What's a lungo?

It's after 9 am and do you see what I see?

That's right- it's still not open. Can you feel my pain? When I finally got my chance, I got a latte because those seem universal. I've seen an Australian lungo on several coffee shop menus, so this afternoon I tried one. Turns out it's like an Americano except all the water is brewed instead of added after. I suppose that makes it stronger but each coffee drink I get seems to be different regardless of the name, so I'm not sure. By that time I was tired, and the caffeine boost was welcome. I'd started out early this morning with the intent to wander for a while, but one thing led to another, and I never went back to my room until evening. So the coffee break was a relief for my feet too.

More to see at every turn. This city is full of pocket parks, statues, fountains, flowers, flowers everywhere.

The synagogue in Irkutsk is part of an interesting and sometimes painful history of Jewish people in this town. I had to ring a bell to be admitted but once in, I was made welcome (no words, of course, because of the language difference), and when I asked about photos, this too was alright.

While there is only one synagogue and one mosque in this city, there are a lot of Russian Orthodox churches- most of them were made to serve some secular purpose during the Soviet era, and a lot of icons and relics were lost. Many are still fairly plain on the inside, but not the Kazan Church. There is also a Kazan Russian Orthodox Church in San Francisco, by the way. This particular branch of the Russian Orthodox Church commemorates Our Lady of Kazan, an icon of the Virgin Mary that was discovered in the town of Kazan, Russia in the 16th century. This particular church was built in the 1880's in the Byzantine style. It suffered the effects of sovietization, like almost all churches, but was restored in the 1990's, and is pretty incredible inside and out now.

All the churches have baskets of scarves available for women who visit without a head covering.

More churches of Irkutsk

The sign of a barber shop

I'm wondering if this is the building where the school was located that Natalia told me about

Flowers abound