Minsk - Belarus

[Hors]

Bad news for you, my friend spoke to a mutual Lithuanian friend of ours (yes, the one in the photo quiz ) and she said that under no circumstances, should anyone visit Minsk alone, plus it is generally a not-so-friendly place to western tourists.

Minsk is the safest place in the ex-USSR. And they don't harass western tourists there unless they engage in political activity. Everything is cheap, but tourist infrastructure is not sophisticated...

So me and the buddy decided not to waste our money and time at a depressing, post-soviet state where nobody speaks english. Yes, it looks beautiful...but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[Hors]

Well, Belarus used to be a Baltic-inhabited area, but as far as the last 400 or so years are concerned, you're probably right in that it can no longer be considered a Baltic country, having undergone ethno-cultural "slavification".

it's more like 1400 or so years, and its pre-Slavic population could hardly be equated with contemporary Balts

[Fortis in Arduis]

Yes, please stop being such a dweeb about Belarus, Absinthe.

REALLY!!!

All I was suggesting was that we take a nice downtown apartment, at least four of us.

I think that it would be a great place to par-tay.

A really great place. It has everything and it was the model Soviet city.

I was going to say:

At the time of the 1897 census, Jews were the largest ethnic group in Minsk (51.2% of the population).

Not any more though...

The Jewish community suffered catastrophic losses during the Nazi occupation—very few survived.

According to the 1999 census, Belarusians make up 79.3% of the city's residents. Other ethnic groups include Russians (15.7%), Ukrainians (2.4%), Poles (1.1%) and Jews (0.6%).

[Absinthe]

Alright, I'll think about it.

[Fortis in Arduis]

Rodny Kut restaurant is located in the Minsk Concert Hall building. This is a classical restaurant for the well-off.

The restaurant consists of three main banquet rooms. The red, vinous decoration of two of the rooms is really sumptuous.

It is not difficult to realise, entering these rooms, that you are in an top restaurant, but the most outstanding room is the aptly-termed 'marble room' with tall white marble columns in it. This room is very spacious and bright. One might think that it is in perfect contrast with the other two rooms. The interior of the marble room is made in the restrained classical style.

Perhaps, this place is Minsk's finest restaurant. Also, it is hard to imagine in Minsk some places being more upscale than this one.

[Sigurd]

P.S. I can picture us already

I'll be the one to rub into people's faces that they made out with their sibling.

[Osweo]

I wouldn't mind being somebody's sibling, if required...

post-soviet state where nobody speaks english.

Ah, Heaven!

I was there in August 2007. Marvellous place. Beautiful girls. Cracking architecture (I know the daughter of the Sovet planners who did the place after the War). It was the hottest week they'd ever had though, and I had to spend it running around town in a black suit for my boss... The sole of my shoe fell off too, in the middle of the main street.

I dearly wish I could go, but I doubt I'll have much chance this year.