In the saddle by the Svislach
This is Victory Park in Minsk, and the body of water on the right is Lake Komsomolskoye, an artificial widening of the Svislach River. The entertainment that my hosts had arranged for this evening was a cycle ride using yellow bicycles just like the ones seen here. They're the kind that have no gears or brakes, so you have to pedal backwards to stop the machine. I'd never ridden a bike like this before, and it took a bit of getting used to. We set out from the centre of Minsk and kept going until we reached the edge of the city, then turned around and came back again - a round trip of 29 Km. This shot was made at a photo stop quite early on in the proceedings, when I had no idea we'd by cycling quite that far, but it was a great way to see the city. The large Belorussian flag you can see flying in the distance reputedly continues to flutter even when there is no wind blowing.
In the saddle by the Svislach
This is Victory Park in Minsk, and the body of water on the right is Lake Komsomolskoye, an artificial widening of the Svislach River. The entertainment that my hosts had arranged for this evening was a cycle ride using yellow bicycles just like the ones seen here. They're the kind that have no gears or brakes, so you have to pedal backwards to stop the machine. I'd never ridden a bike like this before, and it took a bit of getting used to. We set out from the centre of Minsk and kept going until we reached the edge of the city, then turned around and came back again - a round trip of 29 Km. This shot was made at a photo stop quite early on in the proceedings, when I had no idea we'd by cycling quite that far, but it was a great way to see the city. The large Belorussian flag you can see flying in the distance reputedly continues to flutter even when there is no wind blowing.