Holy Freaking Crap, I'm in Russia!
I managed to make the German keyboard work for me in Hamburg, god help me if I have to use a cyrillic one. Fortunately, my hotels "business center" has english keyboards - this is good for everyone involved in this blog.
Holy Freaking Crap. I'm in Russia. This place can't be real - I suppose I should just go through my day chronologically.
The first part of my day was pretty boring actually. I got up at about 4 am, got a taxi to the Hamburg airport and flew without incident to Copenhagen and onwards to St Petersburg. This is where things get interesting. There wasn't anything in particular bad that happened, just a sort of realization of the I'm-not-in-Kansas-anymore variety.
First thing when you get off the plane, is Russian immigration (crap). Things went smoothly enough, and I got through relatively quickly. There was a constant sound of stamps thudding againts the wooden counters in exactly the way you would picture it. Also, I was not let down in the appearance of my Russian immigration official. She looked business, and also like she could bench press me.
Next came the really interesting part - getting myself to the airport. The taxi drivers wanted 50 euro (!!) so I decided to take the public method (public for both humans and probably livestock). First I had to get cash - roubles to be exact. At the ATM it asked me for an amount and I took out 1500 and soon realized this was only 50 bucks. I kinda like roubles, they make you feel really really rich. monopoly money of sorts. ($1= 28 roubles)
Anyway, back to the public transit. So once I get cash, I wait for the K-13 bus, and take it to Moscowavskaya stations. The only problem is that all this stuff is written with the cyrillic alphabet. I hand the driver a 500 rouble note for a 30 rouble fare. we're no longer friends in his mind. Grudgingly makes the change and I stand in the middle of the bus.
I only know its time to get off the bus and into the metro station when everyone else does. This was my plan from the beginning, and I'm truly thankful it worked. Going down the escalator I start to wonder how far down I'm going. When I look over the person in front of me I realize that I'm sinking into Haites, and fast. The subway here is at least 3 times as deep as any I'd ever seen before. It's really unbelievable.
Inside the station, waiting at the platform I realize that this place is built like a palace. The walls are all marble and the signs are down in wrought iron painted gold! Each station was different but all equally impressive. I've heard the ones downtown are even better. (can't wait)
All along the sides of the platform in the marbel covered walls are sets of heavy iron doors. Once a train comes in behind them, they fly open (with serious force) and people get on and off the train. Once inside the train, the doors fly shut (god help you if you're in the way, theres no child safety anything around here!) and the train speeds off. On arrival at the first stop I realize that Russian metro drivers dont like to slow down, and just jam on the breaks as hards as they can about 5 feet before the stop. I make myself abundantly clear as the tourist when I go flying.
Since I don't understand a lick of Russian, and can't read the cyrillic alphabet I was only able to tell where to get off by counting stops. Once I get to my stop its easy to get to my hotel. Since I haven't already, I'll give you a few tips on Russian public transit ettiquete for your next trip over hear.
1) push and shove as many people as you can
2) push and shove as many people as you can
3) push and shove as many people as you can
4) don't wait for people to get off the trains before pushing and shoving as many of them as you can
5) don't smile. For the love of god man, don't smile.
there, 5 easy tips that will make your trip a breeze.
Alright, so now I'm at the hotel which is HUUUUUUGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE. Clearly a product of the soviet era by the sheer size, architecture and the amount of bueracracy to check in.
They have 7 elevators - they need 2 (in case the 1 they actually need were to break).
I think there are more people working here than staying here, but that's just a guess. Regardless, this place is really overstaffed and seems a total throwback to the mid-80s. The rooms aren't bad, but they aren't good either. My room doesnt have a view of the river, but those that do have spectacular ones.
The TV doesnt work, not that I want to put any undue pressure on this place's electrical grid. The toilet kinda flushes, and my matress is about as old as the hotel. The furniture is all really beat up - I think they bought some of it from my old fraternity house... It's pretty bleak.
I'm going to try and go out to see some of the town tonight, but I need to meet up with my tour guide and other travelling companions before dinner. I'm sure I'll be updating this soon - there's a lot to talk about in Russia.
From Russia with Love,
Andrew
Holy Freaking Crap. I'm in Russia. This place can't be real - I suppose I should just go through my day chronologically.
