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So we left work for an exciting weekend in Moscow.There were only 2 choices in flights - 7am or 10pm.Obviously, work still had to be done, so we chose the later one.We went to an Italian restaurant to eat - I had a calzone, while Lyuba and Charles had some really good pizza.One thing I don't like here in Russia is how hard it is to find Diet Coke (a.k.a. Coke Light).
Some other differences are the smoking, drinking beer in the streets, and the lack of anyone speaking English. (Although they are happy to sing along to English music…) I have also seen a lot of mullets - on both men and women. Last week I saw a trash can on fire (I am guessing that a cigarette is to blame?)… I guess it is good that they don't want to litter, but it seemed somewhat dangerous.
Ok, so at the airport.We get our tickets and have to go through security/customs.And the fun begins.
We were supposed to have "registered" with the government when we got to our hotel. Not really sure what that entails, but apparently the hotel should take care of it for you. Apparently all hotels except the one we stayed in.The hotel didn't register Charles and me, therefore we had been in Russia for 5 days without "registering", and thus had to go into the immigration guard's office.What a way to start a weekend.So this guy doesn't speak more than a couple words of English.He starts to "interrogate" Lyuba and he couldn't seem to get his story straight.He wanted us to pay the "official fine" of 3,000 RUR each, but we couldn't pay now because the post office was closed.Then he wanted us to pay the "unofficial fine" of 1,500 RUR to him in cash.I hope you can appreciate the irony of all this in relation to my job. Well, he wrote us up, we didn't pay him, and he said that we could register in Moscow.The fine would be sent to our company in Moscow.Apparently if they catch you twice, you can lose your 'privileges' to get a Russian visa.
As soon as we got on the plane, I completely passed out from exhaustion.I guess the guard wore me out.On of my favorite things about this airport are the signs that warn you about illegal taxi drivers - and the illegal taxi drivers are standing under them.We didn't get to the hotel until about midnight, and I barely noticed that you have to walk through a metal detector to get into the hotel (it was a Crowne Plaza).We tried to "register" here to avoid the same police problem, but you will learn more about that tomorrow. I managed to get a nice room, with a bed that was "sleep-able" - awesome
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