Report From Crimea #1

Here's a break from our usual programming to talk about the annual vacation to Crimea.

I have a very special announcement that we have been in Crimea all week. We traveled by train on the Saint Petersburg-Sevastopol route, crossed the Crimean Bridge, and arrived in Kerch for several days.

For all fans of Spazz, don't worry, he's at a fancy pet hotel in Mytishchi while we are gone.

The train ride in a four-person sleeping compartment on a nice double-decker carriage.

Kerch itself is a hero city but gets far less attention than some other places in Crimea like Sevastopol or Yalta. But this is actually our second time in Kerch and just as enjoyable as the first.

A view of the Crimean Bridge from the back of our hotel.

This time I got to see more of Kerch outside the city center than on our previous visit, and relied heavily on the local bus system.

Like in every Russian city I have seen so far, the buses were clean and in good condition, with a fully-digitalized payment system. In Crimea, bus faire is 30 rubles.

I had brought my new Canon DSLR camera kit, but it was drawing unnecessary attention to me so I switched to my phone after the first day. I might bring out the big camera again later on the trip, but Kerch is is a but more tightly wrapped security-wise due its proximity to the bridge.

So for today's post, here is a small collection of sites and scenery in Kerch I found interesting. If you want to see the main sites at the center, refer to my post from last year.

A monument to the units and organizations that participated in the de-mining of the Kerch region 1944-2010.

A farmer's market.

A restored GAZ military car parked in front of the hotel.

Typical residential neighborhood.

A typical rural neighborhood.

Dog.

Cow.

Chickens.

Yuri Gagarin Park.

More rural neighborhood.

An overhead view of Kerch.

I have more from Kerch but probably won't post them until after we return home from the trip.

My next post will be the city of Theodosia.