Saturday, April 26, 2014
Sunday evening dinner out
I don't go out to eat much here. I cook at home unless invited somewhere. This suits me just fine. I've never cared that much about going out to eat. I love spending time with my wife and if that means at a restaurant, then I am happy.
But I have guests in town, and I have friends who showed me this sort of London themed restaurant Soho a few weeks ago. The women in the office laugh about how it is the most expensive restaurant in Saratov. Both times I've been there it is a little dead. Menu is nice. We get a little dressed up on Sunday and walk over to Soho. On the way there, I am aware of a guy coming up behind us. I am a watchful fella even in the US...one time I had to clock a guy in New Orleans who came up behind me trying to get in my back pocket....we still laugh about him telling me he was going to"climb me like a ladder" after I gave him a good hard elbow. When we walk in Saratov, I am usually out ahead...I've developed the Russian pace, which is a quick one. Janet and Laura are usually a few feet behind. Anyway, this guy sort of splits the two of them and grabs my arm. He's a little drunk, doesn't say much, a lot of mumbling, but I can tell he wants to have some sort of contact with me. He keeps shaking my hand and then pulling me towards him. Strong guy, but again, a little buzzed. I have my right hand, the Irish Sleeping Pill, ready, just in case. He is smiling most of the time but slightly aggressive and we have a little bit of macho male roughhousing going on. He shadow boxes a bit at me, but somehow I don't feel that threatened. Janet is a bit worried and keeps telling him...."dos vedanya", "dos vedanya". Weird. Stepan later tells me after I recount this, that he doubts the guy was threatening me, that this is a kind of Russian way guys treat each other sometimes. We leave our friend after a few more minutes without incident---not before one more handshake that is a bit macho,
At the restaurant we relax. Our first waitress is pretty much terrified of us. No English but also pretty clueless when it comes to my Russian. There is an English menu, but she wants nothing to do with us after a couple of attempts at communicating. We soon have another girl---still a language barrier but much friendlier and willing to deal with us. We have good wine, pasta, salad, fish. When we are done we wander down to the embankment, even more beautiful at nigh. It is spring, a cool/warm evening. I am wearing only a sportcoat. Russians are out on benches enjoying the evening. We walk home in a leisurely fashion without any other incidents.
But I have guests in town, and I have friends who showed me this sort of London themed restaurant Soho a few weeks ago. The women in the office laugh about how it is the most expensive restaurant in Saratov. Both times I've been there it is a little dead. Menu is nice. We get a little dressed up on Sunday and walk over to Soho. On the way there, I am aware of a guy coming up behind us. I am a watchful fella even in the US...one time I had to clock a guy in New Orleans who came up behind me trying to get in my back pocket....we still laugh about him telling me he was going to"climb me like a ladder" after I gave him a good hard elbow. When we walk in Saratov, I am usually out ahead...I've developed the Russian pace, which is a quick one. Janet and Laura are usually a few feet behind. Anyway, this guy sort of splits the two of them and grabs my arm. He's a little drunk, doesn't say much, a lot of mumbling, but I can tell he wants to have some sort of contact with me. He keeps shaking my hand and then pulling me towards him. Strong guy, but again, a little buzzed. I have my right hand, the Irish Sleeping Pill, ready, just in case. He is smiling most of the time but slightly aggressive and we have a little bit of macho male roughhousing going on. He shadow boxes a bit at me, but somehow I don't feel that threatened. Janet is a bit worried and keeps telling him...."dos vedanya", "dos vedanya". Weird. Stepan later tells me after I recount this, that he doubts the guy was threatening me, that this is a kind of Russian way guys treat each other sometimes. We leave our friend after a few more minutes without incident---not before one more handshake that is a bit macho,
At the restaurant we relax. Our first waitress is pretty much terrified of us. No English but also pretty clueless when it comes to my Russian. There is an English menu, but she wants nothing to do with us after a couple of attempts at communicating. We soon have another girl---still a language barrier but much friendlier and willing to deal with us. We have good wine, pasta, salad, fish. When we are done we wander down to the embankment, even more beautiful at nigh. It is spring, a cool/warm evening. I am wearing only a sportcoat. Russians are out on benches enjoying the evening. We walk home in a leisurely fashion without any other incidents.
