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| August 1st 2006. SCR pass Saratov and slog to Samara, arriving with time to tour the city's nomadic hotels, all of which are fully populated, before eventually squeezing into 'Hotel Volga', a building sporting superbly grand 50s decor that is now peeling, hanging, crumbling and sometimes crawling off. The lift is scarier than, and not at all unlike, a Sputnik launch, and SCR slay two weakling toilets during their stay. After acting as a second capital during WW2, Samara's centre was closed, throttled by a halo of heavy industry and oil refineries. Re-opened after the fall of the Soviet Union, the city is still in a process of rejuvenation, with often surprisingly tasteful modern developments neighbouring distinctly oblique wooden houses and derelict Soviet-era monsters. The atmosphere of faded glory is distinctly Cuban. After eating a meat dish called 'The Desperado' in an American theme bar called 'Desperadoes', SCR take a taxi back to the hotel, the driver of which refuses to take payment. Inside, one of the reception staff asks to have her photograph taken with the grubby pair, leaving them to wonder if they have been mistaken for famous country musicians. |
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Clive Aid
Contacts
Clive's Corner
Current galavants:
'08 Iron Curtain Tour
Future galavants:
'09 India?
Past galavants:
'07 - Nurburgring
'07 - Banjul-Zwickau
'06 - Swindon-Vladivostok
'05 Plymouth-Banjul