy was like most such parks in Russia. I saw a couple fountains, but the water wasn't running. I wonder what they look like in the middle of summer? I also found several large war memorials. 

One of them had an eternal flame, as well as plaques with engraved names. There was no one else around, though that was probably due to the weather more than a lack of remembrance.

At this point I felt as if I'd seen everything I wanted to see, but then I discovered another problem: a lack of cafes listed online. That is, there were cafes on the map, but none of them seemed like places I could go to kill a few hours. Argh. Instead, I made my way back toward Lenin Square, as seeing the ice sculptures again would be fun.

Along the way I saw a church and stepped inside. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral wasn't all that big, but I quite liked the inside. The entire thing was painted with frescoes, they all looked quite old and faded. The iconostasis up front was gold, as was the giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A nice place to stand and send a few prayers up to the Big Man in the sky.

Lenin Square was just as busy as the night before, so I walked around the platz several times, just watching people. 

There were a couple ice slides built on one side, I really wished I had something to use as a sled to go down, as it looked quite fun.

Eventually, I went back to my hotel to pick up my pack, then walked back to the train station. I found a chair relatively near a plug, then sat there for a few hours until boarding my train. I don't think I need to come back to Kurgan, as it was quite boring, and none of the 'views' were particularly scenic.