russia: saint petersburg...again

My train from Vologda to Saint Petersburg arrived one minute early, which is quite a rarity. Russian trains usually arrive exactly as scheduled, far more often than not. My train came into the train station further out from the city center, and I could've walked to my hostel, but I didn't. The metro system in Saint Petersburg isn't as extensive as the system in Moscow, but its still better than most cities around the world. The metro ride wasn't long, and the walk from the metro station wasn't long.

I wasn't able to check into my hostel yet, but they were fine with me leaving my bag in a storage room, then sitting in the communal area for a while. I charged my electronics, wasted time online, then several hours later finally walked out the door to start exploring.

The list of sights I wanted to see during this visit to SP was completely random. This first day in the city I stepped into a number of closed courtyards, because I love the photos you can make by looking straight up while standing in the middle. Kindof putting a frame on the sky, if that makes sense. I knew of a few specific places with courtyards where I could do this, and got lucky with finding a few more throughout the day as I walked around.

One of the places I wanted to see was just a random apartment building, but a photo online showed a photogenic spiral staircase. I found the correct address, but I wasn't able to find the specific entrance to see that staircase, argh. 

Another sight on my list was a hotel with a beautiful tiled entrance. I wasn't able to get the photo I wanted, because a car was parked in a place where I couldn't keep it out of the frame. Foiled, again.

Not too far from this hotel was a big yellow church. I had high hopes for seeing something pretty, but only the lower level was open, and that wasn't that interesting. Argh argh argh. The next sight on my list was another church, this one Armenian. The main sanctuary was open, yippee. From there I ended up at yet another church, this one also big and yellow. I finally had a smile on my face because the main area of this one was open, and it was worth seeing. Woo hoo! The interior was mostly blue, with some gold highlights.

There was a metro station nearby, and I hopped on that to get me closer to a sight I've wanted to see for a while. The Lakhta Center isn't really a sight where you learn something or do something. It's just an 'insta-sight' where you try to take a perfect photo for Instagram. The Lakhta Center is a business center, with unique architecture.

After taking my photos I walked back toward the metro station, being stopped along the way by an old lady who told me I should be wearing more clothes. Keep in mind that it was 22C/71F, and I was wearing a medium to long skirt and a t-shirt. I was not cold, and it was the middle of summer. For all the stories of tought Russians when it comes to weather, I've had waaaaay too many experiences with old ladies telling me I'm not dressed appropriately, making me think they whinge far too much.

I took the metro to a stop on Vasilyevsky Island, as I'd found an address where I could see a huge mural on the side of a building. 

By that point I was rather tired, but I wanted to take advantage of the crazy long days Saint Petersburg has in summer. The mural was big and colourful, and I was happy I made the effort to see it.

That being said, I went home from there. Riding the metro back to my hostel, I was able to check in and relax for the evening. I was hanging out in the communal area when I looked out the windows and realized I could see a stunning sunset with the main rotunda of St Isaacs Cathedral in profile. Absolutely gorgeous.

The next morning, when I finally got moving, the first sight I tried to see was a Lenin statue. I was disappointed when I got close, and realized the statue was on a university campus, behind locked gates. Argh.

Next up was another place I went for the solo purpose of taking a photo. I think this building was just a random office building someone realize would look good on Instagram, and the address is listed in a few places. The building has an interior courtyard, with the exterior of those walls all being windows/mirrors. With the summer sun, it just looks nifty in a photo.

As I was leaving this building, two couples were coming in to take their own photos, so it definitely isn't a secret place to take photos.My walk took me past one of the iconic sights in Saint Petersburg, St Isaac's Cathedral. I've been in the church a few times, and climbed up to the exterior of the rotunda a few times, both are worth doing, more than once. This time I didn't go in or up, but rather to the landscaped area in front of the church. There were red roses planted, blooming beautifully. I framed them with the church, hiding most of the people hanging out.

I ended up eating lunch at a sidewalk cafe just because I saw someone with a bowl of soup that looks good. I don't normally stop for lunch, but sometimes it is good to do something different.

