Monthly Archives: July 2018

Saratov is rightly proud of the city’s role in the space race. This is inside the entrance to the very nice park where I’m having dinner.

This was the spot where Yuri Gagarin landed. I was pretty excited to be here! The space race was a big part of my childhood. What looks like a shelf in the hatch opening is where after reentry Gagarin’s seat … Continue reading →

Saying this is the largest statue of a woman in the world doesn’t communicate its majesty. It really is impressive. The Motherland is approached via a series of memorials. I find them all moving. People are taking each other’s photos … Continue reading →

I just read this piece on CounterPunch and thought it was really funny, then I realized that Hopkins actually had a link to his mention of a New York Times piece with the title Trump, Treasonous Traitor, and I clicked on … Continue reading →

This room is on the early 20th Century, and is hung with banners “1917” and “2017”. The latest date I see on the political posters which ring the ceiling is 1921. The Revolution had triumphed, there was no New Economic … Continue reading →

Bunker entrance for the 1942 city defense committee. Obelisk is in memory of the Red Tsaritsyn deaths at the hands of the White Guard, 1919. The eternal flame and plaque are dedicated to those who fought 1942-43. This memorializes the … Continue reading →

Livadia Palace

This statue has a lot of raw power for me. One woman stands erect, futilely raising her hands to shield herself and the child who hides behind her. A man stretches out his bound wrists, looking directly towards his executioners … Continue reading →

Sitting in a bar/restaurant in Rostov-on-Don waiting for the Skoda’s oil to be changed. Bar has THT music videos on. I’m finding them bizarre, and wondering if they are any more bizarre than American music videos. Young men, lonely and … Continue reading →

Lenin’s statue dominates his square. He seems at home here, as he did in Vitebsk. At Chornobyl he was a visitor who had overstayed his welcome. I walked to Voronezh’s Lenin Square from a hotel which blasted the “70s and … Continue reading →