KlinMapApril 7, 2008 Clink with a Baltika #7? Doesn’t sound quite right. ![]() Clink with a Baltika Cooler? Same thing. ![]() Clink with a Holsten? No, no. ![]() Clink with a Klinskoye? Yes, now we’re talking! We’re in Klin, the home of Klinskoye beer. ![]() Klin is a baffling city. All the trash cans are tilted here. ![]() They’re really straight at heart, but they haven’t been able to stay upright for a long time. ![]() So the new trash cans are also made tilted, to blend in. ![]() If a trash can in Klin is absolutely incapable of standing at an angle, it’s installed upside down. ![]() Klin is one of the filthiest cities of our nation. There’s trash literally everywhere here. ![]() This lends the city a certain charm. ![]() Where there’s no trash, there’s road dust. Lots of it. And it doesn’t hesitate to gather into dust storms that could rival those of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. ![]() Even the walkways here are like in that Ray Bradbury story about stepping on a butterfly. One step off the path when it’s rainy—and you’re ankle-deep in mud, having irreparably changed the course of history. ![]() The only thing Klin has been notable for in the past couple of centuries is being a transit point between Moscow and Tver on the way to Saint Petersburg. A section of the Leningrad Highway passes right through the center of town. So it’s always noisy, dirty and dusty here. This also makes Klin the best place for truck-watching. ![]() Amazingly enough, local residents still haven’t begun to appreciate the beautiful views of the Sestra River from the hillside. This is the very center of the city: ![]() Klin’s most distinctive feature is its reverence for the past. Ok, fine, Lenin is understandable. ![]() Or, say, Karl Marx. ![]() But they’ve kept a sign for a policing center of the Department Against Misappropriation of Socialist Property. Only time is allowed to touch it, not people. ![]() A wall thermometer from the past. ![]() The post boxes are all Soviet, they just have a sticker covering the old state emblem. ![]() Russian Post The fleet of mail trucks is on display like at a museum: all the models lined up in a row. ![]() No one will touch an old sign here. Sure, you can hang up a new one—somewhere nearby. ![]() Central District Library The city’s main newspaper is the Hammer and Sickle. Its hard times are behind it now. ![]() Newsstand. Hammer and Sickle. Today, it’s safe to say that the city is looking to the future with confidence. ![]() Klin is stepping firmly into the 21st century. ![]() 21st Century Plumbing. Shoe Repair. Hold the banner of Klin sports up high! ![]() Hold the Banner of Klin Sports Up High. Health and Beauty. Gold and Sports. Culture of the Third Millennium. The MOUDOD has opened its doors to welcome young people. ![]() Office of Youth, Physical Fitness, Sports and Tourism Affairs. Chess and Checkers Club. Klin Chess School for Children and Youth, MOUDOD Children’s Activity Center. Municipal property is getting a facelift. ![]() The appearance of private housing is improving. ![]() A sign for Central Restaurant has already gone up on the roof of a building near the train station. Never mind that they haven’t started building the restaurant yet—that’s easily rectified. ![]() Central Restaurant. Shareholder—That’s You! But they have put up a monument depicting Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 next to the pizzeria. The resemblance is quite striking, if you ask me. ![]() The lampposts on one of the streets instill confidence in Klin’s future. ![]() The utility pole craftsmanship is top-notch here, I’m not joking. Wires and whatnot are attached to the pole with non-reusable metal straps. Even Moscow doesn’t have this yet; this is the very latest American technology (in the US, they use these straps to attach everything, from road signs to traffic lights). ![]() Distinctive local details include A-frame roofs over basement windows. ![]() And posts indicating the location of access hatches to the gas main. ![]() There isn’t really much to see in Klin. The main landmark is the pipeline that runs through the entire city. ![]() Some parts of it have become steeped in legend, others—in public service advertising. ![]() Keep Your Baby! The Consequences of Abortion Are Irreversible. A Third Child Means Triple Fortune in the Third Millennium! Klin is a city of contrasts. Sometimes you have to let sleeping dogs lie. ![]() And sometimes it’s as easy as apple pie. ![]() Yemelya’s pasties and pies for the little guys |
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