During my visit to Saint Petersburg over New Year's I wanted to visit the museum of printing, but it was closed for the holidays. This time I was determined to make that visit happen.

The museum is set up in several apartments in a building, I think some of the apartments used to be part of a newspaper printer. One of the rooms I was able to see was allegedly where Lenin worked when he wrote for a small newspaper. One of the docents figured out I am American, and was determined to practice her English, so I just went with it. She ended up giving me a private tour, I was even able to go behind the ropes in the last room where you can see an old printing press. Fun, but probably not all that interesting for most tourists.

I kept walking, crossing the bridge that took me close to Finlandsky train station, which has a metro station underneath. From there I took the metro a few stops out, to a park. I walked past the park, heading toward a building that houses the Russian State Scientific Center for Robotics and Technical Cybernetics. I wanted to see it because it is different from most 'Russian' buildings.

Instead of taking the metro back to the hostel, I walked. My feet were tired by the time I got back, but the weather was great so I was happy to do it.

I had every intention of doing a day trip the next day, but I couldn't get moving. Instead, I packed up and checked out at nearly noon, whoops. After leaving my bag for the rest of the day at the hostel, I took the metro, a long bus ride, and a long walk out to a place called Lenin Shalash. I never figured out exactly what it is, but since the name included Lenin, I figured why not go see it.

I ended up seeing three statues of Lenin, but the museum type thing was closed because of Covid. Darnit. In other words I wasted about 4 hours, but oh well. Maybe I'll go again someday. Maybe.

By the time I got back to the city center I was tired and hungry, so I went straight to dinner. Yay for cheap pizza. After eating I went back to my hostel, grabbed my backpack and went to the train station.

I was in Petrozavodsk for the next two days, then came back to Saint Petersburg for one more day. I had booked another night at the same hostel as before, so the front desk people remembered me. 

I dropped my bag in their storage room, charged my phone for a while, then went out walking.

My first sight was a cemetery where a bunch of famous people are buried, Tikhvin Cemetery. It is next to a monastery, the cemetery is split into two sections. One section is for 18^th century folks, and the other side is for Masters of Art and Culture. You have to pay entry fees for both sides, which didn't make me happy. The ticket lady wanted me to pay the foreigner fee, but I insisted on paying the local fee, since I live and work in Russia. I chose to visit just one side, figuring I'd be back to the city another time to see the other side.

The 18^th century side was pretty, some of the gravemarkers were in better shape than others. Nearly all of them were quite fancy, and some of them were quite big. Most of them were crammed together, there wasn't a lot of open space between each dead person. When I die I want to be cremated, I have no desire for money to be spent on me after I die.

After leaving the cemetery I visited the monastery, since it was right there. The Nevsky Lavra is an important monastery if such things are important to you. I love visiting monasteries, but didn't find this one any more impressive than others I've visited over the years. 

Even so, I am always happy to step inside a house of faith for a few minutes.

I went out the back gate of the monastery, trying to get to a couple Lenins marked on the map. The first Lenin ended up being a giant profile of his head, high up on the side of a building. The other ended up being another statue behind a fence, so I'm not even sure it was there. Darnit.

Even though I hadn't seen a lot, I walked back to the hostel from there, which ended up being over an hour. The hostel put me in the same capsule as a couple days earlier, it was practically home, hahahaha.

The next morning I was up early to catch a bus to my next destination: Veliky Novgorod. I will definitely be back to Saint Petersburg. 

russia: petrozavodsk and kizhi island

 

When my train arrived in Petrozavodsk in January it was a cold, rainy/snowy/windy day. Walking from the train station to the hostel I'd booked was miserable, as the sidewalks were covered in snow, slush, and puddles of icy water. By the time I got to the hostel that day I was not in a great mood, simply because of the weather.

This time my train arrived in the middle of the night, just after 0300. Since Petrozavodsk is quite far north, the sky was already changing colours, though my phone was telling me official sunrise wasn't until 0337. I hung out in the train station until around 0730, so I wouldn't arrive at the hostel before anyone was awake. 

