Here's a shot I snapped this morning while I was waiting for a bus. You can see we got a little more snow. Also, that short building behind the #14 bus is one of the strangest buildings in Vladimir. First of all, the coloring is weird, and, although it is hard to see, the building has these odd round covers over the balconies. I was, after all, a graduate of an architecture school (KSA shout out), and, although my degree isn't in architecture, I love to analyze buildings. Russia, unfortunately, isn't a good place for that--there are really just a few types of buildings. There is the standard grey apartment building (there are varying numbers of floors and layouts, but all apartment buildings look very similar), the standard ugly hospital/school/municipal building/office building/military base (all civic buildings have a very similar look), and the standard gaudy, post-1990 shopping center (the uglier, the better).

So anyway, for someone who appreciates the finer points of Russian vernacular architecture, this little building by my bus stop is an unusual find. Also, it is really three smaller buildings put together, and there is about a foot-wide gap between the individual buildings that I sometimes squeeze through as a shortcut to get to the bus stop. There is a well-worn trail through this little passage, so I know I'm not the only person who knows about this shortcut.