The Rest of Archangelsk

Thursday Afternoon
So I left the hotel at around 5 p.m. after my delicious nap. But before I was also to leave the hotel I had to make it back to the front desk/lobby area. And therein lies the problem. I had just followed the doorman to my room and I was sort of still dazed so I hadn’t really paid attention to where we were going. I only knew that it was confusing because I was staying in the 2nd (cheap) campus of the hotel and I needed to make it back to the expensive lobby 1st campus. So then I left my room and took the elevator to the first floor. And there were lots of confusing hallways and doors but no clear exit to the lobby. So then I decided maybe they connected on the -1 floor. So then I took the elevator there. And the workmen sort of stared at me when the elevator door opened. So they got on. And then we returned to the 1st floor. And they disappeared into some door. And then some other people appeared. And they weren’t workmen. So I started to follow them (at a safe distance, so they didn’t know I was actually following them). But then they went into this office. So then I decided to just sit down on one of the chairs and hope that eventually somebody else would come along and I would be able to follow them. And then as I was turning in a circle to go back to the chair, this guy came up and asked if I needed something. And I asked where the lobby was. And he sort of laughed at me. And then he said something about how I was right that it was a labyrinth. And then he led me to some door and we followed this hallway to the lobby. So that was good.

So once I successfully exited the hotel, it was already dark, so I just walked around on the main streets (Sunday and Trotskii) for like an hour. And then I found this large shopping mall complex which I wandered around for a while. And then I went and bought bottled water at one of the kiosks and I found the information center (which was already closed) which was located very close to the hotel (Good Work Paper Map!). And then I went back and carefully paid attention to the correct hallway and doors I went through to get to my room. And then I went to bed.

Friday
So first thing, I went to the information center. And the woman there was very helpful. And she gave me all sorts of pamphlets and phone numbers to call. And she told me about this famous museum that is 45 minutes south of Archangelsk which is just this huge complex of really old wooden buildings that they collected from all parts of northern Russia and moved together into this one complex. So I decided that I would do that on Saturday.
So for the rest of Friday, I wandered around and found two different museums. One with an exhibit about the history of Archangelsk during Soviet times which was really interesting and then this really sad and depressing part about all of the soldiers from Archangelsk who had died in Afghanistan. And then I realized that the same exhibit could be made for all of the U.S. soldiers who died/are dying in Afghanistan right now. And it just seems so DUMB! That is my very ineloquent response to what seems to be a general trend of Afghanistan invasion.
Then I went and walked along the banks of the sea again. For a really long time. And I came upon another random museum. So I went in there. And I saw a lot of old portraits of old people. Which were displayed in this apartment that used to be the apartment of rich/possibly royalty who lived in Archangelsk. And then there was another display of handmade dolls. And the woman just talked to/at me for a very long time about all of the different dolls. And then I just kept walking along the banks. Then I found the central market. Which is always an essential part of any Russian city. Then I found a grocery story and bought food. And went back to the hotel and planned my Saturday trip to the wooden building museum and went to bed.

Saturday
Got on the marshrootka which had on its list of stops that it was going to the train station/bus station. Except it was actually coming from those places. So then we drove across this huge bridge and into this other part of Archangelsk. But I just decided I would wait until the end of the route and look at all of the Soviet apartment buildings. And then I would get on another one actually headed to the bus station. So then I got off and walked to another nearby stop. It was my hope that this way I would be able to avoid getting back on the same exact marshrootka headed the other direction. So I did not get back on the same marshrootka, but that one did pass me while I was standing at the stop. And I’m not sure if the conductor lady realized. Anyways, I got on the next one headed to the bus station. And I got a lucky ticket! Which was awesome because it is always a good sign to get lucky tickets and it is even better when you get them by accident because you were a loon and got sort of lost.

