Krasnoyarsk: Castles in the Overcast Sky

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Writing this short piece, I’m starting a small series of so-to-say traveller’s notes, describing places which I’ve visited and which left a pleasant impression on me, both in Russia and Europe. To tell you the truth, no single place so far has left a negative impression on me. What I’m not quite accustomed to yet is Moscow’s whirl of life. Frankly speaking, I wouldn’t like to spend a week there, for example, though I don’t object to its majesty. Looking back, I actually see that my series of travels began from Moscow when I went there for the first time, heading for the native Birsk; it was lovely – the warm days of August made me so full of energy that I had endless walks – the Kremlin, the Arbat, Vorobyovy Gory, and, surely, the Red Square! Then came St. Petersburg’s awesome suburbs, many of them in a short period of time, to mention but Peterhof, Pushkin and Pavlovsk. Those are towns (surely, one is going there not to towns themselves, but to their magnificent palaces and parks) that left a deep and lasting impression on me. So, that was when the lust for travel ignited inside me, though I realized it only lately.

Perhaps I won’t speak of Moscow and St. Petersburg’s suburbs for now, because many people have been there and still can afford to go there (trains are cheap, if you know where and when to buy tickets), and perhaps because my impressions and theirs will be quite similar. Let’s not turn to them this time.

Each and every photo here and in every item were made by myself. I never pretend to be a professional photographer, which I am not, and never try to put a hidden sense in the pictures - you see just what you see. But if you manage to get a message out of a picture - I'll just be happy.

The next paragraph will take us back to 2008, and that’s quite a romantic love story to have taken place in St. Petersburg and Krasnoyarsk, via the internet. I won’t be sentimental and describe the birth of unrequited love, though it’s quite possible that internet acquaintances could bring you to a happy family life. To cut the long story short, I and the girl, let her name be Miss X, decided to meet in real life and have a check of our mutual sympathy in Krasnoyarsk. It took me some months to get prepared with the funds, arrange tickets, meanwhile we exchanged tender and passionate words of affection, talked for hours on end and built some castles in the sky which turned out to disappear as soon as the meeting took place (the romantic communication lasted from July to the end of October).

A conclusion is, love is a good and kind thing (or activity, phenomenon, abstraction) but it might, and it not infrequently does, bring evil. Like above, I won’t be sentimental and speak about love, I’m just going to say that I took a flight from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk, was very anxious to meet the girl, and wondered why the road from the airport to the city itself was so dimly lit. Somewhere in my mind there also was the idea to see as much of the city as I could. Naturally, we went sightseeing together. Holding each other by the hand and kissing in many places – am I shy? Not quite always...
The first evening in Krasnoyarsk was short and simple. We had supper, and spoke to each other on usual topics. I felt that definitely I liked her and wouldn’t object to us being together. That was the end of October, and it was cold, windy, rainy, and then there was little snow. The city looked like Ufa for me in some aspect. I felt a bit sad because I was far away from home.
After the first day together, it all went bad, and though communication proceeded for some time after my departure, and attempts were made to make us both happy, we failed.
The city was rather - much - grey, cast in clouds, cold, wet, us walking across its streets and talking, me taking pictures, she telling a lot about the sights. What Krasnoyarsk has different from other cities is its music in the main avenue, playing loud from loudspeakers, it obviously makes one have high spirits. It’s absolutely unusual. Also the Yenisei, it does look awesome. It is surrounded by hills, on which the city stays (it lies on both banks of the river); the river is rather wide, and its waters manifest their powers when you look at the river, say, from the Pedestrian Cable Bridge or the Communal Bridge (have a look at a ten-ruble note, it’s such fun to me when I see it – I have just the same picture with myself).
I managed to see quite a lot of the city in three days. I understand that I’m not the person to write long colourful passages describing the buildings, nature, or people, nevertheless, I try to convey my state of mind during that time. May be the most exciting feeling was that I was somewhere far away from the homeland, lonely, and astonished by the grey majesty of hills at the Yenisei, covered with snow... At last, I headed for the railway station (that’s a new building, and its style looks classical), had very much trouble trying to sleep on a most uncomfortable chair (there were some 3-4 hours before my train, and I had got up early that day), listening to some energetic music in my player, and failing to get rid of anxious thoughts about my - at that time, me and Miss X’s - future.
For me, Krasnoyarsk was a land of wonder, passion, and overcast sky... Perhaps I would never have went there, if not for Miss X. The city has its own atmosphere that makes it so different from other places: its monuments, bridges, clocks, the “Big Ben”, the Yenisei... There’s a monument to Adam and Eve holding an apple, to Viktor Astafyev, one of popular modern writers, the personified statue of Yenisei surrounded by seven other personified images (statues of women, that is, the seven rivers that feed the Yenisei, if my memory serves me right), a monument to the horse at the site where the city was established long ago... A metro is supposed to be built there, but, you know, there’s permafrost.
Oh, if you ever travel alone, be sure that you have some extra money for unpredicted occasions... My salary was delayed back then, which caused me problems with Miss X and with getting home.
That’s all for this time, and if you haven’t been bored, see you next time when I recall memories from some other, no less interesting journey!

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Photos

The Kommunalny Bridge
You see that on a Russian ten-rouble note

A Drunken Man
Rather funny. But sad when you come to think of the negative power of too much alcohol

Krasnoyarsk Big Ben
They call it so. By the way, there are many clocks in the city.