A relaxed walk downtown
For my second day in Ulan-Ude, I don’t have any great plan. Yesterday was a very hard day, full of things and lacking sleep and furthermore, I’m already mentally focused on my trip on Trans-Siberian that is going to start soon. 
My train to Chita will leave at 16:45 and, as you should know, this is the main goal of my trip. Ulan-Ude is a town that I’ve already visited and this time, it is, somehow, just the start point of my voyage. 
But it is still a nice place, so, taking all the time of the world, I get up, have my breakfast and then face the cold cold climate of Siberian winter. Outside is still freezing, something like -20° but at least it’s not a surprise anymore. The idea is to reach the pedestrian area and the cathedral through some secondary street. 
There are many beautiful wooden houses on my route. This is a peculiarity of Siberia. What I like most of these houses are the windows always painted in bright colours. I think this is typical of places where neuter tints are prevailing. One example are the houses of Burano, the little island in Venice lagoon, having shining colours to be visible in the fog. I will come back on this topic with a photo-gallery very soon but now, let’s be back to Ulan-Udè. From Smolina street, I move to the Ulan-Udè Arbat more or less where I left it yesterday morning. This time I will go on until the Cathedral and the river.
The Cathedral and the river
As I wrote, my next stop is the Cathedral. Before reaching it, my attention is drawn by a group of stray dogs. 
However they don’t seem to be dangerous. 
In a couple of minutes I reach the church or, to be more precise, the Odigitrievsky Cathedral, built in the 18th century when this town was called before Udinsk and then Verkhneudinsk. The style of the church is the so-called, Siberian baroque. I’ve been already here 4 years ago but in Winter the atmosphere is completely different, with the snow, it looks like being in a fairy-tale. 
I am the only tourist here. I think I should get used to this feeling. 
In the Covid time, there are no many tourists and, for sure, with closed borders, foreigners are even more unusual. After the visit to the Cathedral I reach the river but there is not much to see here. The river is completely frozen and the only interesting thing is a nice wall painting. It is still too early to get ready to reach the station. What could I do?
I reach the main road and take a tramway and let it bring me somewhere. 
Maybe I took the wrong line but to be honest I didn’t see from the window any amazing place. Only snow, snow and more snow. Well, there is a ferris wheel that I don’t think is open in this season. After more than one hour on those rail tracks, I decide to get out of the tramway and heading to the main square on foot. 
When I reach it I realise I have only the time for having a quick lunch and I think it is a good idea to eat Buryat food. There is a restaurant called Ali-Baba that, in spite of its name, doesn’t serve only middle-east food but also local one. I won’t have the chance to eat soon khuushuur and buuz so, I can’t miss this possibility. After that, a quick jump to the hotel and then I go to the same railway station where I left the trans-siberian line about four years ago. But this is another story and I will tell you soon…
P.S. If you like, take a look at the gallery of Ulan-Ude here below…
