I Think I’ll Just Skip Over Novosibirsk and Get Right to Irkutsk

The World is Your Pelmeni in Novosibirsk 

There is much to see in the very Soviet city of Novosibirsk (my guidebook even says so) but a twenty-four-hour stopover and a bit of travel fatigue made me miss much of it. Or, an alternative theory, there is very little to see and do in Novosibirsk no matter how hard I look for fun. Either way, my stay in Novosibirsk was short and semi-sweet. I arrived early in the morning at a very impressive looking train station. I thought I’d find my usual McDonalds near the train station and collet my thoughts over a cup of coffee. The only problem was, there was no McDonalds near the train station and Icould find nowhere that was open at the moment to get Internet directions. So, I did my usual walking around, endlessly, until I finally settled on a place. Once I had  breakfast in me, I made my way to the hotel for some rest. Finally, it was time to see the city…I should have stayed in bed. 

Nice way to enter Novosibirsk

From what I could gather reforms are reaching Novosibirsk even more slowly than Yekaterinburg. The place had an undeniable Soviet feel at least from an architectural point of view. There was the inevitable ‘modernized’ Intourist hotel near the train station, the square, steel buildings that
approximated some sort of style, and the same squat apartment complexes so reminiscent of the Khrushchev/Brezhnev eras. I think the highlight for me was the enormous Lenin statue surrounded by dynamic representations of the modern Soviet man and woman. I guess in some sort of irony, the statues are mainly used as a meeting place for teenagers as well as a skateboarders’/bikers’ haven. That Soviet realist art style really has some sharp angles, good for a variety of complicated skateboarding maneuvers. I was also impressed by the audacity, or the laziness, of the main park to have an announcements board that literally pays tribute to prominent Soviet citizens. Okay.

The Old and the New(er)

Beyond the bygone Soviet architecture, Novosibirsk was the first time I felt let down on this trip. I had expected a bit more from the ‘capital of Siberia’. Perhaps, if I spent another night or two I might have found some good restaurants and bars to patronize. I also could have checked out the local museums and learned a bit more about the area. I also think Novosibirsk would be an interesting place for excursions outside of the city; there is lots of nature and adventure beyond the city bounds. But the only real regret I had was not going to a restaurant that served bear. For some reason, I totally missed this opportunity to nibble on a Winnie the Pooh steak. Perhaps next time. After a restful sleep at a nice hotel, it was up early for the trip to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal.

Beautiful Soviet Design

Irkutsk has been described as a transit point to Lake Baikal and the wilds beyond. I totally agree with this description. I arrived late in the evening so I didn’t really have time to hang out and see what was happening. Once again, McDonalds has not made it this far, so I found a faux Irish pub, grabbed a beer and ordered a taxi. When I got to my hotel, I found that it was hidden in a back alley, not always a good thing. While it was clean, it had a bit of a funky, moldy odor to it. I could already tell that I made a wise choice to spend only one night. When I was shown my room, the handle broke off and the woman was unable to fix it. But, she said, there was another room down the hall for a bit more money. The old ‘bait and switch’? Probably, but the room was better and I needed sleep. After a dinner and drinks around the corner, it was off to sleep and to get ready for the next day at Lake Baikal.

Lenin and Friends

One Man Against the World!

Not a Bad Place to Be a Dissident

Lenin from Afar

I still had not taken an overnight train on this portion of my trip when I arrived in Nizhny-Novgorod from Vladimir.  I didn’t know much about the city other than it was renamed during to Soviet period in honor of Maxim Gorky who was born there. It was also the location where the great Andrei Sakharov was sent into exile. And what can I say but, did he good a great deal on that whole prisoner of conscience thing! I was more than pleasantly surprised by the city. I only had about a day to really explore before I hopped on the train for the next portion of my ride. Other than not getting to the Sakharov Museum, that was quite far away and not taking the sky tram over the Volga River (I was just too exhausted!), I saw quite a bit of the city. 

             

When I alit from the train that morning, I was a bit disappointed with what I saw. Yes, this was beginning to resemble the Russia I last visited twenty-five years ago. Outside the train station I saw the very Soviet-looking square with grey, dingy buildings. I believe it was then I decided I was going to have a coffee at McDonalds and figure out where I was located. After heaving along my backpack, I found my hotel, which seemed to be a part of a large apartment complex. It was small, unexciting, but clean. For this reason, I was happy I was only staying the night. So, I quickly checked in and asked for directions to the highlight of the city, the Kremlin overlooking the confluence of the Oka and Volga Rivers. After snapping a few pictures of the Lenin Statue and gazing at the crappy Soviet hotel nearby, I hopped a marshrutka towards the kremlin. As we crossed the river and got closer, I could see that my hotel, while close to the train station, was not in the best part of town. Once the marshrutka reached the top of the hill and I exited, I could see why this place was so popular. The Kremlin is an enormous structure with the perfect view, in times of war and peace. I thought my time there would be short, but I decided to take the day and linger.

View from right of Kremlin to the Volga River

The kremlin saw its most important duty before the Mongol invasions. After the khans got into town, the place was not much use for the Russians. The place continued to fall apart even during the times of the czars and I believe the Soviets wanted to destroy the kremlin and replace it with some horrible administrative building. But over the years since the dissolution of the USSR, the kremlin has been made into a park with a few museums. Of course, as you walk around you see monuments to the Great Patriotic War (WWII), including a wall of names and some tanks, guns, and even an airplane. Many of the original structures, like the cathedral, were torn down either by the Mongols of the Soviets but the walls were still there. I paid my fee and began to walk around the ramparts. I didn’t realize you could walk all the way around the walls (1.2km) but I made good headway around the southern part. It was an incredible view of the rivers. I took some pictures but they cannot do the place justice.

