Volgograd – 8/13/12
Aug 16th, 2012 by admin
After 2 days of long slogs and late arrivals, it “sleep in” day. We don’t have much planned, just some sightseeing.
I do, however, need to get some AAA lithium batteries for the satellite tracker and I want a Russian sim card for my USB 3G modem that I brought for the laptop to provide internet access. AT&T doesn’t have a discounted data plan in Russia so that means that AT&T access through the phone will cost $19.95 per mega-byte. Ouch! Phone calls are also $19.95 per minute. Talk clearly and quickly.
I emailed with Tyler Killen who has a blog of his trip through Russia in 2011. He strongly recommended Megafon and the best Russian internet and cell provider. I’m looking for a Megafon store which we find as soon as we get out on the street. They’re a big player in the Russian market and their easy to find.
WE leave the hotel and head off toward the war museum that commemorates the battle between the Russian forces and the Germans in 1942/43. It’s near the river on the promenade that overlooks the Volga. We find the Megafon store in the next block.
I go in, wait in line, tell the girl what I want, change my mind and ask for a voice and data sim card that will work in the phone or the modem rather than the data only card that will work only on data. She says that have just what I need. May I see your passport. I don’t have it. I’ll come back later.
We head up the promenade. There are people walking and jogging, mother’s with children and people just sitting taking the morning sun. The weather is fine and, although it’ll get quite warm in the afternoon, now it’s very pleasant. After about 20 minutes we come to the museum.
We were told that you can’t miss it sine it’s surrounded by planes, tanks and artillery pieces. We look at some of the planes and artillery ppieces and the try to get it. Unfortunately, it’s closed for renovation. Disappointed we continue around the outside of the grounds.
The center piece of the site is the museum itself but the whole facility is built around a large red brick building and nearby smokestack made of the same red brick. The building is the icon of the battle that symbolizes the thousands of other buildings where close quarter fighting took place.
The Russian used a strategy called “hugging the enemy” to negate the German advantage in firepower. “Hugging” meant getting close to the enemy so that the enemy could not use its artillery and tanks and had to fight at close quarters. This created the gruesome conditions under which the battle was fought.
WE leave the museum and start walking back to the hotel. Along the way, we stop in a market complex with open air fruit and vegetable stands. Behind the stalls, is a large building with a collection of small shops and a supermarket. I find the lithium batteries and we retreat to the hotel for lunch.
After lunch, into a taxi with Stuart Bob from the US, we’re off to see the enormous statue (279 feet tall), The Motherland Calls, built on a hill overlooking the city and the Volga. The complex also contains a memorial to those who died the inside of which has the names of the dead inscribed on the wall and an eternal flame flanked on two sentries. A very solemn place.
The entire complex is very moving. Everywhere in Russia, there are monuments to those who died in what the Russians call the Great Patriotic War. This is one of the most moving as it commemorates the battle that is generally considered to be the turning point of the war. Because the city was named after Stalin, the Russian commanders sent in hundreds of thousands of troops from all over Russia. This city could not fall. No cost in blood was too high.
Back to the hotel by taxi and get to Megafon to get the sim card. A very helpful clerk did all the work. Of course, when she put the card in the phone, it wouldn’t work. Crap. They fool around for a while and then decide to haul me, the phone and the sim card to a Samsung office to figure out what the problem is.
It turns out that At&T Samsung Galaxy’s won’t accept an non-American sim card without a special code being entered. They don’t know the code. I haven’t a clue what they’re talking about. The Samsung people say to bring the phone back in the morning and they’ll hack it so tht any sim card will work. Love to do it right now but the in-house hacker has left for the day. Sorry. Bring in the AM and we’ll have you squared away.
Back at the hotel, I find that the sim card works fine in the modem that I have so the hack now becomes optional. I’ll stop by before we leave in the morning.
Dinner at the hotel. And to bed.
Obi-wan
One Response to “Volgograd – 8/13/12”
Glad you are having nice weather! The SoCal heatwave has abated a bit, welcome relief at this point. I am sure John is exhausted from finding me the perfect anniversary gift 🙂 hahahaha!