To Luga

[Anna-V]

On the 3rd of November we set out to a small town in Leningradskaya Oblast'. The choice of the trip destination was't mine but I took part in the choice of sights. It took us almost 3 hours to get to the place from Baltiysky railway station. To my mind it would have been better to travel by an earlier train but we didn't have much choice that could make a real difference.

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We arrived at Luga's railway station at about 1 p.m and the first place in our (actially) my sightseeinglist was the cemetery situated more or less out of town. We had to wait for a bus which ran on time. While waiting we had a look at the exhibition of military equipment and a tiny park near the railway station devoted to the military glory and those who died during WWII. Unlike my travelmate I feel almost nothing when I face things, events and people from this historical period. And it was a time to catch a bus. In 20 minutes ( I guess) we were coming to the cemetery. I really wanted to see the chuch of St. Nicholas or to be exact what was left fom it. I find all kinds of ruins strangely fascinating. Ahd here my expectations were completely satisfied. The church was built of red bricks and was particially destroyed - blowed up - after the Revolution. I guess the present look suits the place better as you can see how history shapes the world.

Then we came back to Luga again and looked at churches and temples in the city center. It seemed that there were not much to look at but churches and temples. We were able to visit and look from the inside just one church - the temple of Ekaterina the martyr. The only interesting fact about this temle is that in the 1930-ies it had been closed and turned into the cinema.

Finally, we had a break and went to eat in a local cafe. This cafe cooked different pies and pastry but there was also more substantial food. Just in time.

It was getting dark already but we wanted to visit two more places of our interest: the city museum and a lake. It was easier to find the museum tham to get to the lake. However, we reached both destinations. We hadn't planned to visit the museum so we didn't. Usually there is nothing special about local historical exhibitions. But we were curious about its exterior as it was situated in the middle of "sleeping area" of the town and it did look somehow ridiculous in such surroundings - a small wooden (almost wooden) house from the past and in the bckground 5-8-stored buildings which are a part of any uptown of any city.

And the creepy part of the trip - the way to the lake. Despite that it kinda got dark already we deciced to walk to the lake. It took a bit longer than we had expected and I didn't feel quite safe on the way as it was dark, walking all alone along the road, not many streetlights, not sure where to go if something happens... but we went on and went on till there were no streetlights ahead. But just in the border of the sea of darkness we saw the lake. That was a relief as we didn't have to choose either went on to nowhere (you literally couldn't see anything) fighting average man's fears of darkness and
of unknown or we could stop and surrender. Fortunately, we didn't need to choose, we had our lake just in front of us.
It was fascinating to look at the lake at night as it looked as an animal hiding in the bushes and waiting for a pray. Kinda mesmerizing though we stayed at the very brink of the lake, within the range of "civilization". At night the lake seemed wild and deceptively calm. I'm going to keep this feeling.

And there was a journey back, lights on the city enbankment, all sorts of talks, a train again and stuff like that.