旅人る - Tabibito

 

Penza

 

An unusual city to celebrate the New Year. Tourists appear only on January 3-4, before that Penza looks pleasantly deserted. Pedestrian Moskovskaya street offers good choice of restaurants and coffee shops.

 

The local cuckoo clock in the square has a notable sound: one to one, like pedestrian traffic lights in Japan. At first you even shudder.

 

The roads are very-very-very slippery. The last time I encountered such ice was in Hokkaido: no one cleans the sidewalks there either.

 

Perhaps one of the few advantages of ice: it beautifully reflects the illumination of the art museum.

 

But the building itself is beautiful.

 

The ice is sprinkled with a substance that looks more like halva than sand.

 

But then a snow fell and it became better.

 

Decorations of Moskovskaya street.

 

A manhole cover guard.

 

Houses on Moskovskaya Street.

 

One of the ugliest buildings in the city, as usual, is the drama theater, opened in 2011. The old building, even uglier, had burned down several years before that.

 

The Cathedral of the Savior of the Holy Face standing on a hill. It was recreated in 2021, but at the same time greatly increased in height compared to the original, which was blown up in 1934. For example, two levels were added to the bell tower.

 

Wooden planetarium in the central park. It was built in the 1920s, but was gutted and rebuilt with new planks in 2021-2023.

 

One of the most pleasant places in the city is the estate of industrialist S. L. Tyurin, adapted into a museum of folk art.

 

Krasnaya Street, contrary to its name (Krasnaya, Red sometimes means "beautiful" in Russian) looks very ugly.

 

Sovetskaya/Volodarskogo/Kuibyshev Street.

 

Gladkova Street is especially noticeable for decay.

 

But next to it in the courtyard a sculpture "Family" from Stalin’s times has been preserved.

 

River Sura embankment.

 

Other houses and details.

 

All buses and trolleybuses have a green and yellow livery.

 

This Scania is already 24 years old. The bus managed to travel around Sweden, the Leningrad oblast, and Cherepovets.

 

Old trolleybuses are not allowed to have liveries, so they are slowly rotting along with the advertising.

 

Getting in (as of January 2024): the easiest way to get in is by air. Penza has its own airport. The flight to Moscow will be about 2 hours. Car trip will take about 8-9 hours via M-12 tallway, Arzamas and Saransk.

Where to eat: The Godzilla Ramen and the Big Pig on Moscovskaya street. Best coffee can can be found on the same street in The Fjord and in The Masterskaya.

Where to stay: Life Inn on Kuraeva street.

 

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