Lermontov's duel site memorial in Pyatigorsk.
d) Pyatigorsk – Kislovodsk’s bigger cousin, this city is the home of Lermontov. He was exiled here from St. Petersburg for writing poetry offensive to the Tsar and here he wrote his best poetry and his famous novel “A Hero of Our Time.” It was also here that he died. He had made a joke in poor taste to his best friend at a party here in Pyatigorsk and his friend had challenged him to a duel. The next morning, the duel took place. Lermontov shot first, firing into the air, not wanting to kill his best friend. His friend then shot him through the heart, killing him instantly. Chivalry… Not a whole lot going on otherwise… It snowed and was cold (the babushkas at our hotel in Kislovodsk insisted then personally inspected that we all wore our hats and scarves. You have to love this country).
Yours truly in front of some water and not at the football match described below.
e) Football – We played a pickup game, 5 v 5, against some of the guys who worked at one of the sanatoriums near our hotel. After our abysmal basketball showing, we were eager to not get embarrassed. We didn’t, and we managed to pull out a fair game. I had a few great saves as goalie and then came on to score the winning goal with a superb volley off of a high pass. I was pretty proud, especially after my zero point, zero rebound, zero assist basketball game… Plus we got to hang out with some Russian bros and they invited us into their employees break room in the sanatorium (the break room was in an abandoned fallout shelter from the 70s, replete with quadruple steel doors) for tea and biscuits, Russian style.
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