"Novokuznetsk 1998 and will return summer 2005" Novokuznetsk by lithuanianson

While in Novokuznetsk I attended an"End Of Winter Celebration" This was held in March. The location was a large park with music from bands ,children singing , horseback rides and the most memorable thing were the men trying to climb large poles to get a ribbon from the top ,like a prize. These men were dressed only in their underware...on the outside...and I'm sure that they had a little vodka on the inside to keep them warm. The people seemed very friendly and happy. At one point there was a type of scarecrow on a small hill in the park that was set on fire.. to sybbolize the end of winter. I will saw that as the scarecrow was burning it was aprox. -10C and snowing. Had a very nice time that day. Thank you!!!

• Pros:Very friendly people
• Cons:Hard to find english speaking people there
• In a nutshell:Of the cities that I have visited in eastern europe I would live there if I could speek russian.