As I had done a fair bit of walking the past two days, Monday was my slightly lazier day. Meaning, I did a bit less walking than normal, which at times seemed kind of boring to commemorate my last full day of my mini vacation. Hey, I’d walked too much, so I earned the right to relax.

The morning was simple: I walked around the neighborhood and its surrounding territory. I know, this is a bit of a let down. In fairness, my hotel was located in a nice area, and there was a park I wanted to see before I left. Yunost Park was about a twenty minute walk from my hotel, and one of the main attractions there is the Upside Down House. Yeah, it wasn’t a lot, but hey, I believe that sites should be given a chance.

On the way there, I walked along the side of a little, pretty lake. The weather thankfully decided to cooperate during this time by being sunny, which helped put me in a good mood. Despite the presence of some wind, plenty of kids were skateboarding and biking. Seeing the children and parents alike with gleeful expressions on their faces was another highlight, and their joy was rather infectious.

The Upside Down House was a bit anticlimactic, not that I was expecting much. It’s exactly as it says on the tin: it’s a house built upside down. I wanted to go in, but frankly, paying 150 rubles didn’t seem worth it. Thus, I took a single picture to commemorate this-it’s cool enough to say I’ve seen but nothing more. Maybe it was just where I was, but the park didn’t seem very big, especially when I think about ones in Moscow. I know this is unfair given the discrepancy in population size, but at the very least you’d expect a bigger park in a residential. On the way out, however, I walked by a memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers, but the surprise was that they were KIA in areas around the world; Africa was one of the biggest regions in terms of casualties. As with the other memorials and statues, I took a moment to reflect on what I saw.

After strolling around a bit more, I decided to head back to my hotel. Yes, it was afternoon, but around 3 or so, the weather started to drop, in addition to stronger gusts of wind. While this was a bit of a cop out, I had seen everything I set out to see and do in Kaliningrad, so I was satisfied. Plus, my knees and the soles of my feet were starting to hurt, which always curbs your enthusiasm to do a lot. My consolation was that I was able to sit back and relax with some great Russian shows and the hockey World Championships. On the way back, though, I stopped by a craft beer store on my hotel’s street, so I really was able to unwind. All in all, it was a short yet solid last day.