Victory Day and Pilla's Visit

Victory Day is a big deal here.  I'm not sure why it is not celebrated in the US.  Perhaps because we were not invaded.  The parade was scheduled for May 7 even though Victory Day is May 9.  We were off for 5 days.  My sister Pilla came to visit.  Yay!
     One of my co-workers, Vlad, volunteered to drive to the airport and pick her up.  I was going to take a taxi, but this was better.  Pilla's flight arrived at 11pm.  Vlad drove through Astana, which is lit up like Christmas every night.  It was a nice introduction.  The next morning we got up and took a taxi to the parade site at Independence Square near the Pyramid.  We didn't get near, though, as all the roads were blocked off.  We, and thousands of our closest friends, walked over the bridge to the parade route.  When we got there, we just stopped at the barricade and took up our positions.  It was very crowded and very hot!  After a while of sweating, we decided to move.  We ended up on the steps of the mosque.  It gave us a little better view, but not by much.  It was, however, much cooler without all the people around us.  Finally the military parade started.

Across the street is the American embassy.  I could see people on the roof.  It turns out several of my students were on the roof.  The highlight was the fly-by. 

It's a little surprising to me that Kazakhstan actually has a military!  Who knew? 
     The mosque was allowing visitors, so we took advantage and toured the inside.  It is a newer mosque, only a few years old and very beautiful.

We strolled down the avenue, stopping to take pictures along the way, stopped at an Italian restaurant, then walked home.

Kazakh Yeli monument.  Kazakh Yeli means County of Kazakhs.  It stands in Independence Square and has a sculpture of President Nazarbeyev in the base.

I guess Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union, or something.

Later that evening we went to the ballet.  It was Spartacus.  Weird.  Who would ever think of creating a ballet of Spartacus?  The Soviets.  It was first performed in the early 1940s in Moscow.  The dancing was very good.  Some of the male dancers' leaps seemed they were just hanging in the air.

I thought we were dressed up until we got to the Opera House.  Others were much more fancily dressed.

     The next day we went to Baiterek.  The view is better now than it was in March.  Greenery!  Flowing Fountains!  Sort of blue skies!

Penny made a wish on Nazarbeyev's hand print and we got to photograph some WWII veterans.

   Our next adventure was taking the train to Akkol in order to hike.  We decided to go to the travel agent to buy a train ticket.  It would be easier and much less crowded than buying the ticket at the train station.  I don't know how to buy a ticket online.   Because it is in Russian, I'm not sure I'd be buying the right ticket!   But I forgot to bring my passport.  Even if you travel inside the country you must present your passport.  So we ended up going to the train station early enough to stand in line and elbow everyone else out of the way.  There's sort of a queue here, but cuts often happen.  With some help from friendly Kazakhs, we got our tickets.   We spent $4 each for a round trip ticket.  Akkol is a forested area about 100 km north of Astana.  Notice I said forested.  Forested means trees grow there.  Yeah, trees.  I miss hills and trees...It has a population of about 14,000 and no industry that I know of.  People kept asking us "Why do you want to go to Akkol?" 
     The "hiking trail" wasn't easy to find and I'm not sure we actually did.  But we did meet a cowherd.

In the plaza outside the train station was a statue.  Penny was enchanted with its romantic imagery.  The names on the statue were Bayan Sulu and Kozi Korpesh.  My school is on Bayan Sulu Street, so I had to find out who this person was.  It seems these two had a tragic love affair, not unlike Romeo and Juliet.  It started raining.  We stayed in the train station while we waited for the rain to stop.  When it did, we did a short explore.  Then it was time to take the train back to Astana.

     The next day the wind was blowing 20 m/s, so we went for a walk.  We wanted to go to the museum.  We didn't know they were closed until the 12th for the holiday.  Another discovery.  A statue called Mother Earth.  It depicts Queen Tomyris (who killed Cyrus the Great in battle) with two leopards on a huge bull.  Obviously, I don't know the whole story, but I don't understand why a warrior queen is Mother Earth.

    Well, sadly, that's then end of Pilla's visit.  It was fun!  We took a taxi to the airport early in the morning. On the way there the clouds in the east helped to create a beautiful sunrise.  In the west, against a backdrop of dark clouds was a double rainbow.