Minsk is unlike any city I have visited before. I had many thoughts and expectations about what it would be like before we left; some of those thoughts were proven true, while others were proved to be exactly the opposite. The people, for instance met my expectations. People on the street just pass by each other without acknowledgment. Smiling at a stranger, even from a shop owner to a customer is an exceptional event. I knew that was to be expected but experiencing it was something completely new. I had never been somewhere before where I felt that I was not necessarily a welcome traveler.
What I definitely had not anticipated was the size and feel of the city. All of the buildings put up during the Soviet times were enormous and the streets were very wide. The effect this has is to make a person feel very small. I had expected Minsk to look more similar to other European cities, but it wasn't so, it felt almost like a large US city but with significantly less inhabitants. However, I was also surprised by the pedestrian friendliness of the city planning. The sidewalks were wide, the metro and the bus systems seemed very efficient as well. However, it reminded me that this city was built for functionality with streets wide enough for tanks and military vehicles, and to make sure it would be easy to facilitate the movement of many people from point A to point B.
Pictures from Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus.
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| Notice the size of the people...this building, the Parliamentary Palace and the statue of Lenin are quite impressive. Technically, you are not even allowed to take a picture of the Parliament unless Lenin is in it. |
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| Red Church of Simon and Helen is in the background. The glass dome in the foreground is actually part of the ceiling of an underground shopping center. |
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