This morning we had to rise early for breakfast then we headed into the airport to go through security and passport control and to our departure gate. We were so grateful we had done our bag drop the previous evening because the queues were long. We had a wonderful smooth flight (in a SAS Canadair CRJ 900). Everything went very smoothly at passport control and there was no trouble with the visa. We had previously arranged with the hotel that they would send a taxi to pick us up for a fixed price, as all the advice on the Internet talks about taxi rip-offs. The bloke was there to meet us and got us to our hotel. However, we didn't expect that he would be driving an old car, with no working seatbelts in the back seat! Rob sat in the front and his seatbelt worked fine. I sat in the back with the seatbelt firmly held around me, as the driver ducked and weaved through the traffic at great speed. The police drove past at one stage, so at least I looked like I had a seatbelt on and we wouldn't get ourselves into trouble! Of course, if we had an accident, I knew that holding the seatbelt wasn't going to help one bit! it was all a bit hair raising. We wouldn't have got in the car if we had realised it was like this! Brought back memories of a similar hair raising taxi ride we had to Bangkok airport (also arranged by our hotel)! We are going to think of alternative options for getting back to the airport. The hazards of travel, eh?
The hotel is very quaint and small (28 rooms) and is relatively new. According to the information provided by the hotel, the interior recreates the atmosphere of St Petersburg from the second part of the 19th century. The furnishings are antique but there are modern facilities, including air conditioning. We have a spacious room which overlooks the courtyard. The hotel is called Brothers Karamazov because it is near the museum-apartment where Dostoyevsky wrote his last novel of the same name.
We are fending off runny noses and sore throats at the moment, and hope they don't stop us enjoying our time here!