The walk this time (compared to January,) was sooooo much nicer.

Just like in Vologda, Petrozavodsk was completely different 6 months after my first visit. Instead of gray and cold with some white and lots of rain, I got to see all the colours of the rainbow. Green grass and blue skies, it was glorious. It was hot and sunny, I was happy to wear shorts and a t-shirt.

After checking in and resting up for a while, I walked to see Lenin, even though I'd seen this statue in my first visit. 

He hadn't changed (of course,) but the atmosphere of seeing him did. (Sunny and hot vs windy and snowy. He stands in the middle of a small traffic circle.

Off one side of the traffic circle is a park. The edge of the park right there had an 'exhibit' called Victory. There were large letters spelling out POBEDA, and a whole bunch of red flowers. Well done.

From there I walked back to Kirov square, where I'd seen the small Christmas festival previously.

There was nothing set up this time, as it was summer, at a time when it was not a holiday. What I did notice though was the big construction fence around the monument I saw last time that was a 'tree' with 'leaves' showing each sister city of Petrozavodsk.

I kept heading 'down' the hill, ending up at the lake. When I got to this point in winter it was already feeling dark, even though it was only around 3 in the afternoon. 3 in the afternoon in Petrozavodsk in summer is a world of difference. Walking along the lake was absolutely lovely, even though there were a lot more people out and about.

I walked further than I had in winter, just enjoying the atmosphere. During this walk I noticed there are actually a couple small beach areas, real beaches! Not only do the beach areas exist, there were people laying out, and other were swimming. I stepped in the water for a minute, but it was quite chilly, I had no desire to swim properly.

At one end of my walk I realized I was standing by an office where I could book tickets to take a boat to Kizhi Island, which had been on my Russia bucket list ever since I got my first Russia guidebook from Lonely Planet. (A church from the island was on the cover of that particular edition.)

I paid for my ticket, and was thrilled to know I'd get to see a UNESCO sight the next day.

From there I walked through a small amusement park, which was pretty busy. I don't know if it had just opened for the summer, and people were there because they hadn't been able to be there since the previous summer, but it seemed quite crowded to me for a Tuesday afternoon.

Dinner that night was from the supermarket: yogurt and ramen noodles. (Not mixed together, of course.) I went to bed early to make sure it would be easy to get up the next morning in plenty of time to get to the boat dock on time.

The next morning I decided to stop at a bakery on the way to the boat dock, yum. Worth it even though I had to walk pretty fast to get to the dock on time. We all queued up and boarded one by one, there were no Covid safety measures other than a request to wear a mask the whole time.

I dozed off during the 90 minute hydrofoil ride, hee hee.

Arriving at Kizhi Island was easy, though busy. The people who know what they're doing try to get off the boat first, because you immediately have to queue again, to buy tickets to enter the island.

The whole island is an open air museum, so if you don't buy this ticket, you'll have just been on a boat for no reason at all. (Why the tickets aren't combined I don't know.)

Like most people, I headed south just after buying my ticket. This is in the general direction of the most famous spot on the island, a beautiful church with a zillion onion domes. All made of wood, all quite intricate. You can easily identify which church was recently renovated, as the wood all looks very new. Very very new. 

There are two churches in this particular area, surrounded by a large wall. I chose to look at everything from the outside first, then circle around again, after the crowds had lessened a bit. The main church has recently been renovated, and as far as I could tell, is still not open for visitors. So you can go inside the walls, but not inside that church. You can enter the smaller of the two. Further south I found some hay fields, farm houses (open for visiting,) a windmill, a smaller church with a fantastic bell tower, and more. Some of the areas had little docks, where the owners can take out small rowboats/canoes on the water. 

Each time I entered a building I had to put on my mask and use some of the antibacterial/disinfectant stuff on my hands. Nearly all the employees fell into the 'old' category, so I was fine with taking these precautions. It was neat seeing how some people used to live, in terms of furniture, activities that had to be done regularly, and supplies kept on hand all the time.

