Rostov-papa - What is that?

Rostov on Don. Population just over one million. There’s a veterinary college in the neighbouring town

I have to admit, it is a bit unnerving going to Rostov. Even though I have promised myself that I won’t touch on the subject of politics, I shall make a slight exception here to say that I thought about not going to this destination. If you were to look at a map, you would find that Rostov on Don is very near to the Ukranian border, which means that somewhere in a 100km radius there is actual war going on. The people of this town where I’m heading to probably don’t share my country’s or my own views on this conflict. Is it safe and ethical for me to go there? I have Silvia with me as well. Maybe they think we’re spies. There were a lot of ridiculous thoughts running through my mind.

However I had promised my colleague Aleksei Jermakov that I would go. I have to give 2 lectures. I have friends there – Sergei Sereda and Sergei Mendoza from Moscow. Even dr. Natalja Ignatenko from Ukraine is coming there. True, she won’t be coming straight through the warfront, but through Moscow making a big circle. In the end we are veterinarians not politicians or militants. Our duty is to help animals whatever the situation in a country or relationships between countries might be. To finish on this matter I will prematurely say that Rostov on the Don is completely regular town, with no signs of the unusual situation on the western front in everyday life. And in my communications with colleagues – there was no difference in relations between Natalja or me or any of the local veterinarians. United vets!

We arrive in the evening. The plane is shaking awfully and careening from side to side. The landing is quite abrupt. The next day we hear that there was a hurricane in Rostov and our flight from St. Petersburg was alltogether the last one that could land. It’s good that we didn’t know all this when we were in the plane.

Last two: Storm damage that we saw the following days.

It turns out that we were in the same plane as dr. Sotnikov and dr. Olga Smirnova, who I had just visited yesterday. We drive to the hotel together, where a huge watermelon awaits each of us.

Last two - Complimentary watermelons

I like it when there's men bustling about me trying to help me.

When the bustling is done I am able to start my lecture "Sügelev koer" ("Itching dog"). Very warm and welcoming audience.

I have two days full of lectures, but on the first night they give us a tour of the city “Rostov-Papa” (Rostov-father). Why such a name? Rostov started out from a 18^th century customs, around which a fortress was built. It became a city in 1807. The whole area is historically cossack territory, but Catherine the Great relocated Armenians from the Ottoman Empire ground there. Of course a lot of Russians also came there because of the customs and fortress. A lot of nationalities and lively trading lured many suspiscious creatures to Rostov. At that time in Russia bandit was a profession. In the end of the 19^th century thieves focused into small businesses – organized crime was born. The main two criminal centres of Russia in 1870-1880 were Rostov and Odessa. If a criminal ended up in prison and they asked about his family, it was customary to say: “father-Rostov, mother-Odessa”.  

The tour guide tells us a funny story how the thieves in Rostov decided to become civil and law-abiding and organized a parade to demonstrate this new state of mind. But of course not all of them had changed and during this parade a citizen’s wallet was stolen. This brought about a huge uproar and the thieves of the parade quickly organized a alms-box to collect money to compensate the victim the loss of the money and the wallet. After the Great October Revolution the thieves were hired to work in the police force and they were very successful in fighting against the criminal elemtn, as they knew exactly how to be criminals. We are shown many houses, where many robberies have taken place, where-from and where-to tunnels were dug and where important gang leaders lived. Besides criminal Rostov we also see and hear other things  - such as a theatre shaped like a tractor.

The next day we went to the animal clinic “Tsentr”

In front of the doorway to the veterinary clinic Tsentr with colleagues Ararat Minasyan from Sochi (on the left) and Sergei Sereda and Sergei Mendoza from Moscow (hiding behind me).

 A kitty welcomes us in the waiting room.

Waiting room like a porch. Very lovely. Behind me there's a backup generator, which I will speak of later.

The entrance from the waiting room to the clinic. It used to be private house and has been a clinic for 7 years.

 Last two: Reception area and the shop.

Here you can see the doctor's diplomas from different CE events and....

...a piece art made from the findings of the surgical department.

 Examination room

 Examination room

 Ultrasound. Mindray is widely used in Russian clinics.

 Stomatological machinery.

Surgery

 X-Ray

 Lab

 Lovely, nostalgiv  WBC counter. I still miss my own counter that broke down.

The clinic works 24/7. This is one of the rooms where they keep the in-patients.

 The director of the clinic dr. Aleksei Ermakov unfortunately couldn't show us the clinic himself as he was very busy with the congress (South-Russian International Veterinary Congress), but he was still "there" despite that.

