Around 9:30 we left the hotel to walk down to Dostyk Square. It was so packed with people that we ended up only getting to the end of the square. People were lined up 5-deep in nearly all places, and deeper in others. There were definitely more people watching this parade than the one last week. Then again, considering that half of the town was in the one last week, there were more people available to watch this one.
We discovered an interesting behavior today… if people want to stand in front of you in a parade and block your view, they’ll just do it. We had a pretty good view at first, and then we got jostled back several times until we could no longer see, so we walked about half a block down the street, back towards our hotel. There we had a good front-row view (standing on the curb) for quite a while, until more people kept coming from all directions and deciding that they needed to stand in front of us too. The police kept trying to keep people behind the curb, but no one listened and it turned into a contest to see who could cut in front of others the most. There was one older lady we were standing next to, who had about 7 little kids with her. People would just cut in front of them too. She gave them an earful, and they pretty much ignored her. Finally they would get sick of her and move over so they were more in front of us. It got pretty annoying. We gave up after getting a few pictures of some of the heavy trucks and tanks and decided to walk back to the hotel.
Our advice. If you want to see the Victory Day parade, get to the square early. (Even though they said 10:00, it didn’t get started until about 10:45 again, but if we wanted to be in the square we think we might have needed to be there around 9.) Once you are in the square, get a front-row spot up against the barricades (they have metal barricades there to keep the crowd back, unlike on the street), grab a hold of the barricade, and hold on for dear life. Otherwise, you’ll end up about 10 rows back and won’t be able to see anything.
Apparently there were some cool things they did in the square, like a reenactment from the period. (We saw the personnel carrier with the commandos all dressed up go by.) They all jumped out and there was fake gunfire. At least we think it was fake, because we couldn’t see. Who knows. Maybe several hundred spectators got mowed down. They also had some reenacted dances, marching soldiers, and other war parade-ish stuff.
After the parade, the square was turned into the kids’ playground again, and they had all of the same stuff as they did on May 1. (There wasn’t a camel or a scared calf this time, but other than that it looked to be the same.)
Lunch today was at Medved again. We really like it there. Today we were quite impressed when the waitress brought over our drinks (the same as we got last time) without us saying anything. I guess we’re memorable. Lynda got adventurous and just pointed to a random item on the beef page (#4). I was trying to translate some other beef dishes and she pressured me into just picking one we hadn’t tried before, so I went with #8. It turned out to be a steak covered in an au gratin sauce with tomatoes and potatoes on the side, all served on a sizzling plate. Other than the fact that the steak was well-done (like I could have asked for it like I wanted it…) it was really good. Lynda ended up with steak with mushrooms and vegetables. Lunch turned out well.
It was back to the baby house at 3:00. Since it was so nice outside, we decided to spend the day outdoors. So of course we had Symbat all bundled up and went outside. While we like it outside, she’s a bit too little to fully enjoy being out there. She doesn’t walk by herself and the caretakers don’t give her shoes, just three or four layers of socks, so we end up holding her most of the time. We give her toys, and she throws them on the ground. We play the fun game of “throw the toy and watch mommy/daddy pick it up so we can throw it again.” What kid doesn’t like that game? We also bounce and tickle and make funny faces… typical fun stuff for a 1-year-old. She also likes being held, so it works out nicely.
Apparently there were some cool things they did in the square, like a reenactment from the period. (We saw the personnel carrier with the commandos all dressed up go by.) They all jumped out and there was fake gunfire. At least we think it was fake, because we couldn’t see. Who knows. Maybe several hundred spectators got mowed down. They also had some reenacted dances, marching soldiers, and other war parade-ish stuff.
After the parade, the square was turned into the kids’ playground again, and they had all of the same stuff as they did on May 1. (There wasn’t a camel or a scared calf this time, but other than that it looked to be the same.)
Lunch today was at Medved again. We really like it there. Today we were quite impressed when the waitress brought over our drinks (the same as we got last time) without us saying anything. I guess we’re memorable. Lynda got adventurous and just pointed to a random item on the beef page (#4). I was trying to translate some other beef dishes and she pressured me into just picking one we hadn’t tried before, so I went with #8. It turned out to be a steak covered in an au gratin sauce with tomatoes and potatoes on the side, all served on a sizzling plate. Other than the fact that the steak was well-done (like I could have asked for it like I wanted it…) it was really good. Lynda ended up with steak with mushrooms and vegetables. Lunch turned out well.
It was back to the baby house at 3:00. Since it was so nice outside, we decided to spend the day outdoors. So of course we had Symbat all bundled up and went outside. While we like it outside, she’s a bit too little to fully enjoy being out there. She doesn’t walk by herself and the caretakers don’t give her shoes, just three or four layers of socks, so we end up holding her most of the time. We give her toys, and she throws them on the ground. We play the fun game of “throw the toy and watch mommy/daddy pick it up so we can throw it again.” What kid doesn’t like that game? We also bounce and tickle and make funny faces… typical fun stuff for a 1-year-old. She also likes being held, so it works out nicely.
After today we only have four more days of seeing Symbat. Then on Wednesday afternoon we’ll head back to Almaty. We are so not looking forward to the 7-hour bumpy car ride, but we are anxious to get home.
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