Russia Day 3

Made it down on time with luggage in hand (screw the hour-early thing just to have the porter carry things). Quite a long bus ride today to Novogorod – wish we were flying. Time to put in the iPod.

Later …

Wow, what a drive. That has to be one of the worst excuses for a highway I’ve ever seen. And it was supposed to be the main highway in Russia connecting the two biggest cities. One lane in each direction with a passing lane in the middle. Lots of construction, potholes, very bumpy, etc. We should totally have taken the train (which Karel says is good) or flown, either to Novgorod or straight to St. Petersburg.

People cracked open the vodka on he bus and started doing shots. Very funny. Haley was slyly asking for some of the cups Lorelei brought, thinking Jennifer was doing the vodka on the sly. Turns out it was her dad’s bottle of Russian Standard, and he was bartender. Should be some good pictures. The bottle I bought back in Moscow is definitely lower quality – can’t wait to finish it off and get some better stuff.

Dinner followed by vodka at the hotel bar. Sad news is that Sergei is leaving us and going back to Moscow. He covered Moscow, and we had a one-day guide (Natasha) for Novogorod and another guide (Anya) for the rest of the trip. Sergei and Anya are both hottie/model quality – some wistful looks around the bus when it was learned he wasn’t staying on. ;)