Krasnoyarsk - Part 1

Krasnoyarsk certainly provides a different feel than Omsk, but of course, in an equally great way. There are a lot taller buildings in Krasnoyarsk, and similar to Omsk, it is situated on a large river (Pronounced - Yenisee), but the city seems to have equal sides situated on both banks where Omsk seemed to be mostly located on one. Because of this it seems to have a bit of that larger city feel and not quite the close compact feel of Omsk. A lot of buildings are under construction in Krasnoyarsk so it gives a feel that it is a growing city. One of the notable items is a sky scrapper that was begun years ago, of which, the developer ran out of money and it has been sitting half vacant for 10 plus years. The locals seem to be slightly amused and annoyed by this building and hopeful that another developer might finish up the project. Another interesting note is that the roads are very rough in this area due to the high swings in temperature (freezing and thawing of water between the asphalt cracks). The city has difficulty keeping up with the numerous potholes on city roads. Krasnoyarsk is generally colder than Omsk, but we would never know that unless told, for it has been in the low 70’s since we have arrived and even in the 80’s on a couple of occasions! Everyone was quite happy about the weather since it appears that we may have packed a little on the light side.


Our first day here was spent seeing some of the historical sights of the city which included various statues, churches and historical buildings some dating back to the early 1800’s. However, we feel the highlight of the day was spent viewing the largest dam in Siberia. A sight to behold, maybe not as large as our Hoover Dam but certainly enormous. It harnesses the Yenisee river, and from our understanding, produces almost all of the electrical power for the city of Krasnoyarsk and surrounding region. Joe inquired to the price per kilowatt hour and although we cannot remember the specific cost it appears we still have it cheaper in the states.

The following day was spent with professional meetings and then a trip to a the local school system. We visited with the learning disabilities classes and participated in craft time. Finding that although these youngsters may have a learning disability they seemed to all exceed our abilities in making clay flowers. Upon our departure we exchanged each of our handmade flowers and then grabbed a bite of lunch in the cafeteria (“canteen”). Something all of us have not experienced for over 10+ years! The food has not changed much.

Our weekend excursions consisted mainly of trips to our Host Family’s Dacha complete with “Baunya” (yes!), a Russian tradition we have began to adopt as our own! This has become quite a convenience as well, since the city of Krasnoyarsk has it’s hot water shut off once a summer to make repairs on the system (currently until June 9th). It was a lovely reprieve to have a nice warm shower! Our host families do heat up water for us in the morning though, so it is not as if we are truly suffering. We will say it is amazing how cold the faucet water is over here. We estimated it to be about 40 degrees F when exiting that faucet, at a maximum. It is interesting to note that the hot water comes from the city and that each individual does not have their own hot water heater like we do in the states. We attribute that to left over communist and socialized programs.

In the evenings we have been fortunate enough to spend time together with our host families for both some larger group dinners or our more common, individual dinners. We are finding a theme with Russian hospitality and that our new families are quickly growing on us yet again. We all equally dread our departure to the next city but also share excitement for new adventures. Yet another Catch-22.

In addition, one evening we were fortunate enough to attend a Russian Symphony and although it was about 3 hours long you would swear it felt like 20 minutes. We joked since it was at the end of a long day and it was almost certain that one of us would drift off during the harmonious compositions, but we all sat bright eyed and bushy tailed for even the conductor was entertaining in his jubilant movements.

We are eager to enter this week’s activities which consist of again professional meetings and many cultural activities such as a trip to the theater, another musical venture and even a trip to the Krasnoyarsk Zoo! Please stay tuned as we follow up with more excitement in the wonderful Russian city of Krasnoyarsk!