Rolls Around the World 2007: 16 - Moscow to Kazan, Russia

Friday, August 17, 2007

Miles for the day 144 (232 km) Miles to date 6,050 (9,737km)

A TV shoot scheduled for yesterday was moved until 7:30 this morning, so at 7 AM I moved the car from guarded underground parking to a prepared space in front of the hotel. The TV reporter was a lively young lady who literally made love to the car on camera, so I think the Rolls was very happy! After interviews we left the hotel in a 5 car cavalcade with flags flying.

At the border of the Moscow-Vladimir region we were met by the regional president and officials. People are now beginning to recognize us from the TV coverage, although we have yet to find time to watch the news. We were escorted to a beautiful restaurant where the presentation of the ceremonial bread and many gifts took place, followed by a fabulous multi-course lunch.

After lunch we said goodbye to the Moscow delegation & drove to Vladimir, a city of 325,000 founded in the 12th century. Along with way we stopped where the district president of Petushki (meaning cock, as in rooster, in English) presented us with a ceramic painted cock. The area symbol is a cock, and fighting cocks are raised here. We entered Vladimir by its historic Golden Gate, part defensive tower, part triumphal arch.

A TV crew was waiting for us in the parking area in front of the Assumption Cathedral, with its five gold cupolas. While the filming and interview was going on the driver of a passing car braked to look at the Rolls, and the driver behind him who was also looking at our car, piled into him. After the TV cameraman made Marilynn furious by pushing her out of the way, the interview was concluded and our guide for the area took us through the two ornate 11th century churches. The Assumption Cathedral was particularly interesting, with paintings, icons and frescos from 1408.

The next stop was the popular tourist destination of Suzdal, population 12,000, dating back to 1024. We were guided through the fortified 14th century Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymus, whose massive brick walls and towers built in the 17th century enclose churches and a cathedral, and the 11th century kremlin which is enclosed by a 1.4 km (1 mile) long earth rampart enclosing churches, houses and the main cathedral group. There are many monasteries, convents and churches in Suzdal, including a church complex made of log buildings. In addition to the guide we were accompanied by Russian Automobile Society (RAS) officials who cleared the way for parking close to the attractions.

At the Turcentre Suzdal Hotel Marilynn insisted on heading for the bar before checking in or unpacking the car. After ordering drinks Andrei & I removed necessary items from the car and I moved it to the guarded parking area. After a couple of drinks we decided against dinner - we were still full from lunch, so headed for our rooms.

Although the hotel is large and modern looking it has no elevator and is run on the old Russian system of cash payment in each area - restaurant, bar, parking lot and so on. Surprisingly, the hotel accepted credit cards, but only for the room charge. At 4:55 PM I asked to use the internet and was informed it closes at 5 PM and would not reopen until Monday. The rooms are OK, but today's 33 degree temperature and 82% humidity required opening the unscreened windows due to lack of air conditioning, so once again - in come the mosquitoes. Just before midnight a loudspeaker in the room loudly repeated a message in Russian over and over. In the hallway people were looking around trying to figure out what was going on, as most guests were from Italian & Japanese tour groups, who, like us, had no idea what the announcement was about. When the speaker finally fell silent we went back to bed. It was apparently a fire announcement, but between that and the mosquitoes there was not much sleep!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Miles for the day 173 (278 km) Miles to date 6,223 (10,015km)

Breakfast was to the standard we had come to expect from this hotel - bad. The restaurant is located on one end of the kilometre long building, and our room at the other. It wasn't worth the walk!

While loading the car the regional RAS delegation arrived, so we followed them in the direction of Nizhny Novgorod through heavy smoke from large bush fires burning in the area. As we passed the border between the Vladimir Region and the Nizhny Novgorod region we pulled into a restaurant where two cars of delegates from Nizhny Novgorod were waiting. After introductions and welcomes, including more marvellous gifts, we were ushered into a restaurant where a feast was laid out. The marvellous lunch was accompanied by excellent Russian white wine. Yesterday we had Russian red wine, and both were world class.

