The sign says "Irkustk" in Russian - the symbol is a Siberian Tiger with a sable in it's mouth. The 350 is celebrating the 350th anniversary of the founding of the town.
Our first views of Irkutsk were from the back of the van taking us to our homestay, Sergey the guide and bike expert gave us an overview of the town as we were coming in. Our homestay is at the intersection of Marx and Lenin streets - Now that sounds Russian, don’t you think?
We got here at about 8:00 in the morning for showers and breakfast. At 10 Sergey came and took us for a walking tour
around town, through the main square, past the “Great Patriotic War” memorial (World War 2 to most of us) which is still very highly respected. Sergey said 27 million Russians were killed in the war, every family was touched in some way. Couples come on their wedding day to get their photos taken here and to leave the wedding flowers as a tribute. We also looked at the oldest church in town (it was used as a gallery during Soviet times and given back to the Russian Orthodox Church just a few years ago), walked through the main shopping area and visited the Regional Museum. This area developed much the same way as the Canadian West, except backwards and a couple of hundred years earlier. Rich folks from the settled West came looking in the wild East for furs and gold. They built forts along the rivers & took control of the country from the local nomadic people, brought in more settlers by river and eventually by rail…and now we have Eastern Russia (Sergey says we don’t call it Siberia any more!).
Our first views of Irkutsk were from the back of the van taking us to our homestay, Sergey the guide and bike expert gave us an overview of the town as we were coming in. Our homestay is at the intersection of Marx and Lenin streets - Now that sounds Russian, don’t you think?
We got here at about 8:00 in the morning for showers and breakfast. At 10 Sergey came and took us for a walking tour
around town, through the main square, past the “Great Patriotic War” memorial (World War 2 to most of us) which is still very highly respected. Sergey said 27 million Russians were killed in the war, every family was touched in some way. Couples come on their wedding day to get their photos taken here and to leave the wedding flowers as a tribute. We also looked at the oldest church in town (it was used as a gallery during Soviet times and given back to the Russian Orthodox Church just a few years ago), walked through the main shopping area and visited the Regional Museum. This area developed much the same way as the Canadian West, except backwards and a couple of hundred years earlier. Rich folks from the settled West came looking in the wild East for furs and gold. They built forts along the rivers & took control of the country from the local nomadic people, brought in more settlers by river and eventually by rail…and now we have Eastern Russia (Sergey says we don’t call it Siberia any more!). After Sergey left us in town we ate lunch at a cafeteria style restaurant that sells local food (borscht, sausages, etc) and visited the pedestrian street and the farmer’s market. Nelson got beer-by-the-bottle from the dispenser and we got bread,, cheese and sausage for an evening snack.
Our homestay is in a very nice apartment, the host is a young man named Alex. He stays in his room most of the time, just sticks his head out to say “breakfast is ready” and then goes away again. Not what I think of as the typical B&B style hospitality, but we don’t mind the privacy either!
Hi Nancy and Nelson and John - it's your Mum, Dad and Marion, Dennis etc here. We just had the best bottle of wine - just like in Creston! Also really good ribs and no border problems at all between here and Kelowna! Really good to get your posts and to be connected. Keep them coming - we want cheeseburger reports from all countries visited - take pictures next time and post them!
ReplyDeleteHi Cobra family, great updates on the blog. I can't imagine what it must be like touring in the areas you are. Looks fascinating and one heck of an experience. I enjoy the posts..keep it up. Have fun and be safe! Talk to you later, Barry and Gail.
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