Sochi, day 1

It was the train ride from hell. We got on the train at 11:45 and there was already a school class asleep in our car and one of them was in Fouad’s funk. The teachers kept trying to steer him to another bunk and finally he Fouad called the conductor. She kicked the girl out of his bunk. The class was noisy and rude. None of us got much sleep. I was glad when we finally got in at 6:05. We stored the luggage at the train station and walked across the street to MacDonald’s for breakfast. When we finished breakfast it was still only a little after 7 and we couldn’t get into the apartment until 10. And the tourist information office didn’t open until 10. So we walked along the Black Sea coast and through a park. We are talking big money in Sochi. Lots of yachts and beautiful, large buildings. The vegetation is gorgeous. Palm trees, bamboo, magnolias, tulips. It’s a pleasant climate, although it was a little cool and overcast. But we did not need to wear hats and mittens. That was already a good thing. 

We gathered our suitcases, got a taxi and went to the apartment. (Taxi ride for 3, with luggage, for maybe 1 mile - less than $1.) The apartment was great. I had a bedroom to Myself and a very comfortable foldout bed. But we just took the keys from the lady, got cleaned up, and headed back into town to find the tourist office. The walk took us into the pedestrian zone. This just isn’t a street blocked office like in Krasnodar, but a real pedestrian zone with a grassy median. There’s a bike path, but it’s not very clear that it’s s bike path and it was more used by pedestrians than by bikers. 

So we looked all over for the tourist office, we asked several people, and we STILL couldn’t find it. It would seem that a city would want to put it’s tourist information office in a more obvious place so that people could find it. We finally ended up going into a bookstore and buying a map of Sochi.

So, by the time we got done putting around there, we were hungry. We sat OUTSIDE at a cafe in the pedestrian zone.  The sun was even shining on and off and I had to wear sunglasses.  What a welcome relief from the snow in Kazan. The lunch was pleasant and relaxed. After lunch, we all agreed to go to Stalin’s summer home. It was one of the things I wanted to see. So we get a taxi after one other Uber driver cancels our ride, probably because it was too far for him, and our driver now is a guy who lived in NYC for 10 years. He was a real bullshitter but lots of fun. After a bit, he turned off the main road and we drove up a hill as steep as some of those in the Virgin Islands. We drove past apartment buildings where the condos were selling for $100,000,000.00. This part of Sochi is very, very exclusive. There’s a great few of the sea and lots of security.

We get to the summer home and the security guard tries to get us to hurry. We aren’t allowed to go into the house by ourselves, so we have to attach ourselves to a tour in Russian that has already started. That’s fine, because we just wonder around by ourselves and look. We follow the guide into one more building, then the tour is over! He complex itself is very large and my impression was that the rest is still being renovated. The guide spent a lot of time telling the Russian group about the Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt meeting in Sochi. In other accounts of Russian history that I’ve seen, Stalin is barely mentioned. He seems to still be an important part of Sochi’s history. The taxi driver told us that busloads of Japanese tourists come to the summer home every year.

When we left the house, we called two taxis, but neither of them wanted to come all that way out of town to pick us up so we walked down the hill and took a bus. 

We got off at a place near what the map said was an aquarium. We walked to the point on the map where it was supposed to be, and of course it wasn’t there. We stop at a hotel across the street and asked about it. They said there had never been an aquarium there. The only aquarium they New about was way the hell back in the direction from which we had just come. Forget that!

We walk back up to the Main Street and what do we see? A cable car. Let’s go for it. We’re 10 minutes too late. It closed a 4. Ok. We take the bus into town and swear we will do it first thing tomorrow. We head into the pedestrian zone again where we find a Subway. Sonia and Fouad both get a sub, but I’m really hungry for a pizza. So I wait and we walk to Dodo’s pizza after that, where Fouad orders another pizza. He was really hungry.

We take the pizzas back to the apartment where I eat mine and got ready for bed. I was asleep by 8 and didn’t wake up until the next morning at 8. Those two had enough energy to go out for the evening. I was glad to catch up on my sleep.