Tomsk

I neglected to add the map of my route to the last post, so here it is:

On Saturday afternoon I went to lunch with a member of the congregation, Larisa Lushnikova, who had also met me at the station and made sure I got to my hotel. She then took me to the German Cultural Center where she was to attend a dance class and I was to wait for the president of the congregation, Vitali Schmidt. We arranged things for the liturgy and then he walked me back to my hotel. On the way we passed the church, which was built in early 2006 shortly before the visit of German President Angela Merkle. I'm told it was built very quickly, and while the ground was still frozen, so they have some fear that the building might have problems in the future, but so far, so good. As we passed the church we saw a couple of newlyweds posing for picture. They weren't married in this church, they were just going around town taking pictures of themselves in front of local landmarks, like you do. No really, that's what they do here. If you're out and about almost anywhere in Russia on a Saturday you're very likely experience the phenomenon first hand.

The congregation that I visited shares the building with another Lutheran congregation (why have one when you can have two?) with whom they have disagreements. I'm sad to say that this is a case of European and American Lutheran churches exporting their disagreements to Russia. At any rate, our service started at 10:00, and we had to be out before the next services started at noon.

It had been a long time since I had led a service in Russian, so it was a little nerve-wracking, and since the organist was late I didn't have a chance to talk to her about giving me the note to begin the chanted portions, but it went pretty well, all in all — except the part where I started the Lord's Prayer before the Words of Institution. That will mean something to some of you.

With Vitali Schmidt after the service

And with Larisa Lushnikova

A rainy and cold day. It switched between rain and snow all day. I wish I had found my gloves before I left, but I glad Andrew gave me a hat.

After the service I was led around town by two other members of the congregation. What follows are pictures from that walk:

The site of the former Lutheran church, torn down in Soviet times.

The parsonage, however, was not torn down. It does not belong to the church at the moment, but they may have a claim, and I am told that law has been favoring those who are reclaiming prerevolutionary property.

One of the many Orthodox churches. I have pictures from the inside, but they are on a different card. I'll try to add them later

Another Orthodox church in the very center of town, with Lenin directing traffic.

Orthodox chapel, just to the right of the last picture.

These are all over town: images of the historic buildings that have been replaced by modern ones. It says "Remember that I was here. I burned and couldn't be saved."

And this is the replacement.

Ascending to the original location of the city, a fortress on the top of a hill.

The fortress is not longer there, but there is a historical museum with a replica of a fire tower on top. We went up and took these pictures from there.

Just a street shot. I wanted you to see the paving stones.

Waiting for the bus.

Avoiding a very deep puddle.

Nikolai and Ella Kovershek. Ella is a member of the congregation. I spent a couple of hours at her apartment. I'll have to tell you about that later.

On my way back to my hotel I had another walk around by myself. This is the university section of town.

These old wooden buildings are interspersed with newer ones.

An ad for Finish tires, the brand we have on our van, in fact.

Entrance to the park commemorating the Second World War.

The best feature of this park was the birches. My photo doesn't convey how magical this was. You have to imagine it filling your whole field of view. There was a park like this next to the language institute in Moscow where Helen and I met, so it brings back those memories.

Sign on an ice cream kiosk. I think they're taking after Baskin Robbins - only more flavors

Another war monument on the way back to my hotel

I used to really dislike these when I was first here in 1984. I don't dislike them any more. Maybe because I know the history of what inspired them so much better now.

Just a cool bench, don't you think? (Especially if you would sit in that snow.)

I'm in Novosibirsk now until tomorrow evening. I'll try to post some photos before I board the train to Kazan, but that might not happen. This is my long ride. One and a half days, 1,500 miles!