Day Two: Troitsky Sobor (Trinity Cathedral)

The day started really early. I was awake at 5:30 am, somehow the sun goes down around 11pm here and comes up at 5:30. Dad woke up early too and we went for a walk. On our way we stopped for cigarettes for him and met a nice pigeon that was waiting for cigarettes too.

After paying a little visit to my Grandfather's grave in the morning, we did not waste any time and spent the afternoon walking around the city. We decided to go to the river Velikaya (The Great - yes, yes, its the right translation, not my personnal opinion).
On our way there we saw a magnificent tour bus that looked like an ant. I mean, check out the feelers I mean side mirrors :P

We stopped for beer for Dad, Uncle Alexey and his girlfriend Nadia.

In red letters it says Живое (which means alive) Бочковое Пиво (Barrel Beer). And here comes the funny Russian joke:
See how Uncle Alexey's head is hiding the letter Б? Well without the Б, the word is Очковое, which is kind of a dirty joke because it means ass. So its Live Ass Beer instead of Live Barrel Beer :) I hope you enjoyed the little impromptu russian language course

 The classic snack for when drinking beer: Little dry fish. They are salty and you can eat then almost whole! (not my snack of choice, but then again, I wasn't the one drinking the beer :P )

 The charming accomodations of the beer place. The beer place gives you the beer (for a small fee), but it is bring your own toiler paper! BYOB just turned to BYOTP

These two charming places sell food. The first one says "Fruits, Vegetables, Candy, Cookies" And the second one says "Produce" (as in Food). Both of them are not actually on the street but rather in a back alley and a rather bizarre location like the patch of grass behind a house. Convenient!

This rather racist sign that says "Hit Jews, save Russia" Apparently the city went through a phase of racism against all nations other than pure Russian.

Funny habit: the trees are all painted white from roots to about two feet up. Apparently this stops bugs from eating them! Its kinda weird when you are seeing ALL trees painted like that....
We finally got to the river and there we saw a small church, well actually its not even a church but a little prayer house (as in no mass there!) for the Saint Olga of Kiev (but she was born in Pskov, even though her "Saint name" says otherwise).
Behind that lovely church is a belvedere (viewpoint for those with low vocabulary diversity or who dont know french) and on the railing that surrounds it newly weds lock locks as a symbol of their love. 

This intricate looking lock has the words Совет да любовь written on it. This is something that is told to newly weds. It means Harmony and Love. 

If my new wife would have brought this lock to the ceremony, I would think twice before cheating on her... I bet she would use this to lock my hands before throwing me in the river :)

This is the Troitsky Sobor (Trinity Cathedral).

This is the huge wall all around the Troitsky Cathedral. The wall was in place to protect the city and the cathedral.

Inside the first wall there is another wall. The big sword is a symbol of Aleksandr Nevskij. Google it :)

This is a corridor that is inside the first wall. Its made for the bad guys to be trapped and for the good guys to throw crap at them from above :) We were walking where the bad guys were. Dad tried to be cute, to avoid being hurt by the enemy :)

This is the view inside the second wall. Its the actual cathedral.

Views inside the cathedral. Amasingly beautiful! The old lady washing the floors is adorable!

After we visited the cathedral we went around the rest of the Fort wall. Went we got outside, Dad turned around and threatened them to climb the wall. I don't think they took the threat seriously!

Thirsty? Looks like you might end up with a little more than vitamins and minerals in your water! Mmmmm Rust!

Yes it is Baskin Robbins! Funny seeing this here, in the land of "I hate America" :)