When we were first married, I use to drive Heather a little crazy with my attention to details with regards to our surroundings. For some reason I was programmed to see and gush over the seemingly small things. I think she has learned over the years to humor me a bit and even start to honestly look for and gush a little herself.
This morning, after my conversation with our coordinator here in Novo, I learned there would be no adoption activities today. Our paperwork is paused until Monday when we will push to get Varvara's Passport approved. I decided to venture out again and search for some Novo details.
The temperature was a balmy 30 degrees today. An increase of almost 40 degrees in one day thankfully, due to the snow storm that blew in. I did have to fight away the snow flakes as I went but I was happy to oblige and preferred this to the bitting cold of yesterday. I made my way up the wintery street and this time made it to Lenin Square and to the ballet/opera house that identifies the center of the city. The time square of Novosibirsk if you will. This is the place Heather and I attended the ballet on Wednesday night. Its an excellent building. I decided to go inside the ticket office to get away from the snow and walked out 10 minutes later with a ticket to the opera tonight. It was only $10 and my seats are on the floor! I'll be my own date and have a great time listening to the Russian opera. This is a bit of a funny for me, because I don't understand Russian or opera. But I'm going anyway. When in Russia....
Here are a few details I stumbled across and snapped pictures of.
This is Lenin Square with the monument of Lenin left from the Soviet era standing right in front of the largest opera and ballet house in Russia. My date tonight.
This is sweet! Even the garbage cans at the end of each bench are designed. 
I guess the pigeons are the only ones beside me that care about these cool benches.
There's also the exact geographical center of the former Soviet Union just south of Lenin Square, marked by the Chapel of St. Nicholas, originally built in 1915 to commemorate 300 years of Romanov rule, destroyed in 1930 and rebuilt in 1993. Thanks Wiki! This is located on an island right in the middle of the main thoroughfare.
I will assume this is St. Nicholus.
I had to take a quick break when I was aromatically pulled off the sidewalk right into this great little coffee shop. After a quick point to the picture on the menu and a nod from the waitress, the order was in and this arrived at my small bistro table without any words exchanged. I prefer it this way now. I don't know what it was called but I will never forget it! Enjoy!
This was a fountain and I have no idea what it represents...make up your own story on this one. :) I just liked it.
Another cool building that has Frank Gehry style. Lets call it the Pineapple.
I was talking to some missionaries for our church that we met here and asked about these ramps. These steps go down to the underground metro. I thought they may be for wheelchairs but you wouldn't need the wheelchair anymore after using them cause you'd die. These are stroller ramps. Crazy! This city is not very accessible at all for wheelchairs.
This is a fountain in a downtown urban park that I walked through. I found this little railing that had dozens of locks attached to it. They didn't secure anything, it was just locks and the rail. An urban novelty i guess. I love the vintage stroller.
This was a large concrete graffiti sculpture. You could tell there were layers of paint on this.
And to wrap up my Russian details tour, I ended with a greasy American burger from Carl's Jr. I had to. I will never eat one in the U.S. so I thought it would be ok. They were playing American commercials inside. Hmmm. 
Finally, I found a great Russian shirt that I've been looking for. I'll end with it.
There's lots to see in Novo and highly recommend it if you find yourself driving by.
4 comments:
Post a Comment