Walking to Town

In an effort to counter-act my dinners of beer and dried fish (see below), I have taken to walking into Odessa's center from home in the morning (about a 30-45 min. walk). On the way I walk through this beautiful park which has a huge statue of Lenin in the middle of it. Lenin is looking purposefully at something, unfortunately not quite at the colorful TV screen flashing with advertisements at the other end of the park (Odessan humor is not quite ironic). The yellow Illinsky Cathedral (close-up below) can also be seen down the main pedestrain path of the park (on which I am standing in the first photo). The stray dog in the last photo is curled up on a manhole cover. Incidentally, I was told by my JDC guide on one of my first days here not to walk over manhole covers in Odessa because they might be loose and I might fall through. Of course she also told me not to walk under balconies on the streets because they are old and might fall on my head. Cautious or paranoid?