Three Wishes in Kungur

April 23, 2012

Kungur is a small Siberian town of 60,000 people in the Ural Mountains. We were delighted to exit the train after our three day journey and find sunshine and no need for our coats. After a humongous breakfast at our hotel, a nap, a run, and a shower, I met my group and our local guide for a tour of the city. The quaint city was a significant spot in the Russian tea trade in the 19^th century. (A merchant brought tea to the masses by offering small packets of tea as an alternative to the 20 or 30-kilo packages costing as much as a small house—previously the only tea-buying option.)

Tea merchant

Teapot?

The Sylva, Iren, and Shakhva Rivers meet in the town and their joining is marked by a half-spherical monument—the “Navel of the World.” (Tradition is that you can make a wish while touching the navel, which I did. I also put my navel to the World’s Navel—how old am I?)

In front of one of those rivers

World's navel and first wish

Navel to navel?

Families were out enjoying the sunshine along the river, as were plenty of drunken men, despite only being 2:00 in the afternoon. (“I am an alcoholic.” one shouted to us after hearing our tour guide address us in English, “and this is my friend. He is also an alcoholic.”)

Kungur is home to several beautiful churches as well as a hot air balloon festival that brings thousands of tourists each summer.  My second opportunity to make a wish came from the tradition of wishing while touching the foot of the flying boy statue.

Highest point in the city

View from the bell tower

Playing the bells (while being a teapot?)

Second wish!

Everyone enjoying a lemonade during the tour. 

Our local tour concluded at the bus stop where we boarded to have dinner at a local Russian family’s home. (The bus ride was uneventful, though I was surprised by the ticket system. Basically, you go up to the front of the bus and put your money on a tray and take a ticket. The money sits up uncovered on the tray by the driver so people can make their own change as necessary.)

Money and tickets are sitting on the tray next to the
driver for ready for self-service.

The apartment of our host-family was old an Soviet-era make. The outside was pretty typical for a lot of the buildings we saw in Kungur. Inside the apartment it was clean and bright.

Outside of the apartment complex

Stairwell

The dinner and the host family were delightful. We were met at the door by a six-year-old boy and his seven-year-old sister offering us bread and salt, as is the tradition in Russia. After being surprised by, and then stuffing ourselves with, a main course after we had filled up on the salads, bread, and soup on the table that we thought were our dinner, we played with the children. Katia sang for us and her little brother became a bit of a ham after taking a few minutes to warm up to the strangers. (When it came time for us to go, the little boy actually grabbed onto my hair in an effort to keep me to stay.)

Bread

Salt

No, no. What you see on the table is not actually our meal.

Right before he grabbed my hair!

Several of us went to see the Ice Cave for which Kungur is known after dinner. I have to give the marketing department props for the whole thing. While there was ice along the first 200 meters of the cave, which was beautiful, the rest of the 2.5 kilometer walk was just through a very cold, rocky cave. Our guide did her best to making it exciting by telling us stories about the place, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the lack of ice in the “ice cave.” On the bright side, I was able to make my third wish of the day at the cave while rubbing a particular rock. (I realize, of course, that I can make wishes whenever I want. These wishes all have Russian tradition/superstition behind them however, so the wishes I make seem more likely to come true. ;))

It's definitely called an ice cave.

If it all looked like this...

Or this...

Or this... I'd have been impressed.

Dante's Inferno

Third wish!

Okay, so even though it's rock, it's also pretty beautiful!

While waiting for our taxi cab after visiting the cave, we were surrounded by 30 or so nine to eleven-year olds who were visiting the cave on an overnight school trip. (I hope they weren’t disappointed!) Come to find out, we were the first foreigners they had ever seen. I was a bit surprised they could even tell we were foreigners, but our guide assured us that despite having the same color skin and similar facial features, we indeed stood out as foreigners. Maybe we smiled too much.