Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Kharkov Tour II

Have you all been eagerly waiting for the rest of the tour, dear readers??? Here it is! Following up with Kharkov Tour I, in June we met again with the guys (Jack and Yaroslav) to continue our rambles around the town. This time we were a group of 5, joined by the lovely Sonya, who is both Jack's girlfriend and another former student of mine. Apparently they'd noticed each other during class when Jack had to lift up Sonya and her chair during a grammar exercise.... who says class has to be boring? :p


We started on Chernyshevskogo street, not far from the Architektora Beketova metro stop and near Pizza Felice. It's possible to glimpse this tall and non-Orthodox-looking church (see left) as you walk down Chernyshevskogo.


First up, the Alexander Pushkin State Academic Russian Drama Theater, originally built in the 1930s and later reconstructed after a fire.



Next, Darwin Street. Come here for the unusual architecture!





















Then we really began to wander. Here's what we saw:


Left: Computer-Technical College... with statues of men holding mining equipment?
Middle: These carved cossacks in front of a museum on Pushkinskaya street
Right: I want to be trained! :p
Couldn't you see a nobleman living here? Or at least a wealthy librarian?
Meanwhile, this building is more like Batman's manor.

Kharkov's wedding palace. No brides there that day : (
We wrapped things up with a stop at this special marker in 200-year-old Shevchenko Park.

Kharkov not only lies along the 50th parallel but it is rumored to be the largest city on Earth along this parallel. They say you can find happiness by standing on the sculpture, so of course we did exactly that. Maybe it does work- I feel pretty happy now!

Still curious? Head over to Facebook for the photos that didn't make the post...

3 comments:

  1. totally unrelated, but do you know this cool, fascinating blog about Russian (language)?
    http://blogs.transparent.com/russian/
    thought you'd enjoy it

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  2. Hi MCD! Yes, I follow that blog, it's a good one. If you know of any others like that, please send them my way! :) Do you read the Russian Word of the Day @ http://shininghappypeople.net/rwotd/ ? It also has some interesting and in-depth posts.

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  3. No, but I will check it out, thanks! I knew a couple of others when we were in Russia but have lost the links, I will try to find them.

    ReplyDelete