Around the World in (Approximately) 80 Days: Day 36: Vladmir, Russia is for Lovers

Friday, October 21, 2016

By the time I finally made it to "Like Hostel" in Vladimir, Russia, I was in a really bad mood. I'd chosen it over two other hostels that were slightly cheaper and seemed more charming, but this one claimed to be a 5-minute drive from the railway station. How long could that be by foot? 30 minutes max?

The first part of the walk was great. I took lots of photos of beautiful historic buildings, making notes of what to explore more thoroughly once I dropped my bags. But the second half was a long seemingly endless stretch of wide road, lined with high-rise ugly concrete buildings. Nearly two hours from the time I left the train station, I gratefully arrived at building #44 on Prospekt Lenina.

Next problem, where's the entrance? Nothing looked like the photo on the website. Luckily, I asked a Russian shop owner who eventually understood what I wanted and pointed around to the back of the building. I'd emailed for more precise directions and was told apartment 206 on the 10th floor, but it still took a while to find the right black unmarked door for #206. I pushed the buzzer and the door unlocked. A tiny, rickety elevator lurched its way to the top floor. The young Russian woman sitting at the kitchen table knew just enough English to get me to fill out a form and pay her.

She showed me my bottom bunk next to the balcony, gave me the wifi password, and there I stayed for the rest of the day. Too cold, too tired, and too frustrated to venture out. Other young Russians drifted into the hostel, but no one spoke English, so I worked on this blog, caught up on email and Facebook, and finally read the reviews for "Like Hostel." Reading about other people's worse experiences in finding the place somehow made me feel better. I was halfway tempted to take the first train to Moscow and forget about Vladimir.

By morning I was in a better mood. I paid for a second night, caught a street car to the train station about 20 minutes away, bought a ticket to Moscow for the next day, and then spent the rest of the day enjoying this marvelous, charming town. I walked through the historic district, taking photos, meeting school kids, checking out three museums. I even bumped into a half dozen brides and grooms. I can see why many couples choose to get married in picturesque, historic Vladimir. By the end of the day, I fell in love with Vladimir, and even liked Like Hostel.

That's my comfy bottom bunk. Each bed has its own reading light and electrical outlet. Linens and towels are provided. Bathrooms and kitchen are communal. The only thing I didn't like was the stinky smoke and ice cold air that drifted in whenever someone went out to the balcony.

The view from Like Hostel is not the most charming part of Vladimir.

If you read Russian, this says I Love Vladimir.

The Church of Dormition of Our Lady. I spotted it from the road down below near the railway station. I wasn't sure if they'd given up on the renovation since the place seemed deserted. I googled it and can't find any information. In fact, the word "Dormition" comes up as a misspelling, but google says it comes from the Latin word "to sleep," referring to when Mary was taken up to heaven.

I asked (translated into Russian on my iPhone by Google Translate) at the train station and at a few magazine shops for a map of Vladimir, but all were in Russian. Thankfully, I found this nice map posted along the street, in both Russian and English. Very helpful.

Most of Vladimir is built up on a bluff, while the train station and some houses are down in the low lands. If you look carefully you can see a train passing.

The Cathedral of the Assumption on the left is probably the most famous church in Vladimir.

The Russians love really thick columns in their classic buildings.

The Church of St. Nicola at the Kremlin has been converted to a planetarium. There was a school group there when I dropped by.

The door handle to the Church of St. Nicola which is now a planetarium. Sometimes these church doors are so heavy that you think it's locked at first.

During my childhood in the 1960s all we heard about was "The Space Race" between Russia and the U.S. Russia was the first to send a dog into space. I'd seen its picture in the Museum of Soviet Life in Kazan.

I had no one to take my photo in this cut-out, so I had to Photoshop myself in afterwards. I think I would have made a very handsome Russian astronaut back in the day.

The Nativity Monastery is free and open to the public, but I wasn't really sure what its use is. I didn't see any nuns, and only saw one priest step into the library.

The entrance to the gift shop of the Nativity Monastery had beautiful wall murals.

Another view of the monastery.

The Cathedral of Saint Dimetrius charges admission, so I decided to pass. It's really not very big and there's not much inside compared to many churches.

Nice facade details on the 900-year-old Saint Dimetrius cathedral.

Beautiful views everywhere you look.

I was surprised to see a nuclear power plant beyond the railway station. It made me wonder how far I was from Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant which had a major accident and fire in 1986, releasing radioactive materials into the area around it. Turns out, Cherynobyl is almost 1000 km from Vladimir, close to Kiev, Poland and the border of Belarus.

Looking down on the Klyazma River, bridge and freight yard. The Klyazma River is 686 km long and runs along Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod.

Nice look-out point near the Cathedral of the Assumption.

Looking back towards the Cathedral.

The letters on top of the car -- КОФЕ--are not the name of a fraternity. That's Russian for COFFEE. These red mobile coffee shops are all over Russia.

If you can't read Макдоналдс in Russian, you still know this is MacDonald's because of the Golden Arches icon.

They also sell nesting Putin dolls, and one with Obama, with Bush, Clinton, and Reagan inside.

I read about the Spoon Museum online. It was not easy to find since it's off the main road and the sign is in Russian.

I was surprised that many of the spoons were American.

The Spoon Museum is quite small and not as kitschy as I was hoping.

A school group was at the Spoon Museum.

These carved wooden spoons are probably Russian.

I suggested to the owner that she add the words "Spoon Museum" to the roof, as I've demonstrated with Photoshop here.

These school kids were posing for a group photo. They spotted me and started yelling greetings in English.

The students were very friendly and curious about me.

Russian lacquer art was first developed for painting icons in the churches, but later on paper mache.

Speaking of religious icons, they also sell them as well.

I spotted the first bridal couple on my way to the water tower museum.

This water tower is about 100 years old, but the water tank was removed after it was no longer in use in the mid-1950s. Now it's a museum about Old Vladimir, and has a nice observation deck on top where the water tank used to be.

Nice views from the top of the Water Tower Museum. You can see the football (soccer) stadium with orange seats.

Another wedding couple posing for their photographer.

These Russian tourists asked me to take a picture of them with their gentleman friend. So I asked him to take this picture for me. In the background is the Golden Gate, built in 1164.