Today being Saturday, I slept in (not!). Today was both hot and sunny -- well over 80°F, although it felt more like 90°F. We bought SP 50 sunblock for our walk down to the Volga River, and right now it feels like it was barely enough! The walk is about 3-4 km, and mainly downhill, which sort of helps.

On the way there, we walked thrOugh a small section of town where we passed a small mosque, then a small orthodox church, and then another, larger mosque or church under major reconstruction (i.e. it was walled off so we couldn't see). The only part that we could see could have been a minaret for a mosque or the belltower of an orthodox church (the church itself and the belltower are separate buildings in Russia).

The view of the entrance to the mosque

A little closer view

The rear of the mosque, where the worshipping actually occurs

The interesting thing about the smaller mosques in the city is the ubiquitous use of this aqua color for the building. The other is the close proximity to each other of the worship centers of the two religions.

The Russian Orthodox church one block from the mosque in a Moslem quarter of the city

The same church up closer.

These two buildings were about half-way through the walk, and were near a small canal that had fountains in it. This canal actually originates at the Kazanka River, which is the river that the Kazan kremlin overlooks.

The canal; this end is furthest from the Kazanka River.

A closer view of the canal.

After about two hours or so, we reached the Volga -- the Mother River of Russia. In the picture taken by Sasha with Gene's camera, you can see that I forgot my hat in Eau Claire, so I am wearing a stylish little number that I bought for about $8.00. It's actually made of paper!

One of the docks along the Volga River at Kazan

Волга-матушка (Mother Volga)

Женя and me in front of a river cruise ship on the Volga. Note the stylish headwear of the elder person in the photograph

More later.