My Russia Memoirs Part 3: My Thoughts, Impressions and Experiences, By Amb Adichie Izuchukwu

VOLGOGRAD: I spent a day in Volgograd - The day Nigeria's Super Eagles challenged Iceland’s national team in the second Group D match. I spent ten hours interacting with locals before match, we arrived via a 2.30hrs flight of Ural Airlines. Volgograd is located in south-eastern Russia. The city was built as a fortress on the right bank of Volga. The longest city in Russia, the total area of the city is 565 sq. km. There is an interesting and rich history in Volgograd, with a lot of historical monuments, culture and architecture. The city has experienced many historical events.

We arrived the most important industrial, economic and cultural / historical center of Russia, with the population of over 1, 500,000 people. The Major industries there are chemical, petrochemical, woodworking, petroleum, light industry, food industry, ferrous and nonferrous metallurgy, machinery, building materials and energy. Also in Volgograd, there is an airport, more of railways because of the economic importance of the city, the largest river port in Europe and cryogenic rail tankers which transport Petroleum products. There are also two federal highways across the city.

Volgograd is a major tourist center. It is a monument-city and a hero-city, visited by hundreds of thousands of Russians and foreign nationals, annually.

Tourists are attracted by Volgagrad's nature, mineral springs, spa and rest-houses, along with the rich and glorious history. There are many museums and monuments, with a vibrant culture and architecture. This city has a well-developed transportation network. Buses, trolleybuses (powered by electricity), tramsway, minibuses and taxis.

With two goals from Ahmed Musa, Nigeria’s Super Eagles' defeated the Icelandic team whose national fans were their twelfth man on the pitch. Inside the 45,568 capacity Volgograd Arena, located at Lenina Ave 76, Volgograd, were not more than two hundred Nigerian supporters, including Football Made in Anambra Delegates, led by my principal, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah. Other Nigerians present includes, the Gubernatorial Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the November 18, 2017 Anambra State Governorship Election, Mr. Oseloka Obaze and Alex Iwobi's family.

Security were on ground and well-coordinated. The locals were happy with Nigeria's contingents. There was no White Night, another surprise? Yes, definitely! We boarded Ural Airlines back to St. Petersburg the next morning after the match. Though I was asleep for most part of the journey, one thing I couldn't take, was the mineral water served in the plane. It is commonly consumed in Russia.

ST. P’BURG:  Back to St. Petersburg, from the heroes city, and up next was lunch at McDonald's, a boat cruise over the St. Petersburg's canal and dinner at KFC with the Football Made in Anambra contingent, proudly led by the big boss, Dr. Patrick Ifeanyi Ubah and his family, including Master Ejie Ubah, his last son whose birthday fell on the same day. It is worthy to note that Ejim's birthday song was led by the Nigeria Football Federation's, (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick, after which the Football administrator gave a vote of thanks to Dr. Ubah for his commitment to the growth of Football in Nigeria and for sponsoring the over fifty-three member Anambra contingent to Russia.

A boat cruise in St. Petersburg was remarkable. They were varieties of boats and operators. One may choose to cruise with small private or multi-level river cruiser. Having booked a boat trip in advance, due to increase in demand by tourists, we cruised from the popular Palace Square canal to the inner city. Our boat trip was conducted by a tour guide.

As we cruised, we sang the Nigerian National and FC IfeanyiUbah Club Anthem.

It was indeed an unforgettable and exciting moment for us all as our happiness and team spirit kept us together. It also offered us a good opportunity to expand our knowledge and horizon.

After our boat cruise, we retired to KFC, where we had our dinner. Before we could go back to our apartment to end the day, we've had the interesting part of people from different nations asking to take pictures with us. The photo session has been a concurrent affair, since my first day in Russia.

St. Petersburg is a city that was built on a river with different islands, the bridges are unarguably the main connection - late nights and early morning, when the Metro stops running. One could find schedules for the bridges anywhere like; tourist books inside a taxi, Google, hotel receptions, bars and restaurants, tour guides, etc.

Being on the right side of the river is always advised. Most bridges go up between 1:00am-5:00am, with Palace Bridge being the first. We were earlier informed about the time schedules during our tour to Vasilyevsky Island by a guide and consequently, I was able to be on the right side of the river during my visit to the Palace Bridge the night after.

Vasilyevsky Island is situated across the river from the Winter Palace - The Hermitage. Having constituted a large portion of the city's historic center, it's bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by the Gulf of Finland in the west. Vasilyevsky Island is separated from Dekabristov Island by the Smolenka River. Together they form the territory of Vasileostrovsky District, an administrative division of Saint Petersburg.

Two of the most famous St. Petersburg bridges, Palace Bridge and Blagoveshchensky Bridge, connect it with the mainland to the south. The Exchange Bridge and Tuchkov Bridge across the Malaya Neva connect it with Petrogradsky Island. Vasilyevsky Island is served by Vasileostrovskaya and Primorskaya stations of Saint Petersburg Metro. In addition, the island is serviced by bus routes and tramway lines.

RELIGION:  People who doubted the existence of religion in Russia are urged to rethink because there are churches, cathedrals and mosques in the major cities. During the Soviet years, churches were destroyed and those that survived being destroyed have been rebuilt in the last two decades.

In Saint Petersburg, I visited the largest Russian cathedral in the city known as Saint Isaac - Isaakiyevskiy sobor. It is the largest orthodox Basilica and the fourth largest (by the volume under the cupola) cathedral in the world. The Church is dedicated to Saint Isaac of Dalmatia, a patron saint of Peter the Great, who had been born on the feast day of that saint.

