THE CHRONICLES OF ROBS' NORTH EAST EUROPEAN ADVENTURE

Where's da robin?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Its a hard knock life...

... for somebody else...

I'm usually pretty good about being modest... or at least not purposely bragging... but well... I'm currently staying in the fanciest schwanky hotel I have ever been in.  I'm in Moscow, Russia by the way... To my traveler's irritation, I don't think I'm anywhere near the main part of the city... to my self indulgent side... i'm debating whether to get a russian, turkish, or japanese bath... as my hotel offers all three... I remember being torn about staying here the night before my trip b/c of the cost... but then figured, well, do i really want to be running all around moscow changing hotels etc.  It is worth the money (or at least i keep telling myself that) and i can't help but wonder if this is the kind of place I will be staying during the whole tour?  Should be interesting to see.

On other notes... Russia is big.  Everything in Russia is big.  What i could only describe as "projects" sprout up everywhere randomly, so you don't really know if you are or are not in the city... b/c they just sort of come out of the woods or in the middle of a farm.  I'm guessing just b/c they look like projects, doesn't mean they actually are.  The airport was a bagillion miles away, so i got to see a good deal of country side, cows, projects, nuclear power plants, and a giant gold domed greek orthodox church.

I had to grab a cab as I didn't arrange private transport... and as you are walking into the airport, there is a giant red sign that says, "DO NOT TAKE PRIVATE TAXIS, THEY AREN"T SAFE"... I'm just like... ok... what else shall i do then?  Turns out they have these stands, where you tell them where you are going, prepay, at the stand, a set rate... then a cabbie come gets you and thats that... no overcharging, no fixed meters... its the most brilliant taxi experience i have ever had.

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