MurmanskMapMarch 4–8, 2005 It’s a two-hour flight to Murmansk aboard an “Aeroflot-Nord” plane (the cabin safety instructions were left over from “Arkhangelsk airlines”, so I just had to take a copy to add to my collection).  I arrived a couple of months late, meaning I caught neither the temperature anomalies, nor the northern lights, nor the polar lights. The weather was exactly the same as in Moscow (if you disregard the occasional short-lived heavy snowfall, which briefly transformed the city into a snow-clad silhouette, making it hard to make anything out).  If you don’t go up any hills or if you simply seek shelter behind a building, you don’t even need to wear a winter hat even during strong winds.  Nice and cosy It turns out that Murmansk was founded on 4 October 1916. So it’s younger than my granny.  The Soviets came to power in Murmansk in 1920 A guy I know decided to travel to the edge of the world and got as far as Murmansk. When he came back he told me that due to the lack of sunlight the locals hang daylight lamps in their windows so that they can “turn on” daytime just outside their window. In actual fact, you do see fluorescent lamps in many windows, but they’re there to imitate daytime for flowers, not people. A disappointingly banal explanation.  If Murmansk resembles any other city in the slightest, it’s St Petersburg. At least some of the details are thoroughly St Petersburg-esque.  Lenin Street It also has a lot in common with Norilsk.  Although it truly is a maritime town. That’s why there are anchors hanging everywhere.  You can spot all sorts of interesting exhibits along the bay’s shores — a decommissioned “Lenin” icebreaker, a “Nikolai Kuznetsov, Admiral of the fleet of the Soviet Union” aircraft carrier, the only kind still in service with the Russian navy, which is currently undergoing repairs, et al. The port is everywhere.  The city is actually rather lively. There’re doing promotions. 
Festive discounts in store Branded rubbish bin next to the shoe store.  Building facades that give on to Lenin Street have been restored and look great, whereas the facades overlooking the streets that run perpendicular to Lenin Street do not. They’re not wasting any paint, exactly as Potemkin would’ve wanted.  There are lots of buildings in the most unexpected colours.  And if an apartment block is just plain grey, the residents will add a dash of good cheer, everyone painting their window frames a different colour.  Where there aren’t any windowsit’s the architects who take it upon themselves to liven things up.  No that there’s any reason to get bored in the first place.  Behold, I come quickly Especially on the trolleybuses, of which there are a great number. There’s a dense layer of flyers hanging all over them to stop passengers from getting distracted.  I stumbled upon an English cemetery for the fallen of World War I, which came as a complete surprise. The officers get nightstands, whereas the privates are buried along the walls.  I was the only idiot riding the Ferris wheel. It’s unclear why the Ferris wheel was even open at that time. Nor was it clear why I bought tickets for two rides.  There’s a monument to Kirov in the city centre (Kirov was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician assassinated in 1934). Well, what do you know? It’s an exact replica of the monument to Kirov in the centre of both Rostov-on-Don and Borovichi.  How Murmansk will remain in my memory until my next trip.    Lots of old signs. 
Glory to labour! More old signs. 
Hairdresser’s * * * On the flight back the friendly airhostess, packet of barf bags in hand, asked me: “Would you like one?”. I politely declined, burying my nose in the latest issue of Russian “Newsweek”. The editors don’t know the difference between the words “to dress someone” and “to get dressed” (two similar- sounding words in Russian which people often get mixed up).  |