Sunday April 13
Sunday we arrange to meet Dr. Natalia Bobarykina for a tour of Sokolovaya Gora, Victory Park, and Saratov's Ethnic village, all on high ground, northeast of the city center. I've been there before, in February, on a day with 20 mph winds and 0 degree temps. There are blog pics of this in Feb. with some of the Chinese, Slovakian, and Russian International Business class students. I thought many of them were possibly going to freeze that day---some were a bit underdressed.
I am glad I'll be able to experience this place in slightly warmer temps. It is a 45 degree day, sunny and breezy.
We meet Natalia at the intersection of Moscovskaya and Radishcheva and walk to a bus stop. Bus schedules and routes in my own country confuse me; Russia as you can guess is completely perplexing. Natalia even has to ask the driver if he stops where we need to get off---it does---and we trundle on. On buses here, it costs 12 roubles, some have an attendant that goes around collecting fares, some you pay the driver as you exit. This one is the latter. I am busily explaining this to Janet and Laura, eager to show my "native" chops---I parcel out 12 R to both. Natalia pays for all of us as we leave. Janet pays again. No big deal, it is only 35 cents, but still it is the principle of the matter. To get to the monument, you walk about 1K on a pedestrian only road and you see the big memorial in the distance, falcons around a huge tall spire. It is somber. Military hardware is everywhere, there is an eternal flame. On the way in we stop at a mini train hospital museum. 30 R to enter. It is a WWII hospital train car, used to evacuate and treat wounded soldiers from the great battle of Stalingrad(now Volgograd). There is a lady curator/guide/ticket taker. She has a huge German shepherd keeping her company who is a sweetheart. For about a half hour, she regales us with stories, translated by Natalia of course. There is an operating room, Spartan quarters for the docs, instruments and other cool things like anesthetic dispensers, bandages and such from the time. Apparently this car lost nobody during its run---almost unheard of success in treating soldiers. The electrical system at that time was still in place and working! What was incredible was the following story: German POWs also were treated on this train and apparently treated very well. These POWs built much of Saratov's infrastructure while they were here....and men who survived RETURNED to Saratov in the 1980s to thank the medical staff on this train. There are pictures of the nurses and these POWs at an event honoring the sacrifices of both. As an American, I am surprised by the lack of Russian ill will towards Germans. Many Russians, including Vladimir Putin, and both Julia and Valia in the office, speak German.
Afterward we walk to the huge monument overlooking the city. There is a very strange event going on up there. A bunch of Russians in beards, bearskins, ancient clothing, with swords are standing in a circle chanting and enacting a series of religious/patriotic rituals. Not sure what it is and Natalia doesn't either. At one point a guy does a series of sword swinging exercises getting a little close to other people there. Makes me just a little nervous. Pagans? Druids? Not sure.
We see a lot of WWII era planes, tanks, submarines, bunkers and things as we walk over to the ethnic village which is still not completely open for Spring. Natalia knows that the Ukrainian house will be open where we can have lunch. There are numerous young people all over the park cleaning up. They are volunteers and seem to be having a great time. There are houses representing many of the ethnic groups in or around Russia....German, Byelorus, Armenian, Tatar, Dagestani, Korean....most of them preparing to open for spring. We get to the Ukrainian house, go on inside where it is nice and warm and have tea and pelmeni filled with cream cheese and cherries. Delicious. when we leave the lady there thanks me for leaving a tip. Natalia says it is a rare occurrence.
It is afternoon now and I know Natalia must be exhausted after her second straight day of walking around the whole time. When she offers to show us more of town, I say that Laura and Janet are tired and politely decline. We get on a bus called a Marshrutka, a minibus that costs 14 R, and head back toward Moscovskaya where we can walk home. Natalia lives in a suburb and I know she'd probably like to get home. I seat myself in the only available seat left after the women sit.....and thus am not able to hear their conversation. They conspire to go to the big Art Noveau grocery market at the end of Kirova Prospekt.....there is some laughing about how I've been tricked as we exit the Marshrutka far from my apartment. No problem at all. Natalia heads off soon afterward. We buy some pickled things, stop in a few shops on the somewhat long walk home. It has been a good day.
We plan to go out to the Soho restaurant near the embankment that my one of my business friends had taken me previously. I call Stepan to invite him but his motorcycle is giving him the springtime troubles and he can't make it.
I am glad I'll be able to experience this place in slightly warmer temps. It is a 45 degree day, sunny and breezy.