After visiting the clinic we manage to walk around in the city. I had imagined that Rostov-on-Don would be an uninteresting industrial town, but the city centre proved to be very beautiful with its beautiful old houses. I especially like the administrative building, but unfortunately we didn't take any pictures of it.

Last four: The embankment of the Don.

 The most interesting parts of any town are the small and quiet sidestreets.

 A lot of romantic old buildings that could look beautiful after renovations.

Karaoke bar "Ear and Bear" with a very interesting advertising poster (brutally glamorous). I would have liked to know what was inside. For the next time then. 

Nostalgic ice-cream from my childhood "Eskimo"

Every city has one very important cat.

This bus took us back to our hotel. The ticket cost 17 rubles (0.3 EUR). I offered the bus driver 70 (2.4 EUR), he thought I was insane.

A banquet is held in the evening, where a play is put on. Again based  “Rostov-Father”. It is probably a very funny piece, but some of it, for Silvia all of it, is lost due to our language-skills. I am fully capable of communicating in russian and to even lecture, but listening to fast-paced dialogues with thief-slang (blatnoi) mixed into it, is another thing entirely. The actors are very emotional and professional. One of them reminds me of my favorite actor from childhood, Yevgeni Leonov.

 .Maybe it’s his son. The actors involve veterinarians from tables close to the stage. Just like that, Dr Sereda is pulled into the midst of a gang of bandits and loses his watch.

Leonov-like actor (left)

The thieves of Rostov have surrounded the president of the Russian Small Animal Veterinary Association (RSAVA) and are trying to steal his wallet and his watch.

 Entertaintment continues with a song

Sitting at our table are local veterinarians and my colleague Galina Tschulkova from Volgograd. Together, we drink to world peace and to all of the veterinarians of the world. 

The table is covered with plates of food and everything is delicious. Won’t even have the chance to try all of it.

Suddenly, the electricity goes out. It is said to happen in Rostov from time to time. The “Tsentr” clinic even has a backup generator for that reason. So we sit in the dark for a while, glowing telephones as the only lightsource. Despite the darkness, everyone is still having fun.

 When electricity finally returns, Silvia and I feel very tired and decide to go back to the hotel. Only to find our hotel suspiciously dark. We expect the worst, but can’t bring ourselves to go back to the banquet.

 The hotel lobby turns out to be illuminated solely by a bright EXIT sign. The receptionist explains that we can go up to the fifth floor in utter darkenss and have someone from the staff open our door   (because our keycard won’t work without electricity). We can’t be bothered and don’t have the heart to bother a staffmember, so we stay in the dark lobby to wait and have a nap. Soon even the EXIT sign goes out. We awaken to the light coming back after a while and the elevator working. Finally, we can get into our room.

The next morning we visit the market with Dr Sereda. Silvia gets to buy a bracelet and then it’s time to go.

Good-bye Rostov. Jerevan awaits. And also Tblisi, where I have my next lecture. I need to work very hard on the plane.

The cats of St. Petersburg and a huge clinic.

The next thing in plan was to see Aurora sail away.

The ship that has stood on the Neva bank for almost a 100 years. The ship that symbolises the October Revolution and the beginning of a new era – suddenly taken away. What’s going on? A lady confidentially tells us it’s being taken into reparation, but will never return. So it’s going to be put into storage somewhere?????? Sounds weird. Even if you don’t like what has been, you cannot re do it. ’’Aurora’’ as a symbol, whether it be good or bad, is still important and should be respected. The lady tells us more – the whole story about ’’Aurora’’ (its cannons declaring the Great October Revolution) was a fairytale, it was made up later. Of course, every great country needs their fairytales, but why give them up now? I don’t know, I don’t understand the semiotics of these great countries. As I sometimes shouldn’t, being from a country with a population of 1 mln.

What is this weird tower at the end of the street?

It's not a tower, but a raised bridge.

 People are waiting with cameras and phones in their hands.

Even the horses have to come watch "Aurora" sail away.

and there goes ’’Aurora’’. It is still a bit unclear where it went.

Happy Estonia and happy Ukraine - dr. Natalja Ignatenko

Natalja still had some time before her flight so we visit the botanical gardens.  

We meet Nataljaga again in a few days in Rostov.

After that Silvia and I change hotels from the conference hotel to one closer to the city centre and go back on the Neva embankment to enjoy the beautiful midsummer’s weather (unbelievable, that’ it’s the last week of September).  

Main street - Nevski prospekt.

The concert of my idols in adolescence. I listened to Matia Bazar right here in Leningrad in 1984.

