Khabarovsk

June 18, Tuesday. Overnight we chugged to a city called Khabarovsk. I had NO idea there were cities plural in this part of the world, but clearly there are, all along the route of this railroad. Khabarovsk is second in size only to Vladivostok in the Far East region. This morning we set off on a tour of Khabarovsk. We started at the war memorial, which was far more impressive than the one in Vladivostok.  Walking up the stairs we came to the new Russian Orthodox St. Transfiguration cathedral where I only wish we had been allowed to take photos. It was very beautiful inside, with a very large iconostasis and other more modern icons, including one of the last tsar and his family, who were martyred in the Russian Revolution shortly after WWI. 

One of the buildings of Khabarovsk.  I love the copper drain pipes!

Shot from the bus on the way to the memorial

The war memorial

The cathedral in the background

The memorial and the Cathedral of the Transfiguration

Part of the memorial

Another part of the memorial

The cathedral plaza with another memorial

Depictions of Soviet medals line the wall

Closer

Next we visited the Far Eastern Regional Local Lore Museum. Again we would have liked to be able to take pictures but could not. Highlights included info about the aboriginal tribes that lived here for centuries before the Russians came in the mid 1900's, displays of how the early Russian settlers lived here, not at all primitively, an excellent diorama depicting the last battle of the revolution in which the red army finally defeated the whites in this Far East region that includes both cities we have visited.  There was also probably the best exhibit of stuffed wildlife I've ever seen, including a local tiger, lynx, an enormous moose, and many birds, butterflies, and smaller wildlife, all in excellent condition and natural poses. 

Finally, we stopped at Sobornaya Square on the waterfront near downtown to see the Assumption Cathedral from the outside, an impressive monument, a beautiful building that was originally the home of a wealthy merchant in the local red and gray brick style, and the riverfront where the Amur river bends around the city. 

Assumption Cathedral

Monument in Sobornaya Square

Detail

The former home of a wealthy merchant

Entrance to the Embankment overlooking the Amur River

The Embankment and the river

A main street in Khabarovsk with Transfiguration Cathedral in the distance

Back to the bus, the train, and off into the countryside on our way to Mongolia.

The railway station in Khabarovsk