Our next stop was Tyumen, the oldest city in Siberia. On the map it’s highlighted under #2 (#1 is Moscow; #3 is Novosibirsk: #4 is Barnaul and #5 is my hometown - Saratov), so it is quite clear it’s practically in the middle of Russia. Tyumen weather is typical for Siberia which means long and cold winters and really short wet summers. We lucked out and it rained only once or twice during our 4-day stay there.

We flew in early Tyumen morning (5:20am), but with the time difference (+8 hrs from NYC to Moscow and then +2 more from Moscow to Tyumen) it felt like evening.
In a cab, as the driver and I started talking - by the way, in Russia it’s almost an unspoken rule that you must talk to the driver, otherwise you are being rude; even if you have nothing to say, you gotta mention at least a few common topics: weather, flight, city, etc - I found out

that the curbs in the streets are washed regularly with soapy water and brushes;
that winter days can be so cold that even he, the driver, couldn’t stand more than 20 minutes outside, even though he had “warmed up” (with vodka, obviously) at home and was “properly equipped” (with vodka, doubtlessly) to watch the ice statues show;
that the city imposed a 10pm curfew for all the teenagers;
and that we should definitely go see the Lovers Bridge in Tyumen.

Our plan was to check in, nap till breakfast, then get breakfast and get out in the streets.
Well, the check-in was…funny for the lack of a better word. The administrator kept telling us she only has two rooms available (how lucky! exactly the amount of rooms we need!), and those are - obviously - not the cheapest ones. Meanwhile, we spotted a handful of keys resting in the slots behind her. She argued that all of them are reserved. Whatever, we paid and went upstairs to our rooms.

The first thing I see, before I even open my room - two security cameras pointing at my door! W.T.F.??!! Figuring I may as well be just another paranoid crazy wako chica, I go to my companions’ room and describe the situation to them. We finally decide that it’s probably better to try to get another room for me. I walk downstairs by myself demanding explanation from the hotel lady regarding the cameras. She fails to give me a clear answer, just mumbling that it should be “none of your worry”, it is not for me (right, then why is it pointing at MY door?). When I continue to insist that I cannot possibly feel safe with such a unique service above my door, I get a key to another room! Oh what a surprise!! So there WERE indeed other rooms?
At this point I am exhausted and tired and all I want is a room without any cameras watching my door where I can crash for an hour, thank you very much. I go to my new room, drop the luggage and turn my power off till breakfast.

Now, breakfast deserves a separate dedication here. Normally I wouldn’t even try to bore anybody with the description of a hotel breakfdast. That is - a typical hotel breakfast. What we were getting at that hotel consisted of [the same, continuously aging, day by day]: tomatoes, cheese (which day by day you could see getting yellower and harder in certain spots), hard-boiled eggs (which was fine the first day and even the following day it was still ok to eat, but 3rd and 4th - the same? from the same week ago????), instant coffee, packet tea, mayo salad and omelet with wiener (which by color and texture reminded of a blend of paper with lard).
Just one last touch: should I mention that even though this breakfast was free (oh yeah, by the way, walk-ins were absolutely welcome and you could get all of the above for just 150 rubles ($5)) we ran out as fast as we could to find a better place to eat breakfast at. In fact, since breakfast places are not all that popular in Russia and in Tyumen in particular, we were buying breakfast stuff in grocery stores and drinking coffee in coffee shops. It wasn’t cheap (1369, Peet’s, Starbucks - name any, they are all 1,5-2 times cheaper. And you don’t have to pay for milk or cream there, too), but it was definitely good.

now, to the bikes! My disappointment carried over from Moscow vanished in Tyumen. Maybe it is the size of the city (Tyumen is much smaller), or the pace of life (more laid back; frankly speaking I think it’s only places like Hong-Kong, Beijing or New York (Detroit? never been, but heard a lot) that can compete with Moscow), but I encountered a lot of people on bicycles. Primarily mountain bikes or cruisers, none on road.

We also stumbled on a rehearsal for the police parade. Tyumen police, on their own initiative (or rather their PR service initiative), decided to start changing the public opinion of how bad and corrupt the police is, to reconstruct the public image of the police. They open their doors to journalists and media to follow them on a daily basis to provide better feedback about their work. The parade was part of the show and we surely documented that. While snapping some of the photos, I yet again remembered that the police and the state, no matter how much we hate them, despise them or judge them, it consists of people, and, just like anywhere, there are good people and bad people. And there are young people who were teenagers a month ago.

Looking through the viewfinder I couldn’t resist capturing State and Church getting into talking, how typical! Not even only one Church…

Lenin statue, tulips and military-like parade, those are the evergreen remnants of the Soviet regime which nowadays noone seems to attribute to the era. They are just there, like the Theater, like the Park, like the Apples and Lilacs.