DEC 29, 18 .. SQUEALING HAPPY CHILDREN .. HERE IN ABAKAN, RUSSIAN SIBERIA

The flat that I am occupying here in Abakan is located at one corner of an enormous park named Montenegrin Park.

My first photos of ice sculptures being created were taken here in Montenegrin Park.

Below are photos (taken in the day and at night) of the main entrance to Montenegrin Park.

The above and below words .. С НОВЫМ ГОДОМ ..

say HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Below is a photo that I took during my very first photo shoot.

I had absolutely no idea (right up until today) of what it was going to become!

The below photo, taken today, looks pretty much the same as it looked above when under construction. Do you see the children in the lower right coming around it?

And up the steps they go.

I wonder just what is going on here? I guess I'll have to walk around and see for myself from the other side.

Below is a night photo of the above stairway.

Oh My we have an Ice Slide! 

It's no wonder I've been hearing squealing happy children! 

They are not stationary! They are either sliding side wise or spinning.

Now we are going to walk to the end of the Ice Slide.

Do you all see how long it is? I mean this is a major project to have been constructed out of ice.

And I mean the children slide all the way to the end!

"Let's run back and do it again!"

Now that you know what you're looking at, on the left side of the below photo, in the distance you can see how long the Ice Slide's runway is! 

Can you imagine! 

They even have a bunny-slope for the younger children.

Mom never did get him to take a slide down the very gentle bunny-slope.

There seemed to be more Ice Slides than I could visit.

By the way! You've all seen the above Ice Slide at night.

The other night I walked up the steps to the top. Looked down. Then gingerly and slowly crept back down the steps I'd come up.

Isn't it beautiful at night? You can actually see it better in these night time photos.

People ask me, "What do they think of us?"

I reply, "Quite honestly they don't think of us. They seem to have lives and activities they're happily enjoying"

And? 

Patti and I hope that you've enjoyed this peek into winter life here in Abakan, Russian Siberia.

DEC 26, 18 .. DREAM GARDENS PARK, ABAKAN, RUSSIAN SIBERIA

The Dream Gardens Park, here in Abakan, Russian Siberia, is the top attraction on Trip Advisor under Top Things To Do in Abakan.

There was a very small charge of 120 Russian Rubles (U.S. $1.79) to enter the park.

Without any further ado, here are some photos of the park.

Oh My, Oh My, What have we here at Dream Gardens Park?

Will all of you just look at the entrance to the park!

You, who may not be interested in Ice Sculptures, may get bored with them. Both Patti and I are fascinated with them. We are not alone.

Wait just a minute. The Eiffel Tower? Here in Abakan, in Russian Siberia?

This is NOT an ice sculpture.

The Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral, is Number Two on the Trip Advisor listing of the Top Things To Do in Abakan.

After turning around from taking the above photo, I looked out in the distance, and what to my wondering eyes should appear?

Do all of you think it would be OK for me to slip in another photo of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral that I took before we got to the Dream Gardens Park?

Lord God in Heaven Above, I am so fascinated with YOUR Russian Orthodox Churches.

If one works-at-it, one can unravel some of these difficult names.

Take this name : Spaso-Preobrazhensky Cathedral.

Spaso .. Preo .. braz .. hen .. sky Cathedral.

No one is sitting out, sunning themselves, sipping on drinks and eating snacks on this chilly (-20°F) afternoon.

In the above photo, do all of you see the base of The Eiffel Tower in the distant background?

Speaking of sunning oneself and sipping boiling hot tea on a -20°F winter afternoon, my hands and I needed to do just that!

I could NOT believe the cafe was open for business on this winter afternoon.

It had to be a God Thing.

I'd walked past the cafe to climb the steps up to the elevated, outdoor dining area to get another photo of the Eiffel Tower and the cafe looked dark and closed.

As I was 'exceedingly slowly creeping down the frozen steps', someone came out of the cafe.

I call that someone : one of God's Eskimos!

Nice and calming.

Now warmed up, knowing we still had to walk back out of the park, I asked Mike to set up a taxi. He did and I snapped the final photos of our visit to the Abakan Dream Gardens Park.

Our last look as we exited the park.

With Patti's love of gardens and parks and ice sculptures I have to sign off ..

Hugs and Smiles .. Patti and Cap