A View from the Ramparts

I still had hopes of taking the (shaky) cable car over the Volga but I was somewhat overwhelmed with exhaustion and hunger. Instead, I thought I’d take a walk down the main street, Ulitsa Pokrovskaya. I thought it would be a quick, ten-minute walk, but there was so much to see that it took me over an hour to get to Gorky Park and I still hadn’t seen everything. Pokrovskaya was filled with restaurants, a few museums, and lots and lots of people. Young folks were handing out flyers to restaurants and shops and there were even some (creepy) clowns performing. I decided to try and find Gorky’s childhood home but the signs were not quite helpful. Instead, I opted for a picture of his statue. But his presence still seems to loom large after all these years. In addition to bookstores and libraries, I saw statues and murals that had a definite literature theme. There also seemed to be a feline literature theme as well; although I’m not sure why. (No murals of reading dogs as they seemed to be too busy rooting around in the trash) 

Smarty Cat

On the Prowl 

As sunset became dusk, I made my way down the hill on foot. I found a nice restaurant with a Belgian theme. I had seen fish on the menu and had hoped that it was a local catch. Unfortunately, the Volga fish, at least in the Nizhny region, don’t appear to be edible. In fact, I finally had local fish when I was at Lake Baikal, thousands of kilometers away. Regardless, I was happy with the food and pleased with my decision to come to Nizhny-Novgorod. When I do this trip again I will schedule more time in the city so I can better enjoy the attractions and the history. Oh, and I’m going to find a nicer hotel!

Getting Dorky with Gorky

Ridiculous Spoon Monument

Budapest and Moscow Have Figured It Out!

One of the highlights of my trip to Budapest was a trip outside the city to a place called Memento Park. This is an open-air museum that was created to house statues of the former Communist regime. Anyone who knows the history of Hungary, especially 1956, will understand that the era of Soviet rule was far from pretty. But other than tearing down a statue of Stalin in 1956 (and leaving his boots), there appears not to have been a slate of desecrating monuments from the ‘bad-old-days’. It was decided that these statues and reliefs would be best served as a museum of remembrance. Russia, as well, was left with many statues from the USSR days. Although there appears to be a Lenin still standing in most major cities (and perhaps towns as well), many of the older monuments have been removed. In Moscow Muzeom Park along the river is where you will find many of these far-from-forgotten characters.

Like my first day in St. Petersburg, my initial day in Moscow was spent walking and seeing the city. I started in Red Square, and what a mess! Unlike twenty-five years ago, when things were less touristy, I felt like I had the place all to myself. Not today, or ever again. I was immediately overwhelmed by the sight of dozens of tourists snapping pictures in the Revolution Square metro stop while Muscovites attempted to get on with their day. I finally made a dash for the stairs and emptied out in to Red Square where I was met with more tour groups and the closing of the square. Apparently, there was some sort of major event in the offing and Red Square was filled with tents, fencing, and more tour groups jostling for limited space. This is where I decided it was best to begin my trek down the Moscow River towards…who knows. 

Peter the Great

As I strolled along the river, I noticed the constant construction. I’m guessing this is in anticipation of World Cup 2018, right around the corner. But it seems like the construction has been going on for years. Soviet buildings have been replaced by modern edifices and clean, new parks. I was drawn further down the river towards, what appeared to be an enormous statue of a man steering a boat. Yes, indeed, I had come upon the horrible statue of Peter the Great. Muscovites hate this monument for many reasons, the least of which is how ugly it is. It smacks of the Soviet/Russian predilection for gigantism. There is literally no purpose for this statue…except one thing, if I had not seen it I might have missed Muzeom Park.

Although I had head of YYYY Park, I didn’t know where it was located and I had not made solid plans to visit. But I seem to have come upon it at the perfect time; I was tired of walking and I found lots of benches and lush grass to sit upon. As I was sitting, chugging my water, I began to notice the statues. Hey, it looks like Lenin over there! No surprise as Lenin is still accepted here, if not venerated, over twenty-five years after the fall of the Soviet Union. 

Hey, it's Lenin!

Then I saw the other heroes of the Soviet state: Marx, Engels, Brezhnev, and even Felix Derzhinsky. Yes, the same founder of the NKVD, who helped both Lenin and Stalin institute the organs of terror. Mixed in with the horrific Communist rabble, there were statues of poets, writers, and dissidents like Andrei Sakharov. As someone who loves history and photography, I had a field day at the park. I was taking pictures left, right, and center. I kept taking photos until I was just too hot and exhausted. When I sat down, I looked around and began to observe the locals. I saw office workers on their lunch breaks, bikers, skateboarders, parents with children, and other tourists. It was the things I didn’t see which struck me the most. Many of these statues were of quite horrible people; yes, there were even some Stalin statues. But no one seemed to mind. The statues blended in with the people’s daily life and seemed not to affect them. I didn’t see protests. There were no plaques designed to describe their crimes, real or imagined. It didn’t even appear that people were silently judging which statue offended them the most. Also, the statues were clear of any graffiti by those looking to grind an axe or two. And believe me, Russians have many axes to grind if they so choose. With all this going through my mind, I wondered why we can’t do something similar. Instead of erasing history for fear of offending others, why can’t we do like the Hungarians and the Russians: save the history, make a park, if you don’t like it…don’t go. Not a very revolutionary idea, but does it need to be?

Global Soviet

Stalin

Mr. Excitement - Brezhnev (#1)

Mr. Excitement - Brezhnev (#2)

Sakharov

Iron Felix Dzerzhinsky