Astrakhan (Астрахань)

Monday, July 14, 2014

The drive from the Kazakhstan border to Astrakhan was pleasant enough. As we drove through the Volga Delta area we could already see many more birds along the roadside. Turned out that there were two ways to Astrakhan: a long way and a short way via a floating bridge. We took the short way which was fun. The hotel (Bonhotel, boutique style and quite lovely) we selected for the night was located right in the center of town and just a block from the Kremlin. Before we had any time to settle in, Caroline had found a latte producing coffee house based on some good advice and directions of the very friendly hotel receptionist. So good to have real coffee again.

Time slipped by quickly during the afternoon with a little sight seeing and some small chores. And before we knew it, it was time for a late dinner. We had sushi at Krem Cafe.

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

We woke up to discover that Sterlin’s rear license plate had been stolen during the night. Looked like the thief just ripped it off, breaking the mounting bracket in the process. We knew that there was a good chance that our license plates would be stolen while in Eastern Europe, we just didn’t expect it to happen within 24 hours of arrival. So after breakfast we headed to the central Police Station to inquire about the procedure in such matters.

It took a little effort to find the Police Station as the building doesn’t actually look like a Police Station. We knew we were close when we kept seeing heavily armed officers walking around. But once inside it was clear we found the right place. The duty cop realized that we only spoke English and immediately an officer from the Foreign Affairs department was summoned. Yes, they have a small group within the Police force for dealing with foreigners. Yuri showed up and basically held our hand while we filed the incident report. Yuri spoke excellent English and it was a delight to speak with him. Turned out he had served in several missions for the UN and refined his English while on assignment.  He told us a few good stories. This first report was hand written by Stephen and in English. Then a case was opened up and an “investigation” was started and the ball really started to roll. Now we were dealing with a different set of officers. And an official translator named Galimbek was called to assist with the investigation, exciting stuff. His English of course was excellent. Yuri had something to do and handed us over to Alexander, another officer from the Foreign Affairs department who also spoke very good English, served in several UN missions and had his own good stories to tell. The investigation included a detailed interview (in an interview room), lots of hand written notes, a visit to the scene of the crime, dusting for fingerprints, inspection of video footage on nearby street cameras, more paperwork and back to the Police Station to wrap things up and a cup of coffee. Ok, the whole process did take six hours which is a lot of time, effort and expense by the Police for a license plate, but this is the procedure they follow and they got through it about as quick as they could. We did leave with a Police Statement and a case number that we can use when we get pulled over for not having a license plate, which of course will happen. The Police were amazingly professional and handled the situation with great professionalism and hospitality. And we actually enjoyed the whole experience.

About 4 hours into the investigation, Galimbek was very kind and rang a Tourist Camp deep in the Volga Delta and arranged a boat pickup, overnight stay in the Delta, boat trip onto the Caspian Sea and boat drop-off back at our car. This was perfect. He even assisted us with the Photo Printing shop where we had a temporary license plate made based on a photo we had taken earlier in the day. Although the temporary license plate was just a laminated photo, it looks pretty damn fine and is now affixed to Sterlin’s rear window.

We left Astrakhan during rush hour traffic and got caught up in some road works that slowed us down a little, but at least we were inching our way south towards the Volga Delta and the Caspian Sea.