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Published: January 25th 2008
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We woke when the alarm went off and I couldn't doze off again because of my blocked nose so I made sure Rob got up with me. We had breakfast out of our leftover foods from the earlier shop.
Lazily we decided to catch the tram one stop down the road to Oktogon square which does actually sound worse than it is. From there we were just around the corner from the Terror house which is the former building of the AVO (The equivalant to the KGB). After finding out yesterday that it was free for students on Sundays, it would have been silly of us not to come today. We flashed our somewhat dubiously attained ISIC cards and passed the groups of adults paying their way into the museum. We were instructed to go up to the top floor and there we were confronted by the first essay of many on an A4 sheet of paper which we promptly read. The exhibits were fairly modern and not particularly museum like. They always had an essay you could read that was written in impecable English and managed to steer away from the boring bits that museums usually embrace wholeheartedly. There
were a lot of video clips and montages which we spent a lot of time watching. In a way the museum was a perfect culmination to our travels as it managed to incorporate all the history and countries that we have experienced throughout our travels. One bit which we stood and watched the entirety of was a meeting of incarcerated women with the prison guard from the camp they were in. It was unlike German Nazi camps where there were hundreds of guards for massive groups of prisoners, these camps were small groups of women who were guarded by one or two prison guards. We spent a long time walking around the museum and thoroughly enjoyed it considering it was better than a lot of museums we have paid to get into. Rob also managed to get a photo of a very large tank even though photos are strictly prohibited. (tut tut)
We left the museum slightly later than we had planned for and headed straight for the shopping centre where we may have been looking to buy some Christmas presents for a few certain people. Once we had that out of the way we sat down for a bite to eat at the worlds most expensive sandwich shop. Rob got a ridiculous sized (and priced) sandwich with every type of meat and veg on possible, I just opted for the cheaper smaller vegetarian sandwich. We ate the sandwiches in a canteen where we had a little spat as we normally do when we have to decide on food etc. Once we finished eating we quickly made up and dashed back to the hostel to collect our swimming things. We nipped down to the main hostel to borrow towels and discovered that the closing time of the baths is only seven if you go in one entrance and is actually ten if you go in the other.
We went into the entrance and instantly we were separated by a guard that indicated that we had to go into different sections. I wandered down into the changing rooms where I was faced with rooms of naked women quite happily strutting their stuff. I walked down and found the least occupied changing room and discretely changed pretty quickly. I struggled with my locker until a lady showed me what to do and pointed me in the right direction. I wandered down a few corridors and climbed up into a foyer and stood freezing to death until Rob eventually found me. Apparently he had trouble figuring out the lockers too. We gingerly stepped outside into the open pool area and quickly dumped our towels at the nearest table. It was too cold to wait around so we headed straight for the nearest pool. It was thirty six degrees and it felt it, especially in comparison to the temperature outside which was approximately zero at half three in the afternoon. Nobody was swimming in the pool, infact most people were in couples doing pretty much what couples do. The pools looked fantastic as they had huge clouds of steam rising from them which meant that visibility in some places was less than a metre. We walked around the pool taking in the surroundings and people watching. There were groups of older men gathered around the steps all playing chess on waterproof boards and with quite a few spectators. There was also a really rude statue which I didn't notice till Rob pointed it out, however it shocked me that it could be in such a public place. (It involved a goose, boobs and errrm other things)
Once we got tired of that particular pool we wandered over to the next one over and discovered that it was a normal length but damn cold pool. We quickly dived in and swam a length and then dashed in to the pool next to that. This pool was cooler than the first at approximately twenty seven degrees however it captivated our attention as in the middle of it was a lazy river. We were just swimming around the gentle river when suddenly water jets turned on and it turned into a not so lazy river. We were powered around like a whirlpool and many more people joined us until we were crashing into each other left, right and centre. We stayed the duration and returned to it later on, however I am sure we will have some pretty good bruises to show for it.
After we had been outside for a while we wanted to explore the inards although we weren't entirely sure that there were any. We didn't really know much about the place and there were so many people outside that I could have believed that that was it. Eventually we plucked up the courage to leave the warmth of the pool and head inside for a nosy around. We walked through a few corridors and found a room with a couple of little pools in it. They were funny coloured and had a weird smell but they had signs up that we guessed said medicinal so we ventured into them. They were alright and were great vantage points for people watching which is rather interesting when there is such a cross section of people. We tried a few other pools that were dotted in different rooms and even stepped into a steam room which we stumbled across. Eventually though we got bored of the novelty value of inside and headed back outside where it was now night time. The floodlights were on, the moon was bright and the temperature had well and truly dropped. We dived straight into the pool and stayed for a while doing very little. We moved on to the other warm pool for the whirlpool and then returned to the warmest pool where we did nothing again until we figured that we really had to get moving if we wanted to eat that evening. I will mention here that we stayed at the bath complex for four and a half hours and there was a little sign up in the warmest pool suggesting a stay of around twenty minutes. We realised after that it was probably due to the vast need for drinking water that would occur from spending so much time in such a warm place. You live and learn.
Our last evening meal was a bit of a non event but we both prefered it that way. We wanted a simple restaurant with a simple menu which is why we opted for Okay Italian. We had pleasant meals and discussed how much we will enjoy home cooked food for a while. We didn't spend long there and were back at the hostel around ten. I phoned home and briefly chatted to dad and then had a quick chat with Rach as well. I am now sitting in the hostel writing this and uploading a few photos before we head up to our room and pack for tomorrow. Night night everyone. Stob
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