One afternoon our clients took us on a tour of the city, so I was able to snap a few pictures. It was something like 20 below Celsius the day I arrived.
The city was almost entirely rebuilt after WWII. This is one of the few pre-war areas, right along the river:
That picture was taken from a small island in the river where there is an Afghanistan War memorial:
I think it is the only religious Afghan War memorial I have seen in the former Soviet Union--they are usually secular memorials.
It is interesting because Belarus is probably the republic that has changed the least since the "good old days."Here is Lenin in front of the Council of Ministers building:
The city is actually very pretty. It is right on the Svislach River and has a lot of Stalinist Gothic architecture from the 1950's (which is some of the best Soviet architecture, if you can modify "Soviet architecture" with a positive superlative).
Our tour guide was also very excited to show us the apartment building where Lee Harvey Oswald lived during his time in the Soviet Union.
4 comments:
I hear your going against [everybody but Amber] Blair frugality and coming for the farewell, wahoo! I am so excited to see you and hear more about this Belarus and Chocolate tour business! Start prepping Isaac again to rekindle his love for his favorite aunti! :)
Brrrrrrrrr. I hope next time you can visit Phoenix. :)
I'm jealous of all your opportunities to keep up with your Russian. Mine is pretty uzhus, I must admit . . . but brrrrrrr! that looks cold!
That's awesome. Too bad you didn't come a little further east. I'm in Moscow. It would be good to see you. Glad I just found your blog.
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