Crimea Kickoff, Russia rant
A little late off the mark getting this first post up, but hello all. I’m Lee Tarricone and glad you can join me as a sputnik (‘co-traveler’) for this trip. I’m way behind so must as usual start at the middle and nibble on the other parts as I catch up. Might as well start with the police.
I’m now in Volgograd, one week into my swoop through Crimea and the Russian heartland. More on Volgograd in a bit, but first today’s adrenaline jolt: minding my own business at the train station, I was en route to the ticket counter when I heard voices behind me, telling me to stop. As this usually means someone trying to sell me something, I kept going until the voice took on a new level of authority to STOP. Which I did. Two officers, young but all business, asked me for my passport. I’d never been stopped before in such a fashion in a dozen years of travel to Russia, and so I sized the two up for a second. They looked pretty official, and seeing badges prominently displayed I decided they were the real thing (there are plenty of scams involving guys in uniform). ‘Why didn’t you stop earlier?’ ‘I thought you were taxi drivers.’ Maybe not the best reply, but it is what came out. ‘Documents.’
Well. Still not totally convinced this was a real deal, I asked both for their badge numbers. (russian law requires they provide this.) I wrote this down, and then handed them my passport and visa, locally registered the day before. ‘This visa doesn’t list Volgograd.’ ‘I know, but is there some problem? Why am I being stopped?’ ‘You seem nervous. What are you so afraid for?’ ‘I’m an American, and being stopped like this is unusual.’ ‘Come with us.’
Gotta run, they’re closing this place up and giving me dirty looks already. Stay tuned.
SputnikLee
PS The trip so far is fun. I’ll save the fun parts for later. Cheers S-L
Tags: Crimea, Russia, Sevastopol, Travel, Ukraine, Volgograd
SputnikLee