The first part of my day was pretty boring actually. I got up at about 4 am, got a taxi to the Hamburg airport and flew without incident to Copenhagen and onwards to St Petersburg. This is where things get interesting. There wasn't anything in particular bad that happened, just a sort of realization of the I'm-not-in-Kansas-anymore variety.
First thing when you get off the plane, is Russian immigration (crap). Things went smoothly enough, and I got through relatively quickly. There was a constant sound of stamps thudding againts the wooden counters in exactly the way you would picture it. Also, I was not let down in the appearance of my Russian immigration official. She looked business, and also like she could bench press me.
Next came the really interesting part - getting myself to the airport. The taxi drivers wanted 50 euro (!!) so I decided to take the public method (public for both humans and probably livestock). First I had to get cash - roubles to be exact. At the ATM it asked me for an amount and I took out 1500 and soon realized this was only 50 bucks. I kinda like roubles, they make you feel really really rich. monopoly money of sorts. ($1= 28 roubles)
Anyway, back to the public transit. So once I get cash, I wait for the K-13 bus, and take it to Moscowavskaya stations. The only problem is that all this stuff is written with the cyrillic alphabet. I hand the driver a 500 rouble note for a 30 rouble fare. we're no longer friends in his mind. Grudgingly makes the change and I stand in the middle of the bus.
I only know its time to get off the bus and into the metro station when everyone else does. This was my plan from the beginning, and I'm truly thankful it worked. Going down the escalator I start to wonder how far down I'm going. When I look over the person in front of me I realize that I'm sinking into Haites, and fast. The subway here is at least 3 times as deep as any I'd ever seen before. It's really unbelievable.
Inside the station, waiting at the platform I realize that this place is built like a palace. The walls are all marble and the signs are down in wrought iron painted gold! Each station was different but all equally impressive. I've heard the ones downtown are even better. (can't wait)
All along the sides of the platform in the marbel covered walls are sets of heavy iron doors. Once a train comes in behind them, they fly open (with serious force) and people get on and off the train. Once inside the train, the doors fly shut (god help you if you're in the way, theres no child safety anything around here!) and the train speeds off. On arrival at the first stop I realize that Russian metro drivers dont like to slow down, and just jam on the breaks as hards as they can about 5 feet before the stop. I make myself abundantly clear as the tourist when I go flying.
Since I don't understand a lick of Russian, and can't read the cyrillic alphabet I was only able to tell where to get off by counting stops. Once I get to my stop its easy to get to my hotel. Since I haven't already, I'll give you a few tips on Russian public transit ettiquete for your next trip over hear.
1) push and shove as many people as you can
2) push and shove as many people as you can
3) push and shove as many people as you can
4) don't wait for people to get off the trains before pushing and shoving as many of them as you can
5) don't smile. For the love of god man, don't smile.
there, 5 easy tips that will make your trip a breeze.
Alright, so now I'm at the hotel which is HUUUUUUGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE. Clearly a product of the soviet era by the sheer size, architecture and the amount of bueracracy to check in.
They have 7 elevators - they need 2 (in case the 1 they actually need were to break).
I think there are more people working here than staying here, but that's just a guess. Regardless, this place is really overstaffed and seems a total throwback to the mid-80s. The rooms aren't bad, but they aren't good either. My room doesnt have a view of the river, but those that do have spectacular ones.
The TV doesnt work, not that I want to put any undue pressure on this place's electrical grid. The toilet kinda flushes, and my matress is about as old as the hotel. The furniture is all really beat up - I think they bought some of it from my old fraternity house... It's pretty bleak.
I'm going to try and go out to see some of the town tonight, but I need to meet up with my tour guide and other travelling companions before dinner. I'm sure I'll be updating this soon - there's a lot to talk about in Russia.
From Russia with Love,
Andrew
posted by Andrew at
8:44 AM
2 Comments:
Oh, my God, we (at the office) love reading your posts. I give you a lot of credit. Hope you're taking lots of pictures.
Onward!
By
Mom, at 11:46 AM
Hey Behn,
I've been reading your journal and I'm so amazingly jealous that you're traveling around the world - especially now that you're in Russia. I wish I had some good tips for you, but I've never been back. Take lots of pictures and I'll pester you for them once we're both in Berkeley.
Take care,
Dina
By
Anonymous, at 12:12 AM
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