Lily's Trip from Toronto to Samara

[Lily]

Hello everyone,

In another thread I've read people wishing to have a look into my coming trip report to Samara, after having been a Canadian for over two years. Well, now I am in the deep Russia. At the moment I've arranged most of my documentary work which prompted me to actually make this trip. So, I have some time to write something here, in order to satisfy curiosity of my esteemed RWD members.

Having purchased one of the most convenient 7 hours non-stop ticket options with Transaero to Moscow, I changed into a 20 hours train to Samara. It was around zero degrees in Moscow, and despite I spend four hours before the train departure in the Kazansky train station. It was terribly cold in the station building. I prayed to the Allmighty that I don't catch a cold after this waiting. It looks like I am all right.

One thing that immediately caught my attention in Moscow is that lots of people smoke. Almost everyone holds a cigarette. In Toronto, I almost forgot what does the secondhand smoke smell like. It was even worse in the train wagon. Passengers came and went from and to the smoking place in the end of the wagon, where my compartment was located. They always brought big thick awkward smell with them, and I could not change my location in order to move away from it. It continued later in Samara,

Another disaster in Samara is mud on the streets. I mean, The Mud. Queen Mud, if you want it. After rain, there is a number of puddles on the pedestrian street parts that make the regular walking an unpleasant experience. Some illustrations follow.



I had to make numerous walks on this street to get to my passport office.



What would I do without my leather pants and puddle-proof boots? 





I have yet to see any painted lanes for the traffic in Samara. So far no success.

[Hammer2722]

Great start to your report Lily. Looking forward to more. Wow, sorry about the mud. From your photos it looks really bad like there was severe flooding there or something.

[ML]

Nice beginning Lily;  thanks for making the effort and sharing.

Yes, the smoking is a very big concern when traveling outside USA and Canada.
But many other countries of the world are slowly coming around.

[Lily]

Great start to your report Lily. Looking forward to more. Wow, sorry about the mud. From your photos it looks really bad like there was severe flooding there or something.

No any flooding, just some normal rain. The mud was always there, either in the dry condition which is called dust, or in the wet one which we now call mud. It does not take much water indeed to make the transformation.

Another big thing that cannot be pictured is really REALLY REALLY bad exhaust from vehicles. It really goes into your breath system and starts hurting, sometimes till some light dizziness. During my first days, I almost felt like I am poisoned by it. Now after some ten days in Samara, I think that I am getting used to it At times, I try to breathe with my mouth, not with my nose. It smells less stinky this way.

In a block from my old house where I was born, I spotted a truly remarkable thing as follows:

Attention all Canadians!

There is a Hotel "Niagara" around!  No kidding! Even written in Latin letters - can you read it?
It occupies a few rooms on the ground floor in an 1960-x industrial dormitory building!! 

[Vasilisa]

Another disaster in Samara is mud on the streets. I mean, The Mud. Queen Mud, if you want it. After rain, there is a number of puddles on the pedestrian street parts that make the regular walking an unpleasant experience. Some illustrations follow.

Well, Lily, I am not surprised and I believe you, I'd also say you picked up about the worst time of the year to be traveling to Russia when it either snows or rains or both and very messy.   Also, very gloomy and dark and depressing.
The pictures like the ones in the photos can be taken in any big Western city, too, I don't know about Canada, but if you take poor districts in the US you could find something way worse, not only you will see dirty sidewalks, you will see no sidewalks at all and light wooden houses or mobile homes.
and again, you can take beautiful pictures of the same person and you can take ugly pictures of the same person and the same cities. All cities look pretty on the post cards. and most women with the professional pictures on the dating websites look great, so I wouldn't be so judgemental of Samara just because its "sleeping quarters" look messy in the messiest time of a year.
As for the smoking part I am hoping Putin will finally sign this new law.

[Gator]

Lily,

Thank you for reporting your trip. 
 
Apart from the smoking, how did it feel landing in Moscow with everyone speaking Russian, etc.?  After all, you have been away for two years.

[IAmZon]

Hey kiddo!  you have always struck me as a very normal person for this place:)  Good to see your thread.  I would love to hear some of your comparisons and contrasts as a person that has lived in Canada for 2 years and returning ...


I will hold my breath for your next installment

[tfcrew]

I like the pictures...send more!

[Lily]

Lily,

Thank you for reporting your trip. 
 
Apart from the smoking, how did it feel landing in Moscow with everyone speaking Russian, etc.?  After all, you have been away for two years.