 A very important cat of St. Petersburg

Former school for noblemen.

Even the post office looks like a palace.

We stroll around and see a giant statue of a cat. 

Of course we must go and take a closer look. It appears to be a coffee shop called „Cats Republic“ 

We step in, the whole cafe is covered in pictures of cats, statues of cats and everything else to do with cats. 

We order a light meal and as we are munching (it really is good) more and more people are coming in. 

All of them exchange words with the owners, put on plastic shoe covers and disappear somewhere.

 It seems to me that some are meow-ing. Our curiousity gets the better of us and we go inquire. It turns out it is not just a coffee shop. One can also communicate with cats, if one so wishes. Just meow behing a door wearing plastic shoe covers and you get to pet and cuddle all the cats you like. Oh, and you also have to pay - 120 rubles. It seems a little too little for such a fun thing. Of course we want to take part too. We’ve had to make do without our cat Maksim for 3 weeks now.  The lady at the cafe says that tonight is not possible – all the times are already fully booked. We’ll come tomorrow then.

Las two: Silvia is solving a puzzle in the coffee shop - find 67 cats.

On our way home we go to St. Isaac’s cathedral

...the famous Jelissejev mall (which sells every delicious treat you can imagine). The last 4 photos.

 ....and bought bubble tea from a funny little bar.

This is how bubble tea is made (green tea without ice, fructose standard, kumquat and cherry bubbles) and what's left of it after drinking. The last 4 photos.

 In the evening we find out that we’ve walked 22 km that day. For some reason my legs are covered in horrible hematomas. I wonder what effect flying on a plane will have on a blue person. Do I have to take precautionary measures before I fly to Rostov? Silvia took a picture as well, but I am certainly not showing it to anybody.

Cat's Republic cafe

                  We got our shoe covers, We meow-ed and entered the kingdom of the cats.

 Lovely Tatjana Garamova told us the whole story from the idea to the actual outcome. 

The cats all come from the streets or are rescued from mean/careless owners. They can only bring very sociable, friendly and communicative cats, but even so it is difficult when kids, whose parents haven’t thought them how to deal with animals visit (they don’t let many in at once). I guess the collective at Cat’s Republic try to help those who for some reason can’t keep pets, but still want to have their company.  Tatjana told us a story about every cat. Unfortunately we couldn’t remember all of them and with cats bustling about had no time to write anything down either. We had pet every head and scratch every tummy. Cat’s Republic works closely with the cats at the Hermitage. Again we heard how important those cats are so that the rats won’t get to the pieces of art. During the Second World War the cats in St Petersbordsome were eaten and some died. After War they brought in 8 wagons full of cats to replace the eaten ones. We leave the cat cafe with terrific impressions. I feel a little cautious about a cafe where cats just wander around the customers, but this sort of arrangement is very catfriendly in my mind (risk of infection is minimal and they have their own lives as well).

Silvia and I wander aimlessly further. I want to show her the Maria Theatre and  the Estonian church  in St. Petersburg. We find both of them. In the meantime summer has become fall. We escape to our hotel. They serve us tea every day from three to five and then I am off to find dr. Sotnikov’s clinic
.

Maria theater from the inside and out. Unfortunately the season hasn't started yet. The last 2 photos.

Estonian church in St. Petersburg. Before the October revolution there was a lot of Estonians living in St. Petersburg (over 50 000). My grandfather from my mother's side was born here and graduated military school here.

An art exhibition on the street

The last 6 photos. There are beautiful houses on every corner in St. Petersburg. There are no ugly ones.

Actually there are ugly houses too, but in other neighbourhoods. Tourists don't normally find themselves there, but I am off to look for dr. Sotnikov's veterinary clinic.

You have to take metro and thes bus and you have to buy this nostalgic ticket.

...but I manage just fine and get a good overlook of the clinic. 

It seems to be a busy time. There are many patients in the waiting room and all doctors are working. Actually dr. Sotnokov´s practice compromises of two separate clinics with more than 100 veterinarians. There could be as much as 13 doctors working in the clinic at the same time and every one of them has an assistant + the staff of the lab. There are 6 doctors working in the night shift. Obviously it's a very big clinic and dr. Sotnikov says that 550 m2 became to small a space a long time ago and that they would need at least 1000. The two clinics house all the necessary equipment (including MRI and CT).

The rooms of the clinic are on the second floor.

dr. Sotnikov's doog Keeks (Poundcake). Apparently he doesn't let visitors disturb him.