Other than trying to avoid people, it was a lovely day wandering all over. There is a small village on another side of the island where people still live, and a few cottages you can rent for holidays. 

All in all it is quite picturesque, and very relaxing. There is a small graveyard in the middle of the island, some of the gravemarkers were quite old, and many pictures had faded to almost nothing.

When you buy a boat ticket it has a specific time to board the boat, you can't just rock up for any of the boats going to and from during the day. I got back to the main dock area in time to buy postcards and a magnet, then board the boat. Just like on the way to the island, I fell asleep/dozed on and off on the way back to Petrozavodsk.

After getting off the boat I walked along the lake for a while and made my way to a memorial in a small park, this memorial was for the victims of the NKVD/KGB/FSB. Nothing exciting, and based on the number of families just hanging out in the park, I doubt most of them were even 'aware' the memorial was there. (When you walk past something so many times you don't even remember it is there at all.)

I went to bed early that night because I had to get up early in order to catch a train at 0535. Now that I've seen Petrozavodsk in both winter and summer, I don't think I need to go back. On the other hand, the city does have the chain of bakeries I really like, and I've been known to travel for crazier reasons, soooooo......

russia: back to vologda

One of the places I visited in early January was a city called Vologda. Since I was there in winter, everything I saw was white or gray, if I could see anything at all. When I looked at the map I realized there were a number of things I didn't see, so I decided to go back. This visit was in mid-July, with warm weather, so the city looked and felt completely different. Yet since I was there during the pandemic I'm sure it wasn't the same as summer would usually be. I wonder whether I should go back to see what that's like?

The beginning of this trip was a bit nerve-wracking for me, because it was a time when everything in Russia was changing in regards to actions being taken for the pandemic. I had booked accommodation, and a couple days before my arrival, my accommodation sent me a message saying that there was currently a 14 day quarantine for any foreigners arriving in the city. I wrote back and expressed that I wouldn't be coming if the quarantine was still a requirement during my days there, as that would've defeated the purpose of going. 

They understood, and said they would let me know what decision was taken by the city a few hours before my train was scheduled to depart. Thankfully the city decided to lift the quarantine, so I was able to go.

I arrived in a city where every employee in the train station was wearing a mask, and they were checking temperatures of random arrivals. I stayed in the train station for a couple hours, then started walking.

First up on my list of sights was a tank/big gun memorial. I knew it wasn't going to be anything unique, but I still wanted to see it. Next up was a bridge marked on the map. I tend to like bridges, for who knows what reason. This one turned out to be completely lame, as it was basically a flat concrete pavement with boring handrails, over a small creek. Not only was it boring, the mozzies were out in force. Like any normal person, I'm not a fan of mozzies, so I left as quickly as possible. The world would be so much better without them. Are they really a necessary part of the food chain?

My path took me back to the main road in town, which took me to the landscaped area behind one of the Lenin statues. I noticed the landscaping immediately, because it was so colourful. Different flowers and small bushes everywhere, it was lovely.

More walking took me to the platz next to the kremlin. The last time I saw this platz it had had a New Year's/Christmas festival set up. This time it was completely empty. I really enjoyed the quiet. The construction wall that had been there in winter was still there, so the outside of one of the churches didn't look quite as nice as it will be at some point in the future.

There is a park of sorts behind the kremlin, I didn't walk through the park in January. During this visit, I did. At one end of the park was a monument to the letter O. Why O, I have no idea. Why no other letters as well, I have no idea. I took a photo and moved on. This park runs parallel to the river, so of course there is a bench at a lookout point, that bench is marked as a sight on the map as well.

I kept going, out of the park and down another street. This brought me to another memorial, one that noted the more than 800 year history of Vologda. The view over and downriver from this monument was quite lovely.

From there I backtracked to the platz near the kremlin and kept going. I got to a bridge over the river which again provided me with the opposite view of what I'd seen in winter. Both times I'd crossed this bridge in winter a mini-blizzard had been taking place, each only about 10 minutes long. Howeva during that ten minutes I'd hardly been able to see anything, as the wind was crazy strong, and the snow was blowing hard.

