Sightseeing Sunday

We loaded up the kids in strollers (thankfully there's an extra one where we're staying) after lunch yesterday and decided to head to Panfilov Park to see the Cathedral and the other sights. Kurt had missed the park two years ago because he was sick in bed for the majority of the time we were in Almaty so I was eager for him to get to see the beautiful cathedral. Two kids in strollers in a city that isn't exactly handicapped accessible is an interesting task. Some of the street crossings here provide underground tunnels (with shops of course) to avoid the traffic - great but there's a lot of stairs. Kurt would lift up Sasha's stroller and then come up and help me get down and then back up again. Fun. We got to Panfilov park and the weather was beautiful. We went toward the Museum of Musical Instruments first. I had told Serik about the Museum of Musical Instruments and he was excited to see the 'guitars' (dombras) but of course he fell asleep just as we were getting to the park. Kurt stayed outside the museum with the kids while I went in to take a look. I paid the 200 tenge and quickly breezed through. There are a lot of dombras there - and all the descriptions were in Kaz or Russian so it didn't take me too long to go through. We walked by the war memorial with it's hulking tribute to those fallen from the Almaty Unit during the war. Then it was on to the Cathedral. It really is a beautiful place. Apparently constructed of all wood. I made sure to get several good pics this time as last time the quality wasn't so great. The sad part of this is that the cathedral is surrounded by stray dogs and homeless people (usually much older) all trying to get food and any extra change you have. They were all sharing food and I couldn't help but drop a few tenge to some of the babushkas. Kurt and I took turns going inside to see and I got some pics. You'll notice that almost all of our pictures by the cathedral have a sleeping Serik and a sometimes sleeping Sasha. Oh well.

We decided to head to the green market after to get Sasha a hat since hers kept falling over most of her face and she wasn't too happy about it. We didn't make it there last time so I wanted to see. It's massive, like the Tsum, and is filled to the brim with everything you need. One large open area is devoted to food and then as you walk into the next section it's all stalls packed with whatever.

Serik had woken up by this time and kept asking about the museum. He's bummed he missed it so we'll have to swing by so he can see all of his 'guitars'. We found a hat then headed uphill toward home.

Serik wanted to run around the park and was having a great time. I was trying to get him to stay near us and called 'Serik'. A woman who was selling balloons and flowers came over to me to ask if Serik was my son. I said yes. She asked if he was Kazakh - yes again. Then she asked about Sasha (whom Kurt had up the way) I said she was Kazakh and something else. She thought Uzbek (another person). She proceeded to try to ask me questions about America (in Russian), "is it nice? my daughter wants to go, how much to fly?" Tried my best to answer her. She and a young man (who told me he was Uzbek) then started running for a limo. As I walked to catch up with Kurt I saw a wedding party arriving (one of many as this is the place to go for pics like the ball is in Astana). The woman and young man were trying to get the wedding party to buy their wares. We said congrats to the groom - who grinned a big grin - and continued on our way.

We got to Shevchenko and found the Biscuit Cafe and popped in for a snack and a drink. Sprite, latte, ice cream, pancakes and one absinthe. Yuk. Don't know what the big deal is - Absinthe is just super strong smelly black licorice tasting liquor - not my thing. Made our way home with a quick stop at the grocery store. Sasha was asleep by 7:30, Serik by 8, Kurt by 9. I woke up at 8 and Serik and Sasha around 8:30 - Kurt's still sleeping. Today we'll head to a souvenir shop that has old communist stuff. Curious to see it.

Will add more pics later.