Out and About

Today we set off in search of a market that Amy had stumbled on before I arrived. I decided to leave the stroller at home, so Axel could walk as much as possible, and because the thought of navigating the ice and slush with a stroller seemed like a non-starter. We wandered through our neighborhood crossing the street to get ahead or to steer clear of icy patches. Amy cautioned along the way that traffic didn't typically stop for people carrying children.

Compounding this, most intersections in this neighborhood represent three converging streams of traffic, any one of which can include buses, electric trolley buses, and trams as well as cars. At an intersection that has become my nemesis, we came around a corner and walked past a steep frontage road that leads up to the polytechnic university, stopped before running over a set of rails across two lanes of traffic and finally another set of rails to make the sidewalk opposite. With Axel tucked into his stroller this can be particularly exhilarating.



Moving through a partially-thawed landscape of brightly painted university buildings, sprawling and dilapidated old homes, and a surprising number of notary offices we wound up on the wrong course. Sitting at a crowded bus stop, Amy found our location on the map that came with our apartment and got us headed in the right direction.



We came within a block of the market. Axel and I had gone several rounds over his need to be carried. Each negotiation ended up with him agreeing to walk only to closer and closer landmarks, the last walk was maybe 3 meters and he cried profusely the whole time. It also seemed to be getting colder. At least we were all less warm. Also, Amy had to be back to meet here Ukrainian tutor. So we grabbed a trolley back toward home.


There was still a reasonably long walk ahead of us. At one point Axel's shoe fell off. We slumped onto a basement window ledge and a woman passing by said something while I put the shoe back on. Smiling and nodding. A ways up the sidewalk she told Amy that she thought I didn't know Axel had lost his shoe. That I might have him walking around barefoot.