Kazan Pt. 4

Monday, February 22, 2016

Like every other day of our trip we started off with breakfast/brunch at Добрая Столовая (Dobraya Stolovaya). It would be the first of three times we would visit it that day. We headed out to the bus station early so we could by tickets for our return trip to Ufa. We were standing and waiting for the bus for a while then A realized we were on the wrong side of the street. We had to wait longer but had fun watching the bus arrival time because it started at 27 minutes then would jump around all over the place. After we bought our tickets we headed back to тукая площадь (Tukaya Square). We wanted to grab some coffee so we stopped at a cafe called Кофеин. It looked like an American coffee shop, but I loved the teal wall in the back of the cafe.

Afterwards, we went to the Museum of Soviet Life where we actually ended up on Russian news, but I'll make that a separate post because I have so many pictures. We then went back to the organization that had the Museum of Illusions because we wanted to try two more of their attractions. A really wanted to go through the Maze of Fear, but I was too afraid! We went to the Upside Down House and did the attraction where you can break plates. Sorry, my pictures are so grainy because I do a horrible job of taking indoor pictures. For the plates we got to write things we hate and throw them at a target. I easily thought of three things and A could barely think of one. I must be too pessimistic. A is a lot stronger than me and actually works out so I laughed when one of his plates didn't break.

While we were walking a girl handed us a flyer about a Wax Museum. We thought it might be a cool idea to go see it and I had never been to a wax museum before. It was actually pretty terrifying. I felt bad for the guy who had to be stuck in there with them all day. It was dark and who knows if they would come to life or not. Okay, maybe I watched too many Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark episodes when I was a kid.

After the Wax Museum we walked back towards Kazan Kremlin to look at the views. I think A wanted to go through some museums there because we hadn't yet, but I started to get really hangry. I'm always hangry. So, we went back to Bauman street where we went to Добрая Столовая (Dobraya Stolovaya) for the second time that day, but this one was in a different location.

We stopped at McDonalds afterwards for some tea then took the metro to the other side of the river. I hate Ferris Wheels but I told A I would go on it if we didn't go through the Maze of Fears, plus I thought it would be cool to see the city from up top. It was so cold and windy. We weren't sure where exactly it was but we knew the relative direction. We finally got to the park to see that it was closed. We were pretty bummed. We walked over to this weird building called the Kazan Family Center. We were hoping to go in but of course they were closed as well.

We then took the metro a few stops to go to Suvar Plaza where we got on and off the metro a few times because of A's directions and walked through the shadiest area with no sidewalks to get to. We ended up just going to some restaurant and getting tea. I started getting really hot, like my face turned bright red. It was so weird. We were both tired so we took a taxi back to the hotel. We ended up going to Добрая Столовая (Dobraya Stolovaya) for the third and final time that day because we didn't want to go back out later for food.

We left at 10 am the next day, and we were both very sad about leaving. Honestly, we could have easily spent a week in Kazan and I would totally recommend the city to anyone coming to Russia. There is just so much to do and see. I hope to go back before I leave, but it seems unlikely since I think I will return to the USA in July (school loans are the worst!). I guess I will have to just return to Russia again! :)