Woke up early at Adel's uncle's place, had breakfast, and headed over to Adel's family's flat in the south part of the city.
Adel and I then went for a bit of a walk about the center of Kazan', seeing the parks around the central lakes, the old Kremin hosting the central mosque, orthodox church and the presidential manor of the Tatar Republic. 
We walked up and down the central pedestrian mall amongst the boutiques and cafes lining the cobblestone street and had a couple of beers to take in the local scenery.Headed back to the flat via the subway, but, before we got home, decided to stop in a local Tatar cafe to have a beer and maybe some shashlik.
The local denizens in the surrounding three tables were a little bit interested in why we were speaking in English, and started in with the usual questions. The two girls, both single moms of perhaps dubious character, but lively enough, we jokingly interested in finding a 'free lifetime plane ticket to Canada'. We started chatting with them and three of the boys that worked in the cafe.After a shashlik dinner and after twilight, we headed up the street in the direction of home. I stopped by a bank machine to grab some money for the next few days and then a little bit of beer for the park. We all were sitting around the sandbox chatting when one of the girls 'accidentally' fell back into me taking us both over backwards. When I got up, I noticed that my wallet was missing and had likely been snatched immediately before. She, and everyone else, denied that they had taken it and made a large production of 'helping me find it'. However, Adel and I didn't believe them - we asked to search them, but the one who had taken it had probably grabbed the cash walked off and threw the wallet away in the acre of uncut park grass. And that's how I fell victim to a classic pickpocket sting operation. Fortunately, they didn't get at my documents and reserve money stash that I had secreted away in the money belt... Had a great next few hours trying to get to sleep thinking about: 1) the blow to my traveling confidence; 2) all the things that I could have to prevent the situation; and 3) figuring out what to do about money. Looking forward to the next few days/weeks of damage control!!!
That's awful!! What creeps ...your escapade with the police was super interesting to read about in your next entry and yes, you can see how their low-pay would lead to corruption. Hopefully you got your debit cards ok and good that you seem to have let it go ...It can happen to the most vigilant, which I'm sure you're among.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful blue building/church!