NOV 29, 18 .. IRKUTSK .. THESE PHOTOS DESERVED THEIR VERY OWN .. VERY SPECIAL POST

These Wonderful .. These Joyous .. These Special Photos deserved their very own special Post.

In yesterday's Post, I showed you photos of my walk to .. and my photos of .. The Irkutsk Circus.

While I was doing my photo shoot of The Circus .. Suddenly .. Out of nowhere, appeared Sparkey*. Please see my Post Script below after I sign off at the end of this Post.

And, equally suddenly, also out of nowhere, appeared a young girl who was absolutely enamored with Sparkey*.

And out came my camera and away I went .. Snap Snap Snap ..

The photos speak for themselves.

It was love at first sight.

"Would you like to dance with me?'

"Oh YES! I would love to dance!"

"Here is how we will dance together you and I."

"You can't see me!"

"Oh yes I can!"

"Thank You for dancing with me!"

Then it was goodbye forever.

IF ever in this lifetime I would have wanted a 'motor-drive' on a camera, it was while the above dance was being performed.

"Thank You So Very Much to the people of Irkutsk who are responsible for such a fun and joyous event." Someone had to come up with the idea of having Sparkey* there to entertain the children.

With Joy .. With Love ..

Cap

*Post Script : I did every trick I know in the book to try to find out just who the above character is to no avail. I Googled Cartoon Characters. I Googled Television Characters. I looked at (yes count them) three hundred and fifty characters to no avail. I even Googled Russian Cartoon Characters. This I knew : It was NOT Mickey Mouse. So I decided to call him Sparkey. He had a real spark for life and joy.

NOV 28, 18 .. IRKUTSK .. A WALK TO THE CIRCUS

Today I took a walk to the Circus.

The Circus is a large building here in the overall central area of Historic Irkutsk. 

I discovered The Circus just two days ago while I was out walking with my interpreter Mike. We two were trying to resolve some 'issues' with my cell phone service company and on our way there passed The Circus. Mike pointed it out to me. Had he not done so, I would've completely missed it.

I vowed that I would return and explore The Circus and its surrounding area. 

Today I did just that.

All of my outings begin from the entry door to my building.

By the way, even with a lot of stops to shoot photos, the walk only took me 31-minutes each way. I could do it comfortably in 20-minutes IF all I did was simply walk directly there without photo stops.

Then I walk out past my landmark, an advertisement on my driveway.

And now I am out on the street. A street view of my building is shown below.

 A look back at my building.

One street up from my building is Sverdlov Street.

Below is an example of what I mean when I say that even though I have some familiarization with the Russian cyrillic alphabet, when the word has no vowels (or only one vowel) the pronunciation of the word is difficult.

Then what does the word mean? 

Did the love affair fail? Did the love affair get severed (cut off)? Is it a case of a 'severed love'? I'll never know.

This I'll say : Here in Russia there seem to be a lot of words that end with the letter 'v'.

Up one street we now walk to my first major intersection. And get a glimpse of this street's name.

It very cleanly translates to : Stepana Razina Street.

I'll assume Stepana was a very prominent lady.

Here, at this intersection with Severdlov Street is where I catch my Number 1 Tram IF I am going to ride it somewhere.

Today I am going to cross the street and continue on up Severdlov Street.

In the above photo, on the right edge out in the distance, you see a church. You also see it in the photo below.

This is the church just up the street from my building.

Next street we come to is Marata Street.

Marata too is a very basic and clean translation. One letter, the Russian letter 'P', is our English letter 'R'.

In my last Post I showed you (one of the) Papa John's Pizza Restaurants here in Irkutsk. It is straight up Marata Street.

Now we are about to come to a really major street here in the Historic District of Irkutsk.

Lenin Street.

The first six photos below were taken en route to The Circus. It was sunny and it was bright. It was wonderful.

Do you want 'nifty'?

Just look at the next three photos. Directional signs here on Lenin Street indicating major tourist destinations.

Nifty huh?

The next three photos below were taken as I walked back home.

The weather had changed.

In Mongolia, one of my favorite cities is Sukhbaatar located on the Northern border of Mongolia and Russia.

The next street we are coming to, Taa Daa is :

More 'nifty' directional arrows to historical locations in this immediate area of Irkutsk.

We are now about to reach The Circus.

Taa Daa .. We are there.

THE IRKUTSK CIRCUS

The sun was still out. It was a glorious day.

In this immediate area, is a statue, a monument if you will, honoring Leonid Gaidai who was born in Irkutsk. 

He was one of the most popular Russian comedy directors. It it apropos his monument is by The Circus.

The monument is really two separate sets of statues.

The first statue is of Leonid Gaidai himself and his dog Barbos who's real name was Rex.

The second statue is of three of Mr. Gaidai's more famous characters.

Now we will see more of The Circus.

Oops. Do any of you see-what-I-see below?

On the left, in the distance of the above photo, do any of you recognize one of my favorite places on the Planet Earth?

Just in case you don't, or your eyesight is an issue, here is an in-your-face, up-close look, at what I am referring to above.

Ah Yes. Right here, beside The Circus, a Subway.

I got hungry when I saw the Subway!

I do not know how the Subway Sandwich Shops are able to maintain their excellence all over the world. But they certainly do. The above Tuna Foot long was as good as it gets.

Back we go to The Circus.

I managed to get inside The Circus for a little look-see in the main lobby.

The ticket office.

The next scheduled events are on Saturday, December the 1st at 4pm and on Sunday, December the 2nd at 2pm. I could not find out what the events are to be. A real circus or another type of event.

Well, at least for now, there you have my visit to The Irkutsk Circus.

I hope you enjoyed it.

I hope to actually attend an event here in the future.

Smiles .. Cap