We said goodbye to our delightful hosts from Vladimir Region and headed for Nizhny Novgorod with the car ahead flying large flags out each side, and another vehicle following from behind. There is little likelihood of us having a problem with corrupt police or the road bandits we had been warned about! Apparently road crime all but disappeared after a crack down by the government. A guide joined us in the Rolls to explain the sights as we rolled into this city of 1.3 million people in 34 degree heat. The city, founded in 1221, is Russia's third most important centre. There is a saying that Moscow is Russia's head, St. Petersburg its heart and Nizhny Novgorod its wallet. Russia's largest car plant, submarine manufacturing, aircraft manufacturing and lots of other industry drive the local economy. Russia's largest enclosed market building, a beautiful ornate structure, is located here as well.

Our procession came to a stop under the mighty walls of the 16th century Kremlin, where a TV crew were awaiting us. As the standard car shots and interviews took place I smelled gas. Behind the car was a large puddle of gas, running out of the right rear. Worrying about someone flicking a cigarette into the gas I moved the car to another spot, but noticed the flow had stopped. We walked through the Kremlin with its 11 towers, government office buildings, an art museum, and a cathedral.

Saturday weddings are very popular - there must have been a dozen couples having photos taken inside and outside the kremlin walls. Marilynn was in her glory taking pictures of the photo sessions. When wedding photographers discovered the Rolls it became a major prop, likely to be featured in many a wedding album.

We drove to the Alexander Garden Hotel to check in and meet for a cold drink on the patio overlooking the Volga River - it was sweltering hot. This hotel is everything the one last night was not - well designed with friendly and helpful bilingual staff, everything worked and if something was desired the staff had a "can do" attitude. A mechanic from the RAS arrived to jack up the car, but no gas leak source was found and it has not leaked again. When everyone left Marilynn and I had more drinks and several appetizers for dinner - the food was fantastic.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Miles for the day 243 (391 km) Miles to date 6,466 (10,406km)

We hadn't travelled far this morning before hitting our first truly bad road. There have been stretches with bumps and pot holes, but this was distorted pavement, churned into big lumps and humps by heavy trucks. Eventually, after crawling along this road for some time, the road improved with some quite good stretches. Traffic was heavy with a lot of trailer trucks. The skies have been blue for the last few days and it has been hot - 34C (93F) today.

We crossed into the Republic of Tartarstan, which has two official languages - Russian and Tartar. Here road signs are in Arabic and Cyrillic characters, a big help in navigating and determining how far to our next destination. Tartarstan has a lot of oil - we passed fields of pumps along the highway. There are virtually no poor people in this republic, where the Muslim Tartar population live in harmony with the 43% of Christian Russians. The 450 year old republic has its own well respected president.

When our Nizhny Novgorod escort turned back were on our own until picked up by another escort about a dozen miles from Kazan, the capital of Tartarstan. The city of 1,105,000 dates from 1005. We drove to the central square with flags flying to meet TV people who did the now normal filming and interviews. The Rolls was then left at a guarded RAS storage area from where we were driven to the excellent Palace Hotel. Once settled in, the regional president's son Yuriy, a student in international law at the university who speaks good English, took us in his car for a tour of the city. A separate guide showed us through the world heritage site kremlin, where the walls are constructed of white limestone. It encloses government offices, the beautiful Annunciation Cathedral, the leaning 59 m (195 ft) Syuymbike Tower and the enormous Kul Sharif Mosque.

The next stop was at one of the 1,500 driving schools operated by the RAS throughout Russia, where students as young as 7 years old learn the basics of road safety. Two students, each 12 years old, put on a show of precision driving, which included navigating tight turns, both forward and in reverse, through closely spaced pylons, parallel parking and other skill testing exercises. The winner is the one completing all exercises in the shortest time. The final demonstration was a relay race, where each team of four students ran through the course for the best collective time. It was pretty impressive!

The 3,500,000 member Russian Automobile Association (RAS) was started in 1972 by the ministries of transport, health and education in an attempt to reduce the number of traffic deaths. RAS provides road assistance, have parking and repair facilities, operate driving schools, do programs with schools to teach road safety and so on. It is structured with a supreme soviet, or top decision making level, consisting of all regional presidents, chaired by Andrei's father. Each region, division, city and area of operation has an elected board. Andrei, who is 36 years old, has been working with them since 1988.

We ended the tour at a floating restaurant on the Kazan River shortly before it merges with the Volga River. Another fabulous feast, along with beer, wine and of course toast after toast with vodka was enjoyed with Yuriy senior and others from the Kazan branch of the RAS. We had no trouble dropping off to sleep in our comfortable hotel, getting neither writing nor photo editing done.