I was expecting this question. In Toronto, Now I live my life in English, and do my best to speak the best English I can. My friends and companions do not speak Russian. Occasionally, I am exposed to Russian language when I skype with my mother. When I took my seat in the Transaero plane, I noticed that almost all passengers are Russian, including a lady in the seat next to mine. We chatted during all flight. Yes I am glad to speak the language that I master up to its highest literary standards.  It feels great to demonstrate something that you are perfect at!

I don't know about Canada, but if you take poor districts in the US you could find something way worse, not only you will see dirty sidewalks, you will see no sidewalks at all and light wooden houses or mobile homes.
 

You are absolutely right Vasilisa. Toronto also has both nicer and poorer neighbourhoods which are located quite close to each other. Unlike in the U.S., there are no larger communities that are very much apart from each other in terms of social status and income of inhabitants. Canada strives to have more or less mixed population, in order to avoid crimes and social tensions.

Russia however - I am sure that you know the situation - is not used to have a considerable amount of relatively wealthy people among its population. There was quite a number of poorer people, though. The neighbourhood where my parents' home is located, and which I am photographing now, was built in the 1960x. People who could not make it in the new conditions, stayed in same homes. As for me, in the 1990x I tried my best to move from this area into a better one, but without luck.

Below are photos from some better, newer areas.

[Vasilisa]

You are absolutely right Vasilisa. Toronto also has both nicer and poorer neighbourhoods which are located quite close to each other. Unlike in the U.S., there are no larger communities that are very much apart from each other in terms of social status and income of inhabitants. Canada strives to have more or less mixed population, in order to avoid crimes and social tensions.

Russia however - I am sure that you know the situation - is not used to have a considerable amount of relatively wealthy people among its population. There was quite a number of poorer people, though. The neighbourhood where my parents' home is located, and which I am photographing now, was built in the 1960x. People who could not make it in the new conditions, stayed in same homes. As for me, in the 1990x I tried my best to move from this area into a better one, but without luck.

Below are photos from some better, newer areas.

The place where I lived in Russia looked similar to that.  We also had a tennis court and a several sport centres in the area, I loved to skate in the Megamall though:P

[JayH]

Reading with great interest Lily. This is probably are  hardly surprising observation given the history -- so much in the photos looks similar to other cites I am familiar with that are 1000's of kms west . I look at a lot of photos from all over the FSU and this thought often strikes me.

[Lily]

Of course I made visits to my extended family. Here is a typical Russian meal, pelmeni, salted pickles and tomatoes, salami and cheese on the right, and some marvelous wild mushrooms on the left.

And, naturally, the vodka. Although I usually don't like it, this time it was delicious! 



My Aunt lives in a private house with a backyard. Unlike a Canadian one, Russian backyard is a place to grow some extra food in order to save some income.

Where do you think the salted pickles come from? From your nearest "Whole Foods"? No duh  They grow right here:



and here

[ghost of moon goddess]

Another disaster in Samara is mud on the streets. I mean, The Mud. Queen Mud, if you want it. After rain, there is a number of puddles on the pedestrian street parts that make the regular walking an unpleasant experience. Some illustrations follow.

Muddy walkways of Samara reminded me of a small town over-grown village, on the Eastern edge of Russia, I was born and raised in.
Our mischievous boys used to entertain themselves by walking along the slick duckboards, while girls (including me) found joy in watching "brash and cocky" boys slip off the duckboards and fall into the mud. What happy days those were! 

Lily, many thanks for taking your time to report from Samara!
I can only imagine how it felt touching down on the native soil after 2 years of absence from Home. Please enjoy your time while staying there and taking the walk down memory lane. Hope you are happy with where you are.

[Vaughn]

This is welcome and fantastic reading, Lily - I'm enjoying your words as much as the photos. My wife once described walking the muddy streets as like playing "hopscotch" in high heels.
 
Are the regular folks better off financially than two years ago ?

[Lily]

 
Are the regular folks better off financially than two years ago ?

Well, I did not noticed any considerable difference in this respect. My parents' privatized apartment costs less than $100,- per month in maintenance. Like years before, the biggest expense for pensioners and other economically inactive people seems to be food, clothes and other regular living expenses.

In Toronto, I forgot what does it mean 'saving on food'. If I want to taste something, I buy it without any thoughts. In Samara, I faced again this concept of 'unaffordable meals'.