This time I was able to see the churches on either side of the river, as well as the colourful buildings that also lined the river on each side. Very very photogenic. 

The photos I took just after crossing the bridge were some of my favourite of the entire two days in Vologda. I even laid down on the riverbank for a few minutes, just soaking in the beautiful view.

I decided to visit a couple of the old churches on the second side of the river, just because I could, and these types of buildings always catch my eye. Several of them looked to be falling down from the outside, and I think were under renovation. The interiors weren't nearly as interesting, with very little colour. The areas I was able to see were small, and looked temporary.

I crossed back over the bridge and followed a main road through town and all the way to a small park where I found a house museum. This one was dedicated to Peter the 1^st, or Peter the Great as he is often called. The house was actually owned by traders who hosted the tsar when he visited Vologda in March of 1724. Am I the only one who thinks it a little crazy how many museums are in Russia as a result of small, specific events in the life of someone? I've seen a number of museums where Lenin lived, for example. 

The museum itself was rather small, but still had photos and information. There were also a number of items that belonged to Peter the Great, including a coat he wore. The description of the coat amused me, as it said things like 'He loves to walk in nature's curly hair,' and 'he does not tolerate a large retinue,' all of which made me laugh. Apparently Pete was a man of the people ;)

One of the employees was really keen to have me take photos dressed in contemporary clothing, but I had no real desire to put on a dress in the style of the time.

From there I walked to my accommodation and checked in, I got an entire dorm room to myself, yippee! As I'd stopped throughout the day for various snacks and grocery store checkouts, I didn't need to go anywhere or make anything for dinner.

The next day I woke up to much cooler temps, dark grey skies, as well as wind and rain. Not my idea of good weather. I ended up staying in the hostel as long as I could, hoping the rain would taper off, but it never completely went away. Darnit.

The first sight I tried to see was a house in which Stalin spent some of the time while he was in exile. It is now a museum dedicated to all of those who spent time in Vologda while in exile. Stalin only lived there for 2-3 months, but that's plenty long in the way Russia thinks to make it into a museum. Unfortunately, it was still closed, probably due to the pandemic.

I kept walking, and the rain mostly held off. The sidewalks had plenty of puddles from heavier rain earlier in the day, so I added quite a few steps to my daily count by zigzagging all over the place. I probably looked a little loco to anyone who saw me walking.

I got to Oktober Square Park, which had a few memorials, mostly to various aspects of WW2. There were also playground areas, and a couple 'statues' that made no real sense to me. Two alligators standing on their hind legs, frogs hanging out with snails, etc... Cute, but no real point to them.

Next up was another house museum. This was was the former estate of the Leonteyev (sp?) family. I can't find the specifics, but I think it was a middle to upper class family, so I got to see furniture from back then, as well as some clothing on display. Let me say that I am happy I didn't live back then.

Those clothes and furniture do not look comfortable. In a sign of their wealth, I got to see a barrel organ, and a gramophone.

I went to another museum straightaway, one that I had wanted to visit in January. This was the lace museum, which is located on one side of the platz next to the kremlin. This was pretty big, and there weren't many other visitors, so it felt even bigger. I was thrilled to be able to wander through a number of large rooms with heaps of exhibited lace.

There was one room mostly dedicated to the history of lace in the area, along with some information on how lace is made. Another room was dedicated to 'political' lace, which even had examples of lace with CCCP 'written' or a 'picture' with Lenin and Marx. There were pieces of clothing, like vests and veils, and kitchy small pieces you would put on end tables; there were big wall hangings and table runners. Who knew lace could be fashioned into so many different items?

After seeing the lace museum I went back to the same bridge I crossed yesterday and crossed it again. I'd found a set of 'ruins' marked on a map, so I headed in that direction. When I got there I was a bit disappointed, as it was just another old building that was no longer in use. There was graffiti on some of the outer walls, and all the windows were boarded up. Since it was the middle of summer, the wildflowers were growing like crazy. Photogenic, in a way.

