The long walk

It was another beautiful day today. I loafed around and read until noon, then I took off to meet Anna for lunch. We had decided to take a walk today. Did we ever. We had a good Lunch at Beanheart’s then took off on foot to the Kremlin and beyond that to the promenade along the Kazanka River where we had ice skated a couple of months ago! It and the river were finally ice free. But everyone and his brother was out today, either walking or riding their bikes. I admire the Russians that they are always out in the fresh air. In the middle of winter at 8 pm they’re out with their kids playing on the swings on the playgrounds! They have the right attitude. If they waited for “nice” weather they’d never get out. And I was really impressed by the number of cyclists. I even so some on the busy roads and a couple wearing helmets. We are claiming out space more and more! But I still which’s the cyclists would keep off the pedestrian path and vice versa. How hard is it to understand the picture sign? And the paths along the river have been extended even farther than when I was here the last time. There was a lot of construction still going on, but the paths extend all the way to Millenium Bridge now. We walked almost to the end and then cut up the hill on Tolstoy Street because we were trying to see if there was a connection to Gorky Park from the River. If there was, we didn’t find it. By this time we had walked several miles, so we parted near the Korston shopping center, Anna walked home, and I caught the tram. The entire way home, I noticed all the construction. Almost the entire sidewalk on the right side of the road was being rebuilt and at my tram stop, you can now see what will be the new Metro station. The metal protective walls are down around it. It looks as if it’s just the landscaping around the station that has to be completed now. It will be an easy walk/ bike ride to this new station. I can’t wait to see if the prices go up when it’s finished. Im thinking they want the city to look really good for all the foreign visitors who come this summer for the soccer World Cup. It’s going to be a big deal. The next big event will be the Memorial Day celebration on May 9 commemorating the end of WWII. We’re all going to meet down at the Kremlin for that. It sprinkled a little today and now it’s overcast, so I’m glad I’m in for the evening. One more nonsequitor. Anna and I were discussing why English was more prevalent in Yekaterinburg than in Kazan. She thought that it had a lot to do with Boris Yeltsin being from Yekaterinburg and the head of the Russian government for almost 10 years. I think that’s a good point.