ROSTOV - July 2011

The view from my hotel room Big statue of Lenin across the way

Lenin was big in Russia But now, Bruce Willis is bigger

No idea what this building is but it's a fine example of Soviet architecture

I believe this is a technical school and the bust is of Yuri Gargarin

A monument to Sergey Kirov an early moderate Bolshevik He was in opposition to Stalin and was shot under mysterious circumstances in 1934

These iron balls depict the stories of Anton Chekov Thought to be one of the greatest short story writers in history

This park certainly had the coolest garbage cans

This nice building is the Town Hall ( Municipal Duma )

The main church in Rostov. Russia is Orthodox Christianity, the inheritors of the now defunct Byzatine Empire

An old babushka lady feeding the pigeons

A view along the waterfront of the Don river The Don is one of the major rivers of Russia It flows almost from Moscow all the way to the Sea of Azov, 1950 Kilometers

This area is called Pokrov's Square, the statue is of Catherine the Great

Close up of Catherine the Great

Rostov has lots of Soviet Era apartments, ugh

Revolution Park is the heart of Rostov

This is called Theater Square, the large tower is called 'Stella' erected to commemorate the city's liberation on February 14, 1943

Good old hammer and sickle

On the other side is Stella, a golden running girl

I was most taken by this moving and somber monument I was unable to find information about it, only that it is in the place of a mass grave from World War 2

A close up of Mother Russia Names of victims are inscribed on the squares in the background