Then I got on the bus headed to Malie Karelie (museum) and I asked the conductor to tell me when my stop was. And she kindly obliged. ***This is a good point to insert my commentary about the general niceness of Archangelsk residents. It’s not that people in Yaroslavl are actually mean. But people in Archangelsk seemed actually nice. Like the cars stopped at crosswalks!!! Unbelievable, I know. And one time this conductor woman on the marshrootka leaned out of the door and explained where they were going and tried to convince members of the crowd to get on. And also you don’t have to wave for the marshrootka’s to stop. They just do!*** Okay, anyways. So the lady told me when to get off. So I paid for entry to the museum. And I successfully paid only 30 roubles for a student instead of the 200 for a foreigner. And then I just wandered around for like 3 hours looking at the sweet old wooden houses, barns, churches, water pumps, windmills, etc…And it was nice to not be in the city. I always forget how nice it is to be surrounded by trees instead of people and cars. Then I went to another gift shop/souvenir store. This is mainly because I recently realized I better start buying gifts for people. I have no idea what is an appropriate souvenir from Russia. However, my gift buying is constricted by the fact that all of my purchases must be both compact (easily packable), light (I’m deathly scared my suitcases will be over the weight limit), and not fragile (because they will have to share the suitcase with among other things hockey skates). But the woman in this store was also not satisfied with my just aimlessly looking at the souvenirs. So then I went to the bus station and took the next bus back to Archangelsk. And on this trip back I received 2 lucky tickets!!! This was the craziest thing ever. So now my collection of luck transport tickets is up to 4.

Then I wandered around for a long time both in the city center and along the sea. And then I had to find the concert hall because on Friday I had gone to buy a ticket to the organ and violin concert which was the 16th annual opening concert of some international musical concert in Archangelsk. So then I went to the concert and the building was beautiful, both inside and out. I think it was built in the 17th century. And it was nice to just sit there and sort of still be in this “wow-I can’t believe I’m doing this right now” mode which sort of existed the whole weekend. And when the organ guy (whose last name was Stroganof- which is awesome) was playing his back was to the audience. But whenever he would finish a composition he would do this overdramatic swinging of his legs over the top of the bench and hop to his feet for the dramatic bow. It was highly amusing.

Sunday
The alternative title for this entry is “Part 5: Cowboys,” but you will have to keep reading to understand why.
So I woke up and packed and paid for my hotel room. And the woman took my room key and typed it in to the computer and then started to speak in awkward English. But I answered in Russian. And she smiled and said “Oh, you speak Russian!” And it was good. And then I managed to pay to leave my bag in the камера хранения. I guess they must have these things in the U.S. too where you can leave your luggage because your train/plane leaves late in the day. But I must just stay at only like Super 8’s which never have them. Then I went and bought a Snickers at the Kiosk. This is only important because Snickers became an important part of my diet during my Archangelsk time. One time I tried to buy Skittles but the woman looked at me and had to dig around in her kiosk for like 5 minutes to find a bag of Skittles. So I just stuck with the Snickers. Then I went to the last museum on my list of museums which is housed in the old fort/protection building thing which is very old and apparently one of only a few old stone protection buildings left in Russia. And there was this old Russian man standing at the doorway who was sort of sketchy and smiled at me and opened the door. And then I asked him where the museum was and he kept smiling and pointed me to the door. So then I went to this museum.
And read all about how Archangelsk was Russia’s first port city until dumb Piter came about. And then all about wedding tradition in the север. And then as I prepared to exit, I realized that I had to pass the crazy doorman guy again.

Conversations and Candy:
So he invited me into the small glass hut/cabin/office thing which stands at the entrance. And then I sat down and he told me to tell me what I had thought about the museum. So I just stared to talk and then he interrupted me to ask me where I was from. And I said I studied in Yaroslavl, but I was from America. Oh man, this highly delighted him. And then he mentioned Margaret Thatcher and continued to refer to her for the remainder of our conversation.

