Travel Notes

Service with a Smile

Russian and foreign citizens passing through border control will now be greeted with smiles and treated with pronounced politeness, if a new order issued by Colonel Vladimir Pronichev, first deputy head of the Federal Security Service, is obeyed. Vadim Shibayev of the FSB told Interfax that, “when admitting persons and transport vehicles across the state border, special attention will be paid to showing a pronouncedly polite attitude to passengers and eliminating cases of boorishness, rudeness, and callousness.”

Clean Monument

Reputedly the world’s first monument to street cleaners was unveiled in Vladimir this June. “There are many monuments to the plumber – in 20 cities, starting with Chicago – but there are not any monuments anywhere to the street cleaner,” said Sergei Yashechkin, head of Russian Municipal Systems, the organization that came up with the initiative. (RIA Novosti)

Recharge Station

This June, Domodedovo International Airport launched a new free service for passengers. Cafés and restaurants in the airport have been equipped with devices that will allow users to recharge 95% of mobile phone models.

Another Hotel to Fall

The Hotel Sport, located at the southwestern end of Leninsky prospect, will be demolished. The dilapidated 40,874 m2 hotel will be torn down in 2004-2005 and replaced with a new hotel, business, shopping and entertainment complex by the end of 2006. Interfax reported that the new complex will have as many guest rooms as Sport.

Jewish Museums to Open

The first section of a new Museum of Jewish History will open inside St. Petersburg’s Russian Ethnographic Museum in early 2006, said Anna Kolupayeva, head of the Russian Culture Ministry’s Museum Department.

The exhibit, “Images of One Nation. Jewish Collections of the Russian Ethnographic Museum,” will be the museum’s main collection. It will display dishes, clothing, household objects, collectibles and photographs. Most of the exhibit’s items are unique objects, for example a wedding dress brought to St. Petersburg after the 1916 pogroms. Originally covered in dirt and blood, it has now been restored. Interfax reported that the Jewish section of the Russian Ethnographic Museum already has some 2,500 items.

Meanwhile, a Holocaust Museum is in the works, to be part of the Central Military Historical Museum on Moscow’s Poklonnaya Gora.

Plastic Tickets

Passengers on Russian Railways can now purchase their long-distance train tickets with Visa and MasterCard, Russian Railway Services announced. At present, payment by credit card is possible at the following locations of the Moscow Railway Agency: Komsomolskaya ploshchad, 5 (hall 8, ticket office 89), Maly Kharitonyevsky pereulok, 6/11 (ticket office 4), and Krasnoprudnaya ulitsa, 1 (ticket office 6). In the near future, Russian Railways plans to expand the number of locations where credit cards can be used and extend it to all major train stations in Russia.

Trans-Polar Train

A new train station has opened in the trans-polar town of Labytnangi (in the Yamalo-Nenetsk Autonomous Okrug), vesti.ru reported. The 30,000 sq. meter building, featuring two waiting halls, a café, a room for mothers with children, a first aid room, a post office, shops and a service center, can accommodate over 200 persons. At the end of May, a train named “Polyarnaya Zvezda” (Polar Star) was launched between Moscow and Labytnangi. The train’s exterior decoration is in line with its destination – featuring polar deer and snow-flakes. Previously, the train ran only in summer, but now it will run year-round, once every five days. The town of Labytnangi opened an alpine ski resort last year.

Nizhny Express

A new express train connecting Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow has been launched. Two 17-car trains, named “Zolotaya Khokhloma,” have 6 coupé cars each, one of which has a compartment for disabled persons with wheelchairs, as well as nine platzkart cars. The train leaves Moscow at 14:00, arriving in Nizhny at 20:44 The train leaves Nizhny at 21:40, arriving in Moscow at 5:20.

Master Finds a Home

The controversial Moscow monument to writer Mikhail Bulgakov by Alexander Rukavishnikov, which was chased away from Patriarshiye Prudy (see Russian Life, March/April 2003), will be placed on Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills). The new, approved version of the monument will feature Bulgakov sitting on a bench, surrounded by his characters: the Master, Margarita, Begemot and Yeshua. The sculptural group will be placed near one of the ponds close to Andreyevsky Monastery, RIA Novosti reported.

Kremlin Relief

The new superintendent of the Moscow Kremlin, Major General Sergei Khlebnikov, has earned a place in our Traveler’s Book of Honor. In an interview with Rossiyskaya gazeta, Khlebnikov said he has approved the installation of public toilets in the 28-hectare complex. “We have thousands of visitors, but not a single toilet,” Khlebnikov said.