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Published: June 16th 2010
10-15 May 2009 Kazan-Moscow-Kursk-Moscow. Talk only about Kursk here.
Today I am going to write down my remembrances about a city which left a very good and pleasant impression on me. It is Kursk, 8-hour train trip from Moscow, now very far from the Ukrainian border. Several things were special about this lovely town: I took part in a scientific conference on literature, saw too many beautiful girls, and visited Kurskaya Korennaya Pustyn.
It was in May 2009. By the way, I did not go straight to Kursk from my hometown. First I visited Kazan - it was an exhaustive 12-hour marathon in many different places of the city. You'll hear about it later. And from Kazan I went to Moscow, and there also had several hours of walking. I usually try to combine several cities, if possible and convenient. I will certainly write about my Moscow walks, but later.
I came to Kursk at 6 o’clock in the morning, had breakfast and went to the hotel. That does not sound too unusual. Well, in Kazan it was rather hot, so I was rather upset to find rain and clouds in Kursk, and that
was three days of cold, since I had no warm clothes.
I think I will not speak much of the conference. It lasted for two days. On the first day there was the opening ceremony and some summarizing reports. The conference was very well organized, there were girl students who met the participants and showed them their way, I was glad of that. On the second day, we delivered our reports, I spoke about “literary text as an object of gender analysis”. Oh, and I remember how pretty girls there were. Students, I mean. And the scientists delivered very interesting reports, I wish I could talk the way they did.
As always, I had my map and started to walk round the city. Kursk has a lot of monuments and churches. There are a lot of monuments dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. It always makes me sad to think how evil people are and how easily they kill. I got extremely cold due to the wind, and returned to the hotel to put my shirt on. It got warmer. The wind blew constantly, and it rained a bit.
Kursk is not very large.
Monument
To Submariners of Submarine Kursk (died in 2000)It has about 400 thousand dwellers, if I am not mistaken. It has the real Russian spirit, very green and without the whirl of a huge city like Moscow, for example.
The city is also a city of military fame. I am no good in history, so you may refer to some Internet sources or books.
On the first day I returned twice to the hotel, which means I had three walks in one day. Actually, I managed to see almost everything in the city centre. Distances are not long. I also walked in the rain, but hopefully it was not too hard.
I find it rather difficult to describe monuments, buildings or churches in detail, because I am no writer. May be it is better to see photos. One should see everything for themselves.
They say Kursk is a land of nightingales. For me, Kursk is definitely a city I want to visit again.
After delivering some reports, there was a break for dinner. Me, a teacher, and some participants of the conference went to a café and had a very tasty meal, talking to each other. The teacher
was Giuseppe, from Italy. You should know there are many educational institutions in Kursk. There was also a girl named Irene, so pleasant that I almost fell in love with her. Since that time I never had the same feeling. But I said no word to her. Oh my God.
We also had small coffee breaks, eating snacks and drinking champagne. At about 5 o'clock there would be a trip to Kurskaya Korennaya Pustyn - a monastery. Find information about it somewhere. To me it is one of the loveliest places I've ever seen, though the churches were under renovation that time. But the feeling I had there! So far away from home, in the heart of Russia. The trouble with me is that I always start being homesick after some time. So I was in Kurskaya Korennaya Pustyn.
I tried to see almost all churches and religious institutions in Kursk. I find them more attractive than usual buildings. And in fact, they are so beautiful. But I almost never like to get inside them. I do not worship God, that’s one of the reasons. Though they look still more magnificent inside. I felt complete peace
in the Pustyn.
There are two rivers there - Kur and Tuskar. They are very narrow. Like springs, in the portions where I saw them.
You surely noticed that I am no wordy person. I will let the pictures speak. They are not in very high quality, because they were made with a very simple camera. If ever an opportunity to visit Kursk occurs to you, just do it, especially the Korennaya Pustyn. You'll manage to get the Russian spirit.
Take care.
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