Here are a few pics of an open market nearby:

[Lily]

One thing that caught my attention is abundancy of alcohol everywhere. Beer places that sell you draught beer are available in great quantities. You can bring your bottle and they pour you the beer of your choice. Little stations like this are at your disposal:



Lover of unfiltered draught beer, I discovered a Balagur brand. The taste seems to be close to my fave Erdinger that I get from my local LCBO in Toronto (a stores chain in Canada which is licensed to sell alcohol).

The seller of the Balagur beer uses dishonest business practices, though.  They inform in writing that they reject to sell beer in the bottles that clients bring with them, and sell only if you buy a bottle from them directly with every purchase. Of course they charge for the bottle every time  You guess what additional profit they get from it.

It is interesting thar the first levels in older residential buildings often get refurbished and used for small shops. They sell fast moving consumer goods. Here is one nice beer store:



Samaran beer is famous nationwide, and perhaps even beyond the state borders. Every Russian knows the Zhigulevskoe beer. Here is the brewery that occupies one of the most desirable central location at the Volga embankment. It traces its history back to 1881 when Alfred von Vacano, an Austrian-Hungarian businessman, rented the plot from the government and built the brewery which soon produced aroubd 2,5 millions of buckets of beer per annum. The von Vacano family was also famous through their large-scale charity endeavours in Samara.



 In  1914, Alfred von Vacano was suspected to spy in favor of the Austro-Hungary and forced to go away from Samara. His heirs nevertheless continued the business. In 1917, Alfred fleed from the bolsheviks to Austria. A year later, the brewery with its flourishing business was expropriated by the bolsheviks' government. Numerous petitions to return at least a fraction of the earned wealth brought no success.

[Vasilisa]

Lily, thank you for the pictures and the comments.
Will there be part 2: Lily's  trip from Samara to Toronto?

[Patagonie]

Thank you to share with us your trip ! 

[Noch1]

Great story, I enjoyed that, very much. Thank you

[Anotherkiwi]

The place where I lived in Russia looked similar to that.  We also had a tennis court and a several sport centres in the area, I loved to skate in the Megamall though

I knew it - Vasilisa comes from Kazan!
 
 

[Vasilisa]

I knew it - Vasilisa comes from Kazan!

why can't I be from Moscow or any other big city with the megamall?:)there are 14 of them in Russia including Siberia

[Lily]

It seems to me that a large number of Samaran citizens are living in a permanent fear that they may be attacked, robbed or harmed in any other way. In the apartments, all doors look like they are made of heavy metal and are equipped by lots of locks. Like this:



Local business caters to this and supplies the doors that they call super safe and attack proof. Here is a commercial poster:
 


("Go away, thief. I have the Elbor doors!")

Another entrance door to a small shop was rather spectacular. It was all covered by the old cellphones. What a creative minds!



The old wooden private houses are gradually replaced with a modern ones. They don't seem to disturb the omnipresent Samaran stray dogs, though.



Inlike the Canadian towns and cities, there is a sort of parking anarchy in Samara. People park their cars almost everywhere where they find a spot:



Those Samarans who don't drive, are welcome to use the public transposration. At our service there are streetcars, buses and a number of marshrutkas.



Inside the streetcar. The fares are paid to the lady in a brlight orange vest who is equipped by a little machine that resembles to a portable credit card machine. Sorry for the quality - my streetcar was moving when I shot this.

[Donhollio]

 Hi Lilia!
  As many others I too am enjoying the trip report! Enjoy the rest of your time there, and keep the posts coming! I wish Canada would have beer so easily available to buy on the street, its one of the things I enjoy about former Soviet life.

[calmissile]

Hi Lily,

I am also enjoying your reports.  Your photos and descriptions look identical to my experiences in Ukraine.  The heavy doors with many locks seems to be a FSU characteristic, although I have never had any problems with anyone trying to break in.

I love the open markets and the ability to find anything from food to clothing, hardware, paintings, etc.   Also, the best prices compared to the high end shops.

The only bummer is when the security system on the outside gates or doors do not work and leave you stranded outside in the middle of the night.  LOL

[ML]

The only bummer is when the security system on the outside gates or doors do not work and leave you stranded outside in the middle of the night.  LOL

You have to push in ALL of the numbers at the same time; not sequentially.
Guess you found that out eventually.   

Also . . . NEVER let the rental agent (or whomever) leave until you have  successfully used  all the keys and security codes.

Same for the washing machine !!!