From there I walked back to the hostel to eat a quick dinner, then grab my bag and walk back to the train station. All in all, another nice visit to a nice city.

russia: back to kazan

 

The first year I lived in Russia I visited Kazan with Bo and Claire. We visited in April, and to be honest, when we left we felt as if we'd seen everything. It was basically because of social media that I learned about quite a few more places to visit in and around Kazan that made me put it back on the list of places to visit in Russia. During our visit in April it was still cold and windy, so the chance to go back in summer made for an interesting contrast.

Kazan was my first night train and overnight stay trip during the pandemic. Yes, I was a bit scared, pretty much the entire time. There weren't as many options for trains, because not as many of them were running. There also weren't as many options for accomodation, but this time I was searching for a place just for me, not for three people.

When I booked my train tickets I put in the city name, then clicked on the best option. Without realizing it, my arrival train was scheduled to come into the train station in Kazan that we did not see last time. 

I was glad I looked at my ticket just before arrival time, as well as looking at the map to see where we were. If I hadn't done both of those, I would've missed my stop, whoops.

Like a number of cities in Russia, Kazan has two big train stations. Also like a number of cities in Russia, the stations in Kazan have several names, and it isn't always easy to figure out which one is being referred to. The signs on the fronts of the stations in Kazan say Kazan-1 and Kazan-2. But your ticket says something like Kazan glavny, or Kazan Vosstanie. In other words, there is no obvious connection with which station you need. Sigh.

My train arrived at Kazan-2, which is basically on the edge of Kazan. Since it was good weather (though already pretty hot at the early hour of 0800) I decided to walk into town. It was a long walk, but oh well. I got to see a big concrete wall with a profile of Lenin's head, which had the nifty propaganda slogan that translates to 'communism is inevitable.' Like most Americans, I giggled to myself at how 'accurate' that is currently.

As I kept going, I got to one of the more unique buildings in the city, the government acronym transliterates to ZAGS. 

It is labeled as a family and community center, and based on what I've seen in other cities, I think this is the government office where you register your marriage, and deal with other family related concerns.

To me, this ZAGS building looks like a giant cauldron on a big pedestal. On each corner there are 'dragons,' I think they are part of the city representatives. All in all, it is very eye catching, you can't help but wonder what you're seeing. It sits right on the river, there is a nice view of the kremlin on the other side of the river.

By this point I was already feeling dehydrated, and sweating up a storm, but still had at least 30 minutes more to walk to get to my accomodation. Crossing the bridge over the Kazan River felt like I was baking in the direct sun. Ugh.

I was thrilled when I finally got to my accomodation. There was no air con, but there were fans, and the moving air felt amazing. I took a couple hours to cool down, charge my electronics, and change clothes.

One of the reasons I came back to Kazan was to see a colourful religious spot a friend of mine had visited a couple years ago. I read my guidebook, where it was listed, I'm not sure why we missed it last time. Oh well. The bus going out to this church doesn't come as regularly as some of the other city buses, and there is no shade at the bus stop, but it was cheap and a direct ride, so I was okay with waiting a bit.

Everyone on the bus was wearing a mask, no one on the streets wore a mask. I'd just come from Moscow, where already less than half of the people using public transport were wearing masks, let alone wearing them correctly, so it was a big contrast.

The temple for all religions is unique, to say the least. The man who is building it wants it to be a place where anyone can come to worship. The best way to describe it is to say that each room is dedicated to a specific world religion, and decorated in the way that is typical for that faith.

There was a Buddhist area, an Orthodox Christian area, a Catholic area, an Egyptian area, and more. The building is not finished, though I'm not sure it will ever be finished. I don't know what the building schedule is for the current areas under construction.

As a photographer I loved it, because there was so much colour everywhere. Just after walking in the main entrance, (where you are 'encouraged' to give a 100 ruble donation,) there was a small area with stained glass, which is one of my loves in photography. I love trying to capture coloured light. There was a spiral staircase where one woman was having glamour photos taken. There was a big Buddha along one wall in another room.

