{"id":2292,"date":"2020-09-30T19:19:23","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T19:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=2292"},"modified":"2022-05-30T14:40:00","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T12:40:00","slug":"kaliningrad-ferris-wheel-at-youth-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/kaliningrad-ferris-wheel-at-youth-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaliningrad Ferris Wheel at Youth Park"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kaliningrad Ferris Wheel at Youth Park<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Published: 30 September 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was a nipper, I would like nothing more when we visited the seaside than spending my parents\u2019 money on the funfair rides. Sea and sand are OK to look at, but I like water in tea, and I am no beach lizard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you live in or are visiting Kaliningrad, you can get your funfair fix at the Youth amusement park, which is a spacious and well-equipped amusement park across the road from the Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, on my birthday, I was smitten by the regressive desire to go oscillating on the park\u2019s big wheel. This is quite unlike me, as I gave up heights in preference for the sure-footedness of good old terra firma many moons ago. But it was my birthday, I had eaten an ice cream by the lake, and the wheel, which I had often regarded with curiosity whilst partaking of beer at the front of the Mercor Hotel, must have said something to me today like, \u201cyou\u2019d better do it now, before you get too old!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaliningrad Ferris wheel at Youth Park<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have never argued with a Ferris wheel before, have you? And today was no exception. But had I have been inclined to do so nothing would have come of it, because Kaliningrad\u2019s big wheel is not one of those fast-moving fairground attractions where you sit with your friends suspended in chairs and when the wheel stops at the top your friend begins to rock it and is no longer your friend anymore, it is, in its construction and spirit of revolution, more akin to the London Eye ~ big, solid,  friendly and sedate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, at 50 metres it is high enough for me, and as we stood on the departure platform waiting for one of the empty cars to descend and allow us to board, I caught myself thinking yet again how unlike me this is, even on my birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaliningrad Ferris Wheel at Youth Park<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The cars roll around at a gentle pace but even so you clamber quickly aboard goaded to do so by the Imp of the Perverse who is whispering in your ear, \u201cQuick, imagine your trouser leg getting caught on the edge of the car; how embarrassing that would be, to go hopping off towards the end of the platform!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mick
Mick Hart about to board Kaliningrad’s Ferris wheel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This thought, or thoughts similar, have you jumping aboard in no time. The car lurches and swings in response to your opposing momentum, but it is alright: the thing seems sturdy enough, and before you can say \u2018motion sickness\u2019 you have plonked yourself down on the bench seat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Olga
Olga Hart not at all frightened on Kaliningrad’s Ferris wheel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wheel\u2019s cars are in fact quite spacious and would, I imagine, hold six people quite comfortably. The cars have glass doors, so you are fully enclosed, and the wide windows offer an awesome and spectacular view not just of Kaliningrad from an aerial perspective but of the steel lattice-work fabric, nuts, bolts and bearings from which the revolving contraption is made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kaliningrad
View of Kaliningrad’s Ferris wheel and Kaliningrad itself from one of the wheel’s cars<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we levelled out at a 45-degree angle to the ground, the angle of the dangle incidentally causing you to feel more vulnerable than when the car reaches the summit, this is when both the wheel\u2019s superstructure and park layout below are at their most dramatic; and then,  slowly, very slowly, as the car begins to rise, Kaliningrad in all its (as I have said before) green glory <\/a>and contrasting urban extensiveness folds quietly out beneath you inciting a landmark-spotters epiphany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"K\u00f6nigsberg
Looking out across the once K\u00f6nigsberg district of Maraunenhof<\/em> from Kaliningrad Ferris wheel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Away with apprehension and out with the camera, I get some fairly good shots of the wheel itself and some admiral ones of the city. Yes, the photographs would have been better had I come prepared with a proper camera instead of relying on the mobile phone\u2019s, but spur of the moment decisions respect nothing but opportunism so, as I did not plan ahead, I have to be contented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \"View
    Kaliningrad Upper Lake<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
  • \"Kaliningrad
    Kaliningrad boating lake<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The view from the wheel\u2019s highest point is nothing short of breathtaking, and  for 200 rubles a ride (\u00a31.99), presuming you do not own a microlight, this is the next best way to reach the dizzy heights, in other words to see the city of Kaliningrad as you have never seen it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Next on the bucket list is a spin on the wheel as dusk settles, when the wheel and the cityscape are bedecked with illumination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Whereabouts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    The Youth Park of Culture and Recreation is located in the Leningrad district of Kaliningrad at 3 Telman Street, opposite the Upper Lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Copyright \u00a9 2018-2022 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Kaliningrad Ferris Wheel at Youth Park Published: 30 September 2020 When I was a nipper, I would like nothing more when we visited the seaside than spending my parents\u2019 money on the funfair rides. Sea and sand are OK to look at, but I like water in tea, and I am no beach lizard. If […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[123,40],"tags":[15,393,153,586,127,81,52,587,585,584],"class_list":["post-2292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kaliningrad-photogallery","category-visitors-guide-to-kaliningrad","tag-kaliningrad","tag-kaliningrad-a-green-city","tag-kaliningrad-city-of-contrasts","tag-kaliningrad-ferris-wheel","tag-kaliningrad-place-of-contrasts","tag-kaliningrad-tourist-destination","tag-konigsberg","tag-konigsberg-2","tag-the-youth-park-of-culture-and-recreation","tag-youth-park-kaliningrad"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t