russia: zima

My train arrived in the middle of the night in a town called Zima. I'm guessing no one reading this has ever heard of it, as it isn't a place anyone visits. Zima is the Russian word for winter. The silly part of me wanted to be able to say I visited Zima during zima.

The train station in Zima was warm, and had a nice waiting room on the second floor. I hung out there for quite a while, knowing it wasn't going to take me long to explore the whole town.

Zima does not have a Lenin statue, that's how small it is.

After leaving the station I saw a locomotive on display in front of the station, it was neat to see. There was a fence around it, I don't know why. There can't possibly be that many people trying to climb on it, nor was the fence tall enough to stop anyone who really wanted to do damage.

From there I crossed over the tracks on a pedestrian bridge, I always love that view of a train station. Not too far from where I stepped off the stairs on the other side was a monument to a traveler of some kind. 

A guy with a camel, next to a post with distances to several cities marked. I liked it, it felt as if there was acknowledgement that Zima was in the middle of nowhere.

I walked the entire length of Lenin street, there was no Lenin statue. How is such a city allowed to exist? ;)

Walking the length of Lenin street didn't take long, even with two or three photo stops. One was of a city sign, with which I took a selfie. Another was of an apartment building. At the edge of town I took a photo with an apartment building on one side, and a wide open field on the other side.

From there I decided to walk a grid pattern of the streets, to try to kill some more time. Unfortunately, on one of the streets I had my worst experience as a traveler in Russia.

A local guy started yelling at me, and getting aggressive, though I never figured out why. He yelled and got closer, I backed up and tried to go around him, he wouldn't let me. At some point he pushed me and I ended up on the ground.

At this point a local lady got close and stepped in to help. She started yelling right back at the guy, telling him I was just a visitor. (I don't know what else she said, but I did understand this part. I keep saying this, but I really need to learn more Russian.) 

I was behind her, and kept trying to go around the side, but the guy just wouldn't let me. Then a car pulled up and opened its door. The lady looked at the driver and indicated I should get in, so I did. I have no idea who the lady is, but she saved me, and for that I'm eternally grateful.

I really wish I knew why the guy was so upset, but I didn't. The guy driving took me back to the train station, as I was too shaken up to do anything else. (Not that the town was big enough for me to do much more walking.) The friend of the guy driving got my Instagram account, and when I posted the photo of them I took from the back seat of the car I tagged them in it, and thanked them and the lady.

I boarded my next train as soon as it pulled into the station, I was happy to leave. Despite being a very small town with nothing to see, I was still able to buy a town magnet in the train station. Somehow I lost that magnet, much to my annoyance.

Needless to say, I won't be back to Zima, not even to get a replacement magnet.