We meet Natalia at the intersection of Moscovskaya and Radishcheva and walk to a bus stop. Bus schedules and routes in my own country confuse me; Russia as you can guess is completely perplexing. Natalia even has to ask the driver if he stops where we need to get off---it does---and we trundle on. On buses here, it costs 12 roubles, some have an attendant that goes around collecting fares, some you pay the driver as you exit. This one is the latter. I am busily explaining this to Janet and Laura, eager to show my "native" chops---I parcel out 12 R to both. Natalia pays for all of us as we leave. Janet pays again. No big deal, it is only 35 cents, but still it is the principle of the matter. To get to the monument, you walk about 1K on a pedestrian only road and you see the big memorial in the distance, falcons around a huge tall spire. It is somber. Military hardware is everywhere, there is an eternal flame. On the way in we stop at a mini train hospital museum. 30 R to enter. It is a WWII hospital train car, used to evacuate and treat wounded soldiers from the great battle of Stalingrad(now Volgograd). There is a lady curator/guide/ticket taker. She has a huge German shepherd keeping her company who is a sweetheart. For about a half hour, she regales us with stories, translated by Natalia of course. There is an operating room, Spartan quarters for the docs, instruments and other cool things like anesthetic dispensers, bandages and such from the time. Apparently this car lost nobody during its run---almost unheard of success in treating soldiers. The electrical system at that time was still in place and working! What was incredible was the following story: German POWs also were treated on this train and apparently treated very well. These POWs built much of Saratov's infrastructure while they were here....and men who survived RETURNED to Saratov in the 1980s to thank the medical staff on this train. There are pictures of the nurses and these POWs at an event honoring the sacrifices of both. As an American, I am surprised by the lack of Russian ill will towards Germans. Many Russians, including Vladimir Putin, and both Julia and Valia in the office, speak German.
Afterward we walk to the huge monument overlooking the city. There is a very strange event going on up there. A bunch of Russians in beards, bearskins, ancient clothing, with swords are standing in a circle chanting and enacting a series of religious/patriotic rituals. Not sure what it is and Natalia doesn't either. At one point a guy does a series of sword swinging exercises getting a little close to other people there. Makes me just a little nervous. Pagans? Druids? Not sure.
We see a lot of WWII era planes, tanks, submarines, bunkers and things as we walk over to the ethnic village which is still not completely open for Spring. Natalia knows that the Ukrainian house will be open where we can have lunch. There are numerous young people all over the park cleaning up. They are volunteers and seem to be having a great time. There are houses representing many of the ethnic groups in or around Russia....German, Byelorus, Armenian, Tatar, Dagestani, Korean....most of them preparing to open for spring. We get to the Ukrainian house, go on inside where it is nice and warm and have tea and pelmeni filled with cream cheese and cherries. Delicious. when we leave the lady there thanks me for leaving a tip. Natalia says it is a rare occurrence.
It is afternoon now and I know Natalia must be exhausted after her second straight day of walking around the whole time. When she offers to show us more of town, I say that Laura and Janet are tired and politely decline. We get on a bus called a Marshrutka, a minibus that costs 14 R, and head back toward Moscovskaya where we can walk home. Natalia lives in a suburb and I know she'd probably like to get home. I seat myself in the only available seat left after the women sit.....and thus am not able to hear their conversation. They conspire to go to the big Art Noveau grocery market at the end of Kirova Prospekt.....there is some laughing about how I've been tricked as we exit the Marshrutka far from my apartment. No problem at all. Natalia heads off soon afterward. We buy some pickled things, stop in a few shops on the somewhat long walk home. It has been a good day.
We plan to go out to the Soho restaurant near the embankment that my one of my business friends had taken me previously. I call Stepan to invite him but his motorcycle is giving him the springtime troubles and he can't make it.
April 11-12, Train Kazan to Saratov.
The train ride is pretty uneventful. Providnitzas are very business like. Windows open so we can ventilate. Laura is pretty much done with trains. I've been on the for 61 hours in the last week. When it is over, if I close my eyes, I feel the train moving for quite a few days afterwards. As we rattle into the evening there is the most spectacular sunset as we move across a vast steppe. Russia is huge. The sky is huge.
