Kazan — summer 2012

Breakfast with блины (Russian pancakes) from scratch by Flyura. Cabbage pie. Potato pie. Jam. Tea. Homemade kefir.

Danila has taken it into his head that he wants to visit the mouth of the Kama river. That's the area where the Kama enters the Volga.

Now, I must tell you that there are three ways to plan a trip. One way is to sorta-kinda get an idea of where you want to go, and then stop occasionally, ask along the way, back track if necessary. Another way is to use the GPS and have no idea where you are going and let the technology work for you. A third way is to obsessive-compulsively map out every possible detail in advance and then hit the road.

We used the first approach. The scenery... if you haven't been to Russia, it's hard to describe. Endless rolling green hills, forest interspersed with fields of wheat, corn, potatoes, hay (and cotton, if I'm not mistaken). For a desert rat like me it's almost like a description of The Shire, except so much broader and bigger.

As we drive we gnosh on potato pies. Dasha, the daughter of the family, is the one who most intensely monitors our path. When something seems amiss, she calls a relative who goes to this place all the time. If we have overshot, then we back track. Effective in the long run. Suddenly Flyura stops the car. She runs out into the middle of a field. When she comes back she has handfuls of herbs and wild peas. How the heck did she spot them while we were driving 100 clicks/hour along the road?

We eventually get to the mouth of the river... sort of. The mouth of the river is actually on the other side of the water. And the water here does not look like a river at all. It looks like a sea. Again the water is blooming. The beach here is all covered with rocks, about the size of sand dollars. They are mostly gypsum, if I understand the word. They still do some gypsum mining around here. It's actually painful to walk out along the rocks in your barefeet and finally get to the point where there is enough water to support us. We swim. We eat the marvelous fried chicken Flyura has prepared, along with sour cream/farmer's cheese pie, rye bread, cucumbers and tea.

Eventually we leave, and Danila persuades us to try to find some local пещеры, which is a word I would normally translate as caves. After much ado, we eventually find the entrance. I suppose I would call these mining tunnels. It's where they previously mined gypsum. Fascinating actually, and so much cooler than the heat outside. If were a kid in this area, I would want to spend all my time here exploring.

The way back to Kazan proceeds much more quickly than the way out, and they drop me off at my apartment, where I throw together a bit of dinner and write.

As usual, I've learned a ton of words on the trip. I'm again impressed by the solidity of this family and their good interactions with each other. I'm again impressed by how Russians take things differently than Americans, how there doesn't have to be a clearly set schedule or necessarily achieved goals to make the day good. A day spent together is a good day, no matter what precisely happens.

Most of the time I really don't care all that much about what I eat as long as it doesn't include foods I actively dislike and I feel full when I'm done. I don't need fancy restaurants or beautiful decor. But today I was in the mood to go somewhere nice. I have a wonderful piece of software called 2Гис which has detailed city maps and descriptions of the various organizations occupying each city building. And it connects with flamp.ru, which has reviews of restaurants. Thus I found the restaurant called «Приют холостяка», which they mistranslate on their website as “Bash’s Shelter”, which would be better translated as “The Bachelor’s Shelter/Haven/Retreat.” I think ‘retreat’ gets the emotional tone right, although ‘haven’ works as well. ‘Shelter’... not so much.

Anyway, this place has the nicest decor of any Russian restaurant I've been to yet. Prices are quite high, you can count on $30/person. But the music was at a reasonable volume, which I really appreciate. The filet mignon was nearly fall-apart tender. The arugula/pear/pine nut salad was light and perfect for summer.

If you are into decor, do click the link and then look at their interior gallery. I left happy.

The July 5th edition of the Washington Post has a very realistic take on the difficulties of getting a Russian visa. Here is a mirror.

We've had lots of hot, muggy days recently. Now it's 7:40 p.m. and we are getting rain. It's kind of like the monsoon rain in AZ once the initial thunder and lightning part is over.

My home internet sometimes shuts down from 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Busiest time of the day. And today it's been out entirely, so I went to Megafon, one of the local wireless carriers, and reactivated the USB modem I bought last year. Working well.

Blustery day here. Occasionally quite rainy. Much cooler than last week. I call this frisky weather.