Thanks to Google we were able to find a caf̩ that was open at 7:30 in the morning, so we walked a couple of blocks (10 minutes) and arrived just after they opened. The caf̩ was strategically placed right in front of a university, but apparently school was out because we were the only customers. The caf̩ had a nice interior Рkind of antique/historic, and a pretty young blonde-haired woman was doing homework when we came in and it turned out she worked there. We ordered our cappuccino and latte, and although the ordering was slightly more complex here we were able to successfully get our coffees and sit outside on a street patio. Some people walked by now and then and they looked surprised that people would sit outside and drink coffee in the morning.
We ordered another two coffees to go, and then went back to our room. Since Lithuania we had been carrying around a small Lithuanian “tree cake” that we had found in a supermarket, and so it was nice to open it up and make it our breakfast. I’m glad we had coffee with it – it was a little dry, but still quite delicious.
Our main mission of the day was the challenge the Minsk subway system, and to go see the architectural oddity that is the Belarusian National Library. It was more than six kilometers from our hotel and we didn’t want to spend the entire day walking, so it was off to the subway. The subway system was similar to the Cairo subway – you pay one price for a token and you use it once to go anywhere. There were no automated machines (that we could find) so we bought two tokens from a kind clerk who took my money and counted back the change to me carefully so I understood the price. The subway was really cheap, and it was fun to ride, too. There was no air conditioning – they just open the tops of the windows, so it was a little windy. People boarded the train just like they do in China, Cairo and India – not lining up but moving in a crowd towards the door. I’m always impressed how orderly they line up in Japan.
Kuniko did a great job leading us through the train system to the stop next to the library – she’s talented at navigating public transportation. When we emerged from the subway station the library wasn’t far off, and it was standing completely alone, a block or so away from some very modern apartment buildings. Also nearby was a big shopping mall, which we explored later on.
The library itself is shaped like a die from Dungeons and Dragons, and it very awkwardly Soviet in style. We took some pictures from various angles, and after a little bit of paperwork and a small payment we had the chance to walk through the bottom few floors, too. It was pretty empty of library patrons but there were plenty of librarians there working hard in a very quiet atmosphere.
The supermarket in the big shopping center nearby was huge. It reminded me of a Wal-Mart or Carrefour, with plenty to see. We spent a long time walking the aisles and wondering what everything was. The meats and wines were very reasonably priced, and the deli was full of dramatic, colorful and appetizing foods – if only we had the time (and stomach space) to try everything.
We took the subway part of the way back into town but got off and explored another area of town that we had missed before, including an obelisk square surrounded by giant metal wreaths (with another hidden wreath underground directly beneath – looking more like a monster donut), and also the Isle of Tears, which was a pretty dramatic (and depressing) monument to the Soviet soldiers from Belarus who died in Afghanistan. We also walked by an impressively Soviet KFC with a giant icon above the restaurant depicting the workers in solidarity in front of a hammer and sickle. Not the kind of artwork you usually see associated with Colonel Sanders.
We were back near our hotel and pretty tired from all the walking so we decided to go hit a sidewalk restaurant across the street called O.D.I. It was an Italian restaurant, and we were there mainly for the prosecco. The restaurant was quite stylish, but not so expensive. The staff were dressed nice enough that I was a little self-conscious about wearing our touring clothes. However, they were pretty laid back and it was fine.
Since we were sitting at one of their best tables and only ordering drinks we thought we ought to buy a little food to go with it, so we got some bruschetta with truffle sauce, and we split a beet salad with goat cheese. When the prosecco glasses came out we were a little taken aback – they were big glasses! The truffle sauce on the bruschetta made me very happy, and the salad was refreshing after all the heavy food we’ve been eating. We ordered another couple glasses of prosecco and the switch was officially on! The only down moment was when an old lady walked by the windows begging – it was the first time to see that during the whole trip. The maître d’ saw it immediately and ran over to send the lady off, but the old lady came back pleading and babbling something and headed right to Kuniko who was not so happy about being accosted in a strange country. The maître d’ did her best to chat us up and make sure we were OK after the old lady was thrown out, but it was an odd moment.
Back in our hotel we killed off some other leftovers that we had been carrying around – some salty braided cheese, and we worked on a bottle of raspberry juice. They make lots of unusual kinds of juice in Europe – I wonder when Japan will catch on.
After a short nap we made our way to our restaurant for the night – a touristy traditional place that was supposed to be famous for dumplings. We walked quite a ways to get there, and were more than a little shocked when we couldn’t find any dumplings on the menu. It turned out they only had some potato dumplings, so we ordered those with a small baked mushroom dish to go with our beers. The beers were big and they quenched our thirst after the long walk, but we were craving dumplings and we got shut out!
The place was called “Kamrhnya” but I don’t think I could recommend it. It was a bit too touristy, although the service was nice enough. We really liked one of the servers, a younger teenager who was tall, gawky and had a great sense of humor about the strange music they were playing. It sounded like Japanese rock and heavy metal, and she said it was “traditional Belarusian” while laughing.
Since we were craving “real” dumplings Kuniko found a place that was pretty popular and closer to our hotel called Vasilki. We stopped there on the way back and it was perfect. We slid into one of the last remaining sidewalk tables, and there were two entire pages of the menu dedicated to dumplings – yes! They even had Belarusian wine by the glass which I was eager to try. We ended up ordering two types of pork and chicken dumplings – one order cooked in broth and served with sour cream, and another boiled with a melted butter on top. The wine was decent but not amazing – we had a merlot and a chardonnay – and I was just surprised that they could make wine here.
It was a rare case for us to still be awake and active after dark, so we walked around town and took some pictures, sat on some benches to watch the people walking by until the streetlights came on, which turned out to be 9:15 pm. The temperatures were very comfortable here even at night, and the city felt very safe even after dark. We kept seeing young women walking the streets alone so it seemed like crime wasn’t a big problem.
Eventually we made our way back to our hotel and to bed. We planned on trying to sleep in as much as possible, since our flight to Warsaw, Poland wasn’t until the early afternoon.
