The Fire Escape Is Locked for Your Safety: On the Road in the Former Soviet Union Book

	Introduction	ix
	Glossary	xi
	Foreword	xvii
Part I	Ukraine and Belarus	1
	Ukraine	3
Chapter 1	The Twelve Thousand Mile Journey Begins	3
	Belarus	9
Chapter 2	Dog Days in an Oppressed Country	9
Chapter 3	Disaster in the Subway Entrance	13
Chapter 4	Do I Have to Smuggle My Own Money?	15
Chapter 5	Long Lines at the Opera House	17
Chapter 6	The Train to Grodno	20
Chapter 7	The City Bus	24
Chapter 8	Hotel Belarus	25
Chapter 9	Nightmare at Customs	30
Part II	The Baltics	37
	Lithuania	38
Chapter 1	The Patriotic Schoolteacher	38
	Latvia	40
Chapter 2	The Frightened Pensioner	40
Chapter 3	The Not-Quite-Post-Soviet Waiter	42
Chapter 4	The Country House	44
Chapter 5	Sunday in the Country	47
	Estonia	48
Chapter 6	Optimistic Youth	48
Chapter 7	To Finland	51
Part III	The Far North	53
	Finland	54
Chapter 1	North to the Arctic Circle	54
Chapter 2	Lapland: Land of the Midnight Sun	56
	Russia	57
Chapter 3	The Back Road into Russia	57
Chapter 4	Military Murmansk	59
Chapter 5	Kizhi Island	61
Chapter 6	Milking Tourists in Saint Petersburg	63
Chapter 7	The Fed-Up Railroad Man	67
Chapter 8	"The Constitution Does Not Apply to Us"	70
Chapter 9	Moscow Bureaucrats and a Tough-Talking Retired Military Man	72
Chapter 10	The Nuclear Engineer-Turned-Security Guard	77
Chapter 11	The Dacha	79
Part IV	The Golden Ring	83
Chapter 1	Travel Logistics Can Be Challenging	84
Chapter 2	The Best Hotel in Town	90
Chapter 3	Those Noisy Church Bells!	93
Chapter 4	Through the Countryside to Kostroma	94
Chapter 5	A Comfortable Ride to Suzdal	96
Chapter 6	Idyllic Suzdal	99
Chapter 7	The Stalinist Librarian	102
Chapter 8	Religious Revival	109
Chapter 9	Heart Trouble in Paradise	112
Part V	The Volga	115
Chapter 1	Stalingrad	117
Chapter 2	Fire-Safe in Volgograd	118
Chapter 3	Evening with the Trendsetters	120
Chapter 4	A Hot, Dry Day	122
Chapter 5	Full Boat Going North	125
Chapter 6	Red Tape and Heavy Arms in the Deep South	127
Chapter 7	Up the Volga River	140
Chapter 8	The Volga Boatmen-Turned-Entrepreneurs	142
Chapter 9	The Volga Sewer	144
Chapter 10	River Life in the Southern Desert	146
Chapter 11	How the First Steward Lines His Pockets	149
Chapter 12	Rainy Days on the River	151
Chapter 13	Tatarstan	153
Chapter 14	A Leninist True Believer	156
Part VI	The Trans-Siberian Railroad-West	159
Chapter 1	The Urals	160
Chapter 2	Travelling Third Class	163
Chapter 3	The Heart of Fly-Over Country	166
Chapter 4	Self-Reliant Family and Neighbors	168
Chapter 5	Schoolteachers Turned Fish-Mongers	173
Chapter 6	The Uncultured Peasant	176
Chapter 7	Hitchhiking to Irkutsk	179
Part VII	Trans-Siberian Railroad-East	181
Chapter 1	Scientists Riding the Rails	182
Chapter 2	Buryat Senior Citizens	183
Chapter 3	The Frisky Nurse	185
Chapter 4	The Longest Leg of the Journey	186
Chapter 5	The Russian Far East	190
Chapter 6	All Foreigners Are Alike	192
Chapter 7	The End of the Line	193
Chapter 8	Souvenirs With a Hidden Price Tag	194
Chapter 9	Coming Home	195