Volga Boatman Episode 5: Saratov

The infamous "serp and molot" of the USSR, with the wrench-and-hammer symbol of the Soviet Ministry of Railways underneath.

Somewhere deep in the Russian psyche lies a desperate need to commune with past glory.   As we saw with Samara’s Stalin bunker, this does not mean a close analysis of what actually happened: The Soviet era lingers like the memory of a crusty grandfather, fondly reminisced over whenever his mug shows up in the family photo album, but never condemned for beating up grandma (Let a dead dog lie, to used a mixed metaphor).

Communist Party is still alive and actually growing in Russia, as this rally shows. Probably the most serious competitor to Putin and Medvedev's United Russia.

In Saratov, this deliberately simplified relationship with the past comes to life at Park Pobedi (Park of Victory, only the millionth such-named park in Russia), where you can clamber around on Soviet tanks and pose for funny pictures under Communist-sloganed rail cars, all while paying your respects to the victorious soldiers of the Great War of the Fatherland.

Little engine that could: The "Death to Fascists" locomotive.

On the flag: "For the homeland, for honor, for freedom!" Below: "All as one for the defense of the Fatherland."

And since every Russian city has a fetish with some historical figure (possibly an outgrowth of the Russian inferiority complex based in its mixed history), you can also get yer yuks from the many memorials to first man in space Yuri Gagarin, who learned to fly here, and ironically landed (crashed?) nearby after his historic space flight.

The cultural side of the city — a stroll through the market and the pedestrian street — was better than nearly cutting my feet on the broken bottles lying around the famed beaches of Samara, but it also served as a reminder of the current collision between the brashness of consumer culture and the stoicism of tradition.

East meets West: A Baskin Robbins stands next to a Russian Orthodox church.

A meat seller displays the front of a cow's face at the rinok.

In Saratov, cops only have to go to the other side of the police station to get a donut.

Volga Boatman Episode 4: Samara

And so it was back on the Volga, longest river in Europe, the Tigris and Euphrates of the North, the only place in Russia were flamingoes can be found.  Our course was set toward the most Eastern point of our journey, to the famed beaches of Samara.  We drank wine on the deck late into the night, played guitar and threw our voices against the river’s mute banks, only pausing when cries of “shlyoos, shlyoos!” warned us of another lock ahead.

Samara is famed for its fighter planes and chocolate, but we found something far more interesting: Stalin’s bunker.

Map of Stalin's bunker.

I’m normally annoyed by ignorant Soviet kitsch, by tourists shooting photos with no respect for the tens of millions Stalin killed, but even I succumbed to the allures of the bunker, which Stalin built nine stories below the Academy of Culture and Art in case of a Nazi invasion of Moscow.  Replete with conference tables, maps and telephones, and even false doors to give the illusion of space, the bunker was never used and has become one of the many ghosts of the Soviet era lingering in this country …

A mosaic to the leader inside the bunker.

What's this building? "Treasure Island," of course. Looks like a fun place.

A renovation worker takes a break.

"Ain't nothin' but a gangsta party" in Samara.

Sorry for the unexplained absence; went on a Volga adventure

Before I left for my boat trip down the Volga River a week ago Thursday, I tried to hit an Internet cafe to post an “On holiday, be back later” message.  Unfortunately, the electricity was out and there weren’t any live computers, let alone working Internet.  Explanation?  Renovations somewhere had renovated a hole in the power grid on Kazan’skaya Street.  Typical.

To make up for the absence, I’ll be posting photos from each of the cities I visited in the course of our cruise down the longest river in Europe.  Stay tuned for episodes in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ulyanovsk, Samara, Saratov, Volgograd, Moscow.