Sunday, July 21, 2002 10:25 Location: Computer centre, Hotel Viru, Tallinn, Estonia Weather: Hazy and warm [Picking up from yesterday’s entry, I was in the process of describing Thursday. This is why I need to keep my diary more up to date.] We got back to the hotel right on time, but rather hot and […]
Saturday, July 20, 2002 9:14 Location: Lobby, Hotel Viru, Tallinn, Estonia Weather: Sunny & hot Falling behind in the diary is stressful: it feels like I have a terrible weight of recent wonderful experiences to commit to words before my sieve of a memory forgets all the details. Thursday I spent the whole day at […]
Friday, July 19, 2002 14:35 Location: The Estonian-Russian border Weather: Slightly hazy, warm — hot on the bus We just left Russian and are parked while the Estonian border guards work through the stack of passports from our bus. Our three buses have been separated by the combined attentions of the Russians and Estonians — […]
Monday, July 15, 2002 07:41 Location: Hotel Pulkovskaya Weather: Hot, some high thin cloud A fabulous busy day yesterday. We had a late start, but got to the Hermitage at 10:40 for a brief and somewhat frustrating guided tour. Absolutely impossible to get a good feel for the place in an hour and a half […]
Sunday, July 14, 2002 08:40 Location: Hotel Pulkovskaya Weather: Hot & sunny We had a long and quite tiring day yesterday. Our bus tour continued with stops on the north side of the Neva across from the Hermitage, a drive past the Peter & Paul Fortress and the Cruiser “Aurora” at berth, and a visit […]
Saturday, July 13, 2002 10:00 Location: St. Isaac’s Square Weather: Warm & sunny When I got back to the hotel yesterday the rest of the choir had arrived and was in the process of checking in. They all seemed rather shell-shocked, understandable since after an overnight flight to Helsinki they’d been bundled into buses for […]
7:46 (later the same day) I had a great afternoon, mostly just walking around the city. I have a pretty good feel for it now. Having previously figured out how to navigate concentric canals in Amsterdam sure helped. From the Idiot I walked up and along Bol Morskaya ul under the double arch and into […]
Friday, July 12, 2002 12:50 Location: Cafe Idiot, nab reki Moyki 82, St. Petersburg Weather: Hot, partly cloudy Frankie is singing “I did it my way” on the cafe’s stereo. Despite the Lonely Planet’s warning, the Idiot is not packed with expats. Indeed, it’s empty of customers, other than me, so far as I can […]
Thursday, July 11, 2002 Location: Hotel Pulkovskaya, St. Petersburg Weather: Hot & sunny I made it! Zdrastvuytye! I had no trouble getting through the passport control and customs, and as my flight was full of Italian and American tourists I slipped under the touts’ radars and made it to my bus with no problems. I […]