It took forty years to complete the building of St. Isaac (1818 - 1858) which is gold plated. The Cathedral also serves as a tourist center where tourist needs to pay 400 руб for a ticket and 200 руб for a tour guide.

GOOGLE:  Staying in Russia compelled me to be accustomed to “Google Translate”. This was due to difficulty in communication caused by language barrier. The app was an aid during shopping, movements and most of my communications with locals and people from other countries that attended the World Cup event. The app was also needed to hotel apartments as it was the only means of communication with taxi drivers.

KRESTOVSKY: I thought I had seen it all. However, a visit to the Krestovsky Stadium the venue of third Group D match between Argentina vs Nigeria came with new surprises.

Gosh! Straight away, I called this one of the most beautiful stadiums ever seen. Krestovsky Stadium, officially Saint Petersburg Stadium which is also called Zenit Arena is a retractable roof stadium situated in the western part of Krestovsky Island in Saint Petersburg. It serves as home ground for FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. The stadium has a capacity of 67,000. It is thirty minutes by road from Hilton Hotels.

INFRASTRUCTURE:  Russian is known for its breathtaking infrastructures. The bridge leading to the stadium is elegant. In architecture, beauty lies in the performance and behavior of a structure. Zenit Arena is a well secured stadium. A graceful structure striking a permanent pose. The structural form has an aesthetic appeal that's driven by the 3 Es of engineering designs. The engineering creativity of St. Petersburg Stadium satisfies the requirements of efficiency and economy, and is also elegant with its glowing lights with inter changing colors.

ARGENTINA:  Before this scintillating game, I did not see the Argentines going further. The team was dysfunctional with weaknesses in many facets. Against Croatia’s midfield, they were badly exposed thus placing on Lionel Messi needless pressure.

Marcos Rojo’s clinical volley in the 86th minute rescued the Argentines after Victor Moses’s penalty canceled out Lionel Messi’s opening goal.

The hearts of Nigerians were broken and it was another extraordinary evening.

Although the quality of football might not be that high as we expected, but we were treated to a late night show that was worth it.

THE METRO:  The Metro transport system in Russia is almost a tourist attraction in and off itself, with most of the stations dating back to the 1930s.

A metro station is a rapid railway station transit system. Each station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in case of an emergency.

Rapid transit systems are powered by electric trains which operate on an exclusive right-of-way, which cannot be accessed by pedestrians or other vehicles of any sort, and which is often grade separated in tunnels or on elevated railways.

They are breathtaking, resembling underground palaces with marble walls and floors, bas-reliefs, chandeliers, and even mosaics and stained glass windows.

I will always advise everyone to travel via metro, even if they don’t want to, just for the feel of it because I have had a good taste of it.

CENTRAL AREA: Central Area in Moscow was my favorite destination with all its glamorous hubs, magnificent structures and well laid out transport system. It is one of the best planned cities in Europe. Most locals do not often use all the metro stations. This is due to an increased number of car ownership after the fall of the Soviet Union. This phenomenon has contributed to Moscow being rated as the worst traffic congested city in the world.

As an organized system, the traffic laws weren't exclusive though the locals often disobeyed them damming the consequences. There are fixed speed cameras. Anyone caught by a fixed camera will have a penalty ticket sent to the registered address of the car owner. The speed limit is 60 km/h. Without a hands-free kit, it is illegal to drive while using mobile phones. The minimum age to drive a car is 18. Also, wearing of seat belts is mandatory. Another thing that caught my attention was when a taxi driver told me that it is illegal to drive a dirty car if the registration number is unknown.

Russia has many traffic regulations. Knowing them is key to avoiding trouble with the traffic police.

POLITICS: I totally understand that some people have made decisions about not visiting Russia, because they don't agree with Putin and his politics - but just like almost every other country in the world, the government in Russia enjoys support from its citizens on the issue of foreign policies notwithstanding the weak economy base. However, the newer economy are hugely dependent on state involvement and private involvement remains inefficient.

PUTIN: Maintenance of pension fund and regular payouts is a priority of President Vladimir Putin. Although benefits and rate of funding are often adjusted, with retirement age pegged at 65 years, every Russian Federation pensioner has been a priority of government.

Government has also developed some other policies to support the citizens. There are existing health insurance schemes. Government has also introduced a policy that reward each parent who have a second child with money and two bedroom flat apartment, this was due to the fear of decreasing population.

1F1F:  In Moscow, we did the laudable. The 1F1F Project is expected to produce one million football stars. The Africa Football Revolution Initiative Project - 1 Family 1 Footballer was successfully unveiled on Saturday, 14th July, 2018 in Moscow, with the leadership of FIFA, CAF and some Presidents of various Football Associations in attendance.

BYE RUSSIA:  President Vladimir Putin deserves commendation for opening up Russia to the World through the World Cup. On a good note, there were much to see and do in Russia. It was absolutely a remarkable period of time, experience, and a dream come true.

The LOC were excellent in the organization even though it was a world event. There was amazing unity as even the old historical Nazism style of life was discontinued. There was a clear signal of a capable security and technical excellence. I felt the artistic discipline and architectural expression rooted in deep history and collective manifestations of human intellectual achievement.

Would I feel unsafe coming back to Russia since the government has given the FAN ID holders free visa entry till the year end?

I actually felt safe the entire time.

I and my colleagues - the Chief of Staff, Chief Protocol Officer, Director of Graphics, Creativity and Image Making amongst others had no trouble with immigrations going back to Nigeria through the same Qatar Airways route after our thirty days in Russia which saw France beating the highly spirited Croatians to win the 2018 World Cup.

Spasibo Rossiya 2018.