The 'roof' was fantastic as well, as there were domes and spirals and colour everywhere. I wouldn't mind going back another time, to have better lighting in regards to the sun, and to take a photo without other people around.

I had to wait just as long to catch the bus going back into the city, oh well.

The next sight I wanted to see was something I saw on social media. Government buildings in Russia seem to be on opposite sides of the architectural divide, never in the middle. They are either huge and boring and almost put you to sleep, or are super eye-catching and make you want to take heaps and heaps of photos. This building definitely fell on the eye-catching side of things.

I've seen several translations of the name, but I'm going to go with Palace of Agriculture as the name of this building. It is big, with a large set of stairs leading up to the main point of the building: a huge tree like sculpture. Call it a tree of life if you will. As expected, I wasn't the only one who wanted to take a photo with the building.

I don't know if it was because of the hot weather, or the pandemic, or a combination, or something else, but there weren't too many people taking photos at this building, and everyone seemed content to wait in an informal queue. Yahoo!

My original plan had been to go to an art museum after the Palace of Agriculture, but by the time I was done taking my photos, I was dehydrated and hot again. I was tired, and starting to feel hangry, so food ended up being next on my list. The place I wanted to go ended up not being open, so I ended up at a random cafe. As far as I could tell, indoor dining wasn't yet open in Kazan, so places were limited to the small outdoor seating areas.

I felt better after eating, so I wandered over to an area of town with man made lakes. There is a fountain in one end of one of the lakes, and you can rent paddle boats and rowboats. 

There were plenty of people taking advantage of the evening temperatures to spend time with family and friends. There are walking paths all the way around the lakes, it was really nice. I ended up seeing the sky go through the full rainbow of sunset colours, including the night light reflections on the lake water.

I slept well that night, after drinking a whole bunch of water. The next morning it took me a while to get going, which is typical of the second day of most of my trips.

Continuing my tradition of trying to see all the Lenin statues in cities I visit, my first intended sight this morning was a Lenin statue. When I finally got there (over an hour later, after taking a look at dunes along part of the river,) I found a statue covered in gold paint. (I feel like most of the time he is painted silver, so this was unusual.) On the pedestal under the statue there was a propaganda phrase, this one translates to 'proletarians of all the countries unite.' Another propaganda slogan that has aged well. ;)

After taking a photo with the statue, I walked to Park Pobedy, or Victory Park. Along the way I stopped in a grocery store, to get ice cream, water, and enjoy the air conditioning. At one corner of the park was the huge WW2 memorial I expect in every Russian city. This one was in both Kazakh and Russian, but had the normal eternal flame, wreaths, and names carved into plaques.

Not far from the WW2 memorial were a series of tanks and planes. There were kids climbing on a few of them, but not as many as I normally see. (Probably because it was hot, and the metal would be painful to touch.)

There was a small lake in the park, where you could rent paddleboats, some of which were shaped by swans. Very cute. I didn't do this, but maybe I should next time.

From there I walked back toward the tourist center of town. Getting there took a while, including me sitting on a bench in the shade for a bit. Despite drinking more water than the day before I could feel dehydration coming on again.

This was another long walk, going through Turkish square and crossing the same bridge as the day before. 

I went down to the boardwalk area between the kremlin and the river, most of which was closed. There were some cute little stalls that are probably fun when they're open, or have good food, but all of that was still closed due to the pandemic. After taking another break on a bench in shade, I went back to the same place for dinner at which I'd eaten the day before.

After eating I walked to the closest metro stop and rode to the northern end of the line. As I was at the last stop, I looked at the signage in the station that says what can be found outside each exit. I noticed one of the signs mentioned Lenin, so imagine how thrilled I was when I found a statue of Lenin I hadn't known about previously!

After that quick photo opportunity, I got back on the metro, then ran to my hostel where I picked up my bag and walked to the train station. Thankfully this train was scheduled to depart from Kazan 1, which is in the city center.

Another great visit to another great city :)