Kaliningrad Local Customs

There are several parts in the city where you may see the paving stones and setts in the roads. On the photo is the place where the setts turn to asphalt, the place is the central park near by (Dmitry Donskoy Street).

Well, during almost a week we spent in Kaliningrad we found only 3 cars made in Russia/USSR (agree that I could not look around much and maybe didn't find a few). I read that the citizens due to its location to Europe prefer European cars (not always new) but I couldn't imagine how locals love European cars :-) So, try to renovate my record and to find more Russian-made cars in the city :-)

Funny story: my two Dutch friends and I went on both nights to this entertainment palace next of the Bridge of the Leninin Prospekt MOHEMHbIU and after a so so dinner in the restaurant, we moved ourselves to the Kazino!

Here we found one roulette and a few black jack tables. Here are five times more employees working than guests playing.
Asking ourselves how it would be to lose 9 out of 10 games, while being a big mobster in Kaliningrad, I decided to ask the bartender for a round, dwa pievää and one kagnak.
Right after behind me a few Kazino girls started laughing because of my pronunciation and so my two friends made endless jokes about it.
Embarassing that the way how I order cognac was a bit too much.
Whatever, these two friends themselves were happy with me showing them the way around with me petite knowledge of the Russian alphabeth so ça va but KagnaK will turn me smiling!
Costs: 60RR in case you take a local one, Courvoisier and Hennesy are sold for European prices.

Locals call their city 'Kenigsberg' or just 'Kenig', as the Cyrilic alphabet has no equivalent for the German ?. The university proudly calls itself Albertina, like its German predecessor. These are just two of many symptoms of the big change the city is going through. Living in an area that's officially Russian but seperated by the rest of Russia by Lithuania, the people of Kaliningrad are increasingly losing their ties to the motherland. They are Russian in majority, but they feel Europeans more than anything else. Unfortunately there are also extremist forces who oppose the city's development. Russian warveterans (most of whom still are fanatical communists) who obviously regret that the war is over have demanded that the city's 750th birthday in 2005 will not be celebrated. Not surprisingly president Putin, a former KGB-henchman and a fanatical admirer of Stalin himself, sympathizes with this despicable bunch. Hopefully that will not discourage the people and they will continue to work on a more civilised city. With their persistence this could be a city of peace.