Welcome to Moscow! ...which is the name of my hotel in St. Petersburg! My apologies for any confusion that may cause.
So I made it here, arrived at Pulkova airport, decided that taxis are for chumps, and therefore took a bus to the metro and schlepped my luggage to the hotel myself. It actually wasn't so bad, considering the crazy taxi price upwards of 1000 rubles (about $30) vs. my bus fare of 35r (about $1). Throw in a 500r 2-week metro card and I'm livin' large (about $15 for 20 metro rides). Keep in mind, we are in the big city here --- so this is pricey for Russia. And now you know why I prefer living here.
I got to my hotel without any problems, which is great because St. Petersburg and I don't always get along so well. For a quick blog-history on my (very strange) experiences related to St. Pete since my first visit in 2010, click here, here, and here. For now, things seem to be going pretty well. I am staying in a nice part of the city, I have good wi-fi, I get an amazing complimentary breakfast, and my hotel room even has one of these fancy things:
I haven't done much to report on, mostly just dealing with jetlag and the lack of sunlight. I have gotten in touch with my host organization and will meet with my coordinator tonight to start figuring out what I'll be doing work-wise, so at least I can say I'm on track with that. Last night I made myself get out of the hotel and walk down Nevskiy Prospekt for a few blocks, since I needed drinking water and was craving some of these babies:
In conclusion: I am safe, happy, hydrated, and about to take a nap (I was awake for 30 hours before I got here last night). Other things on the to-do list for today: Buy a SIM card, unpack my suitcase, and take a long, hot shower.
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| The view of St. Petersburg from a Moscow window |
So I made it here, arrived at Pulkova airport, decided that taxis are for chumps, and therefore took a bus to the metro and schlepped my luggage to the hotel myself. It actually wasn't so bad, considering the crazy taxi price upwards of 1000 rubles (about $30) vs. my bus fare of 35r (about $1). Throw in a 500r 2-week metro card and I'm livin' large (about $15 for 20 metro rides). Keep in mind, we are in the big city here --- so this is pricey for Russia. And now you know why I prefer living here.
I got to my hotel without any problems, which is great because St. Petersburg and I don't always get along so well. For a quick blog-history on my (very strange) experiences related to St. Pete since my first visit in 2010, click here, here, and here. For now, things seem to be going pretty well. I am staying in a nice part of the city, I have good wi-fi, I get an amazing complimentary breakfast, and my hotel room even has one of these fancy things:
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| ...a bidet. |
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| "Russian Potato - Super Chips! Fried Chicken" |
In conclusion: I am safe, happy, hydrated, and about to take a nap (I was awake for 30 hours before I got here last night). Other things on the to-do list for today: Buy a SIM card, unpack my suitcase, and take a long, hot shower.
Love from Russia,
Sarah
p.s. Last night "The Fifth Element" was on TV, and I watched it before bed. Awesomely bad movie, awesomely bad dubbing.
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