Volgograd Sundays

Unlike back home in Zimbabwe, where nearly half the country goes to church on Sundays, Volgograd is pretty much uneventful. For some it is business as usual (the post office is open till 1800 hrs) and since we are still on summer holiday, students have no school stuff to attend to (you can have your exam on a Sunday!). I remember my year in the preparatory faculty, where foreign students take language classes, Saturday was like any other week day, lectures from 0830 hrs to 1500 hrs...it was a nightmare. First semester, first academic year I had philosophy lectures every other Saturday from 1000 hrs arrrgghhh....the horror!! Hopefully this academic year will be different (fingers crossed).

A lot of people simply гулять (pronounced guliat; meaning to take a walk) on Sundays at the city's numerous parks and leisure places. Asking a girl out to go and guliat is actually super cool and may increase your chances of winning her (Russians take their guliating seriously!). I personally have a nice spot along the river Volga where I like to take time out and just relax ( I will try to attach pictures from time to time so you guys can get a clear picture of what I am talking about). Volgograd is especially beautiful at night along Volga and summer temperatures allow people to stay out way past midnight (except students who live in the University hostels, we have a midnight curfew...😑).

People sometimes take boat rides on the Volga river (but you can take one any day of the week, Sundays are however more busy for the boat owners). I took one in the spring of 2017 when my sister came to visit. There was a DJ playing some electro house music on the open deck and a bar... it was, however, nothing to write home about (though I strongly suspect the fact that my sister kept looking at her watch because she didn't want to miss her massage appointment had something to do with it). The ride was about an hour from Tsentral'nyy Naberezhnaya to Mamaev Kyrgan and then back, I was not very ecstatic about it but I will probably give it another shot before I go back home.

Cycling is also quite common, young couples especially cycle (super cute...in my opinion) and sometimes teen boys may cycle in groups (with a boom box...😀 kidding, but they do play music on their phones I assume, perhaps with a small speaker cause it can be pretty loud). Bicycles are expensive in Russia. A decent mountain bike can be up to 15 000 rubles, which is the equivalent of US $250 at today's exchange rate whereas in Zimbabwe you can find it for US $100 or less. Thankfully there are places where you can hire a bicycle on an hourly basis or for a day which is what I assume most people do because once summer is over it will be too cold to cycle...unless if one intends to cycle every day during summer or maybe they just buy because they do not compare the bicycle prices here to those of any other countries...

Even roads are fairly less busy on Sundays. My hostel is along Prospekt Lenina, which is the main avenue of the central district of the city, and Sundays are pretty much less noisy (thankfully). Saturdays are another story altogether because bikers just love to ride at night (for some reason) and since it is too hot to close the windows (there are no air conditioners in my hostel and a fan is of little help) it's like they are riding in your room!! (a friend in Tomsk, another Russian city, used to say that a lot...it sounded a lot funnier when he said it). This is one of the three times that make me wish it was winter already, will tell you guys about the other two another time.

Check out a picture of my sister and I on a boat ride and she doesn't look like she cannot wait to get off though LOL! I hope you enjoyed my 'Volgograd Sundays' edition. Пока!! (pronounced paka, informal goodbye).