This monument hardly inspires awe, but the garden and path along the river Volga, with the not too faraway bridge Starovolzhsky Bridge is very pleasant. At our visit there were lots of foreign visitors who took delight in the garden, the river, the view and the, in their eyes, very white children.

This monumental equestrian statue, mounted on a large white pedestal in a spacious square in the city, does not have the sense of energy and motion so evident in that of Yurih Dolgoruky in Moscow’s Tverskaya Square, but given the density of traffic surrounding the latter, its peaceful location make it much safer to walk around and take a good look. A nephew of the great Alexander Nevsky, he ruled as Prince of Tver for a decade or so, antagonizing first Novgorod, then the Orthodox Church, and finally the Great Kahn of the Golden Horde (Tartars) who appointed him in the first place. He had his head chopped off by the Tartars that, in those days, was reason enough for Sainthood, and the Church -------- despite past quarrels ----- canonized him as St. Mikhail of Tver. Of course, none of this is evident from the horse or its rider, but at least it makes a good story for tour guides to relate.