So we talked about Russia, politics, the U.S., my family, my lack of boyfriend. He was very unsatisfied by the lack of boyfriend. So I changed my story that I had a boyfriend, but it was too hard when I was in Russia and he was in the U.S. My new friend’s solution to this problem was that the boyfriend could come to Russia. Then he also suggested that there were lots of men in Russia. Plus, winter is coming. And it will be cold, so I need a boyfriend. Then when it was revealed that I was 20 yrs. old, he said I should have 2 children already. By the way, did I want girls or boys? Also don’t forget that every approximately 5 minutes, he would again refer to Margaret Thatcher. Then I am fairly sure that he coupled the fact that I was an American and I was interested in politics, that I was going to be president soon. So he stopped referring to good old Margaret and began referring to seeing me on television as president in a few years. Then he gave me some candy and sent me on my way. He was soo cool. Also, he used to work in Kamchatka!

Next up: “House of Books”
This was only a problem because it combines my love for books and my love of Russian and so I just want to buy approximately EVERYTHING. I found some textbook about America in English, in which there was a “Part 5: Cowboys.” The most important things about the U.S. seemed to be New York City and cowboys. Then I found the atlas/map section so I spent forever looking at all of these awesome World Atlases in Russian. And I even found Мизула (Missoula) on one of the U.S. maps! Sadly, Middlebury did not make the cut. Then again, Middlebury doesn’t make the cut on most English maps. Then I found «Моя Жизнь-Бил Клинтон» (My Life-Bill Clinton) and so I really wanted to buy that. Then I found the children’s section and I almost bought one of the “learn to read” books for Kit. The book was called something like “My Little Book-y” and had awesome pages and illustrations of гриб (mushroom) or кот (cat). But then I realized that books are neither small/compact (especially huge atlases) nor light. So I didn’t buy anything. Then I realized that possibly this was a good idea. Because maybe I am the only person who would want a huge atlas of the world in Russian. Also if you are Laurel and you wish that you were going to receive a travel guide to Paris (in Russian) I am sorry because I decided not to buy that either.

Then I wandered along the pedestrian only street which was full of lots of people and lots of miniature horses and….a camel? I don’t know why there was a camel there. I considered paying money to ride it. But as there would have been no one else to appreciate the brilliance of this experience, I just stared at it for a while. Also I remembered the one time I was talking to Susanna and she was alarmed by the camel invasion of the Irkutsk streets. Then I went back to the market and wandered around some more. Looked at the sea one last time. Retrieved my bags from the hotel. The doorman asked me if I wanted him to put it in my car. And I almost laughed at him.

Sat at the train station for a long time. Sat and slept on the train for a much longer time. Returned to Yaroslavl. Margarita prepared a feast for my arrival. Same old, same old. She also rearranged all of the furniture in my room. And I am not satisfied. But she is in utter восторг. Ну, что делать.

Various Other Things Which I Forgot To Mention
My reading during the trip revealed many interesting things:
Apparently J.K. Rowling recently revealed that Dumbledore was gay. And then the article went on to suggest that McGonogal was a lesbian and question the close relationship between Filch and his cat. Pure brilliance.
Also Tom Cruise is building a like 19 story bunker below his house in Colorado. Because he is afraid of alien invasion.
Also there is this phenomenal picture of George Bush looking like a complete loon. And I understood the whole article except for the punch line.

Russians understood the glory of baked goods. And the glory of chocolate. But as far as I can tell, they don’t really combine the two. So any sort of chocolate chip cookie is non-existent. Except I found some in a grocery store in Archangelsk. But they were not very good. But nonetheless, they were chocolate chip cookies.

Also Ирония Судбы 2 is coming out in December.

Tomorrow is November 7 which is the day of the communist revolution of something like that. And although Putin tried to replace it with November 4th (Day of Unity), communist habits die hard. So there is going to be some Communist Meeting and March.

Update: I walked by where the march was going to be an hour before it was supposed to start. And there were already a lot of police men milling about. And I didn't know if I should be more scared of the policemen or the Communists. So I just went home.