We arrive in Saratov about 9am on Saturday morning. Dr. Bobarykina has texted me stating that Valia will be there to meet us and help us into a cab. I feel a little guilty about this as we could probably do this ourselves and I hate that Valia has to get up early on Saturday morning. I can see her waiting on the platform from the train as we arrive. Introductions all around, we are train lagged. Valia kindly walks us out into the huge confusing train lot. In Russia it is advisable to call a cab, otherwise with the language barrier, things can get weird. It takes a while to find ours....you look for the license plate number---all cars have a 3 digit middle number. We thank Valia, hustle into the cab and head towards my apartment which is east near the river. As we cross Moscovskaya I begin to tell Janet and Laura our whereabouts. My cabbie exclaims loudly...."Nye Moscovskaya.....Eta Prospekt Lenina!!!!" The main drag WAS named after Lenin and changed in the 90s. Quite a few people around here would prefer it had stayed the way it was. The cabbie also points out the city jail and police station, and it is our feeling that he does not like these entities by the tone of his voice.
We arrive at the apartment, drag everything in.Cab fare about $5 for 3 people, bags, 3 miles. This is not Moscow.
I check email after a while....Natalia has emailed me a couple of hours before inviting us to go to an Astronaut Day celebration of Yuri Gagarin---the first human in space----he crash landed near Engels, across the Volga. Big event, thousands of people. By the time I see her email, she and her family have left. Afterwards she tells us it was an all day affair, dusty, no bathrooms, lots of walking--6K---I think it was a good thing we didn't go. Might have killed us after all our traveling. As it is both Laura and Janet have lingering colds.
I cook everyone a big breakfast, eggs, potatoes, fresh bread, red chile and we rest up a bit.We go out for a walk on the Volga embankment later----then up to the Institute to get a look, then some Prospekt Kirova shopping.
That evening I cook up a pretty good Pasta Primavera. Girls go out shopping for the ingredients. Yay. I hate shopping. They are fearless in Russia and return with red onions, broccoli, zucchini, and spinach. I have a great little green grocer about 100 yards away near my apartment.
The girls also upgrade my wine supplies. I buy the cheap sweet stuff because I won't pay for good wine to drink by myself. With them here it is nice to have something better.
Stepan checks in by text at some point to see that we've arrived safely. He was also prepared to help us with transport from the train station. We make some plans to try to see him soon. Sunday we will spend the day with Natalia----very kind of her---especially since she had spent Saturday traipsing around the Engels countryside.
We arrive in Saratov about 9am on Saturday morning. Dr. Bobarykina has texted me stating that Valia will be there to meet us and help us into a cab. I feel a little guilty about this as we could probably do this ourselves and I hate that Valia has to get up early on Saturday morning. I can see her waiting on the platform from the train as we arrive. Introductions all around, we are train lagged. Valia kindly walks us out into the huge confusing train lot. In Russia it is advisable to call a cab, otherwise with the language barrier, things can get weird. It takes a while to find ours....you look for the license plate number---all cars have a 3 digit middle number. We thank Valia, hustle into the cab and head towards my apartment which is east near the river. As we cross Moscovskaya I begin to tell Janet and Laura our whereabouts. My cabbie exclaims loudly...."Nye Moscovskaya.....Eta Prospekt Lenina!!!!" The main drag WAS named after Lenin and changed in the 90s. Quite a few people around here would prefer it had stayed the way it was. The cabbie also points out the city jail and police station, and it is our feeling that he does not like these entities by the tone of his voice.
We arrive at the apartment, drag everything in.Cab fare about $5 for 3 people, bags, 3 miles. This is not Moscow.
I check email after a while....Natalia has emailed me a couple of hours before inviting us to go to an Astronaut Day celebration of Yuri Gagarin---the first human in space----he crash landed near Engels, across the Volga. Big event, thousands of people. By the time I see her email, she and her family have left. Afterwards she tells us it was an all day affair, dusty, no bathrooms, lots of walking--6K---I think it was a good thing we didn't go. Might have killed us after all our traveling. As it is both Laura and Janet have lingering colds.
I cook everyone a big breakfast, eggs, potatoes, fresh bread, red chile and we rest up a bit.We go out for a walk on the Volga embankment later----then up to the Institute to get a look, then some Prospekt Kirova shopping.
That evening I cook up a pretty good Pasta Primavera. Girls go out shopping for the ingredients. Yay. I hate shopping. They are fearless in Russia and return with red onions, broccoli, zucchini, and spinach. I have a great little green grocer about 100 yards away near my apartment.
The girls also upgrade my wine supplies. I buy the cheap sweet stuff because I won't pay for good wine to drink by myself. With them here it is nice to have something better.
Stepan checks in by text at some point to see that we've arrived safely. He was also prepared to help us with transport from the train station. We make some plans to try to see him soon. Sunday we will spend the day with Natalia----very kind of her---especially since she had spent Saturday traipsing around the Engels countryside.
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