 Opthalmologist's office

The lab and dermatologist's office

A lab, which runs so many tests the list is many pages long

 Last four: patients who stay in the clinic for treatment

 Last three - endoscopy room.

 Surgery

Stomatology

Ultrasound scan.

 External fixation - control

Keeks, who is in between dr. Sotnikov and dr. Toomet doesn't like to be the patient.

When I leave the clinic, it’s pelting down with rain. The weather is bleak and cold.

 Silvia and I have agreed to eat real Russian cuisine at „Masha and Medved“ (Masha and Bear) restaurant. Silvia gets quite wet as well. Warm tea was a necessity and we has a strong urge to try the russians’ famous Beluga vodka.

Silvia on her blog: We ordered one regular Beluga and one Beluga Gold. They were double in price and we wanted to know if that would reflect in the taste. And so it was – Gold was much better and cleaner – one might also say more golden. When mum and I clinked our classes and started drinking, every single Japanese tourist in the table nex to us, turned their head and looked at us. We felt a little werided out, because it felt like we were pieces in a muuseum (one Japanese lady even stood up and explained something about ust o the other like a tour guide), but what to do – we had to drink. There was a French man behind me who continued tos tare at us long after w ehad finished. Maybe they were judging my mother, who was throwing back the hard stuff with her kid. We also ate some ///////pancakes???//// with caviar, of course russian dumplings (pelmeni) and babuška vareniki (///////………………////////). Otšen vkusna (very tasty). The varenki tasted a little like shoes, but they were pretty decents shoes none the less. ///////The French spent a lot of money to come to Russia, visited a restoran that offered Russian cuisine and ordered chicken ratatouille – unbelievable!//////////

Last full day in St. Petersburg and there’s so much more we would like to see and do. We take the tube to Vassili island. Silvia won’t allow we to talk on the phone in the tube, because everyone is looking. „A 10-year-old Samsung with a flip is not much of a sight.“ – I don’t understand, but Silvia says that I might as well carry around a landline and twirl the oldfashioned round number dial. To be honest, when I looked around even the scarfed old ladies and gents in weird hats tinker with their smartphones. I remember that in the olden days, everyone was reading – even the people who were standing up and had all their hands full. Maybe I would be less noticable with a book in my hands than an ancient phone. I really don’t understand why I should buy a new phone when mine calls just fine. Which is more than I can say about the phones my family members have. Everyone has a smart phone and all I hear is someone squiling, that they can’t hear or they can’t reach someone or the phone just randomly dials people and calls them, without it’s owner noticing or giving permission. I amd actually quite excited to see if I can manage to make it through this trip with my old phone.

From the Vassili tube station there’s quite a long way to the Kunstkamera, where we want to go. There’s also a piroznaja (cafe) on our way. We eat pies and vareniki and drink tea. It’s a very typical little Russian piroznaja or kofeinaja - very clean and in order with a big selection of diferent kinds of pies and pastries. The sausage pastries tasted quite like our own at home.

„    Põshki“ –  a little coffee or tea shop, where there's nice tea and hot pies. It's also very cheap. We highly recommend it.

Silvia on her blog: Kunstkamera was to hold a very strange privte collection by Peter the Great. I for one really wanted to see a fetus in a jar. When we first entered the muuseum, the ground floor was filled with diferent items associated with everyday lives of people from all kinds of diferent cultures. Basically pots and pans and rugs and so on. Very interesting (not really), but I came to see a baby in a jar. On the first floor I saw the baby + a whole lot of other creepy things. You see, in Europe during Peter the Great’s time it became really populaar to collect all kinds of strange things, like deformsed fetuses and exotical stuffed animals and display them in one’s home. Peter the Great really liked this and he felt ha had to educate Russian people so be fuounded Russia’s first muuseum and filled with oddities.

A baby in a jar and other oddeties in the Kunstkamera.

A nostalgic moment in the cafe "Sever" (Nord). When I went to Leningrad when I was a youngster visiting it was a must. 

Our last supper was in „Pelmennaja“. The Russian dumpling is an art in itself and we definitely want to eat them again.

This is what Usbeki pelmeni look like (mantõ)

Nevski at night

We spend our morning looking for a post Office (hopefully our cards reached Animaggi Oulu clinic and Blue Cross Hospital in Cape Town), losing our camera in our hotel room (we have no luck with cameras) and getting to the airport. Good-bye St. Petersburg. I’ll see you next fall during Baltic Forum. Colleagues, for your information, the organizers of Baltic Forum are looking for lectors for next years conference as well. If someone is interested in spending a few fall days in this beautiful city by the Neva river, contact me at tiina@toometikliinik.ee