We decided to take a long tram ride today.
The tram we ride up the hill and to the branch goes up and down Karla Marksa and we thought that was all that it went from the ????????? or train station up the hill turn around and back to the ????????? or train station. Last week we saw that is not true and after we got home Elder Morgenegg looked at the source of all knowledge and found a map of the train routes in the city.
It turns out that the train turns left at the top of the hill before the history museum and then on goes behind Shevchenko Park which is behind the museum and by the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour (more about that later). then goes back across Karla Marksa and way out in the “sticks.” Interesting. What is out there?
On our way to the tram I took some pictures of the inside of the Kindergarten or Nursery school or daycare that is next to our building. Usually there are people and children there and I would not take pictures but today it was closed so it was a good time to take them.
This is where the children gather with their teachers in the mornings.
Another part of the gathering area.
In the winter you can see in but now these vines protect the view into the courtyard of the school.
One day when we were a little late going to the office there were children and teachers gathered here in this area doing what appeared to be warm up exercises. The music stayed in my head for days. It was a very catchy tune.
Today we decided to ride the tram all the way around (or until they kicked us off) and see what is out there. We did out Saturday shopping early (we have found that the store is much quieter and easier to get into and out of early and since it is open 24 hours why not), and then after we unloaded our groceries we walked to the bottom of the hill on Karla Marksa like we did last week.
As we waited for the tram I took some pictures of what it is like at a tram stop. I took these of the tram stop going the other direction across the road.
Here is a close up of the stop and yes that is advertising a taxi.
This little round “building” is where people can buy cigarettes. I have no idea how the person inside survives – I would go crazy in there. You can also buy them at the grocery store. Smoking is a huge problem here.
Behind the people under the red sign is a small vendor that sells sweets and baked goods. You can buy almost anything on the streets. We have been advised not to do so but sometimes I think what they sell certainly does look good.
Only this time we road up the hill and on. On the road going behind the museum there are more apartment buildings, a school or maybe two, some stores and banks and assorted other businesses. Then we headed back toward Karla Marksa and beyond.
We saw another Silpo, which is a good store and decided we would go there after as I needed a couple of things they didn’t have at Varus this morning. The tram weaved through neighborhoods and we were surprised to find a couple of blocks of actual houses – like normal one family houses – not mansions. They had high fences or rock walls and solid gates but on the tram we could definitely see they were houses, not apartments. Mostly they were in very good repair.
There were also many apartment buildings and many were not in good repair. There were some very run down even crumbling buildings also. In fact much of the area we went through might be considered slums to some. There appeared also to be many very poor people walking along or sitting, or laying. At the end there was a very busy four lane road. We circled around and stopped in front of a mall with a Varus and other stores. We though we might have to get off but we did not – but I think everyone else did. After a while a few people got back on and soon we were on our way back where we came from.
Again we watched all the interesting places along the way. It seems several different tram lines converge in this mall as we saw some other trams come and go and pass us. One tram line that goes on a street near our branch has very very old trams (some the doors don’t close on and the insides do not look comfortable) and we saw them here as well.
I hope Elder Morgenegg writes about our taxi adventure this last week which took us to some interesting places as well and we also saw some of these older trams.
Anyway, soon we were behind the museum and we were in front of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Saviour, which is an Orthodox Cathedral. Something I didn’t know until recently when Elder Morgenegg was doing research is they don’t have pews like most churches do but they do have services – you stand through the whole thing. So anyway, here are some pictures I took. You could also google it and see more pictures – probably better than mine.
Here is a view from outside the gate that is around the entire Cathedral.
Our first view of the cathedral from outside the gate.
A close up of the picture on the wall outside.
Some of the gardens.
Another gate (I think there are just four – one on each side).
I couldn’t resist taking this picture but I probably should not have. This darling little girl was obviously part of the wedding party and very bored with waiting for the pictures to be taken.
Another gate and beautiful roses.
More roses
Walking away I took yet another photo
Another view of the cathedral
We have been in many of the churches here so we decided to go in this one. We were even dressed in Sunday like clothes so we didn’t feel uncomfortable but as we entered we saw that all the women had scarves on their heads and that they were paying something to enter. We didn’t know what that was about and so we looked from the doorway and then quietly left. Here is a picture I found on line of what it looks like inside during a service. It is very beautiful.
In front and to the north of the cathedral on the street in a large building that is a bank.
This Monument to Alexander Matveyevich Matrosov is in kind of the parking lot of the bank – interesting.
This statue is also in the parking lot. It seems to be a woman and a man and perhaps a plant of some kind. I couldn’t find anything to say what it is.but the words say “Legends of How We Were.” Interesting.
The sky was so beautiful I just took a picture.
So between the cathedral and the museum is a park with a playground and a huge blow up play house. There are also swings, slides and the normal playground things. The cars seem to be very popular and we see them many places. Children get to rent them and ride around in them.
This is a view of the cathedral from the museum side of the park.
From here we walked back to Karla Marksa to go to the Silpo and see if they had something I couldn’t get at Varus and they had one of the things I wanted so we bought that and then walked down the hill two long blocks to our office. There we got cold water to drink, used the bathroom and got a fan to bring home to cool out apartment. Then down the hill and home to clean our apartment. It was a good adventure and we saw some more of this beautiful city.
I hope you enjoyed going along.