Sputnik Adventures

I’m safe and sound in Ufa, the cloak and dagger about police and scams notwithstanding. However, one more weird thing happened at the Volgograd train station before I left–I was laying low near the underpass to the train platforms when a woman approached me and said, ‘What train are you going on?’ ‘Ufa’, I blurt brightly. She strode off. All my paranoia that there was some fix in to fine this Yankee for some infraction was instantly renewed. I hot-footed it to the platform and skulked behind the stairway until the train pulled up and I hopped on board. I was just not made for these cat and mouse games.

A bit on Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad)–a fine city in its current incarnation, entirely built after WWII. The city is justifiably proud of its courage and incredible sacrifice during the war. After the battle of Stalingrad not one stone was left atop another. Months of withering bombardment by advancing German forces had left over half a million Red Army dead before the German retreat. The Germans needed Volgograd badly to gain access to Russian oil further down the Volga and Caspian at Baku; to deny it to the Russians and to control the Volga would have been a near-fatal blow to the Soviet front. Stalin recognized the importance of Stalingrad both strategically and psychologically, and dedicated every possible shred of manpower and materiel to its defense. The result was untold destruction and loss of life, but with the Germans turned away after months of bitter fighting the battle proved to be the turning point against Axis powers.

Today renamed Volgograd, I found a quiet city center with a lively park on the Volga banks. It’s an industrial town, and material wealth visible on the street seemed to be inching up, as elsewhere in Russia. Volograd is all about remembering the past, and has an excellent museum dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad. Far more moving, though, is the memorial Mamaev Kurgan with a triumphant statue of Mother Russia wielding a huge sword. This is a Statue of Liberty-sized monument, and approaching it is moving not just for its magnificence. Mamaev Kurgan stands at the top of a hill that saw the abolute worst horrors of battle. No man’s land was a handful of yards between enemy lines, and continuous shelling was matched by waves of soldiers sent to certain doom, to claim a few steps’ advance. The hill was so ravaged by battle that for years nothing would grow on it. No one at the monument the sunny day I saw it was unmindful of the scene before them, and one old man walking slowly behind me keeping repeating, ‘Smyert, smyert’ (‘the death, the death’).

Sorry to leave it on that note today sputniki. Russia paid a terrible price against fascism and then some, and for that we, to this day, owe it a debt of gratitude.

Sputnik Lee

Details on Crimea, cave cities and Bashkiria to come.

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