It is now probably around 2 PM and I tell Sveta of the things I want to do
while she is still with me (we had discussed this via e-mail). I want to try
exchanging US dollars for Roubles, try using an ATM machine to withdraw
Roubles, check out some Internet cafes, do some initial grocery shopping,
and take my visa for registration. She suggests we go to the Passazh to
get started. We drive west across the Simeonievskaya most, west on
Inzhenernaya ulista, turn left at Iskusstv ploshchad (‘ploshchad’ is
equivalent to ‘square’ in USA), turn right on Italianskaya ulista and park the
car there.
We enter the north door to the Passazh and Sveta shows me money
exchange areas on both sides of the aisle. I go to the one on the west side
and exchange $100 into 2775 Roubles. Then we walk to the far south side
of this enclosed mall type of shopping center where an ATM machine is
located. I try my debit card and am happy when the machine spits out
2500 Roubles (other amounts can be chosen up to 6000 Roubles.) Next
we go out into a vestibule area on the south side and take a set of steps
down the west side into a grocery store. We have other stops to make, so
I tell Sveta we will come back here just before we are done for the
afternoon.
Now we exit the south side onto Nevsky prospekt and walk west a long
block to the Grand Hotel Europe which is on the corner of Nevsky and
Mikhailovskaya ulista. The sidewalks are all torn up along Nevsky and
workers (they work well into the night and perhaps shifts work 24 hours a
day) are replacing items under the walks, and forming a new walk surface
from new granite slabs laid in sand. This, and much other renovation work
in St. Petersburg, is being done for the city’s 300 year anniversary in 2003.
The story is that the sidewalks are a priority because the mayor has a
financial interest in the firms that are doing this work.
The Grand Europe is indeed a fine hotel and reeks of first class service.
Sveta has a personal friend who works here and that person will arrange to
have my visa registered at no cost to me (or maybe it was included in the
money I was paying Sveta already.) She takes my visa and goes back into
an inner office and returns shortly. I can pick up the visa tomorrow
afternoon. Next, Sveta shows me the money exchange office (American
Express I think, but can’t remember for sure) and points out two different
ATMs in the hallway. One has a limit of 1,500 Roubles and the other one
across the hall has a limit of 1,000 Roubles. (But it later seemed that
additional withdrawals from the same machine could be made in the same
day.)
Then we go to an area referred to as the ‘business center.’ Here the very
pleasant girl tells me Internet access is $2 per 15 minutes. I ask her to
demonstrate getting up to the point of entering WWW addresses, and she
does so with a smile. Sveta also gives me the addresses of other Internet
access sites in this area. The one closest to my apartment will be the
FORT near the corner of Fontanki and Nevsky. Others are at the
Radisson Hotel and the Nevsky Sheraton, both on Nevsky east of
Fontanki.
On the way out of the hotel, we go down a hallway in the opposite direction
to view the restrooms and coffee bar. Apparently coffee here is around $5
per cup, so it is unlikely I will ever have any, but I do use the restrooms
several times over the course of my stay. These restrooms are first class,
and each stall has a miniature wash basin inside. The Russians told me
they tend to feel not as welcome in this hotel as foreigners do, but I saw no
evidence of mistreatment. Outside the hotel is a very wide sidewalk with
tables for outdoor eating and drinking. I never saw any use of these tables
during my stay. The hotel takes up an entire block on Mikhailovskaya
ulista between Nevsky prospekt and Italianskaya ulista.
We head south on Mikhailovskaya and then turn east on Nevsky and walk
back to the Passazh shopping area on the north side of Nevsky. We turn
left inside the main entrance and take the stairs at the far left to the grocery
store in the basement. This is (by US standards) a small to medium sized
store and it is referred to as US style because you remove items from
shelves yourself, put in cart or basket and check out at the front. This is in
contrast to other stores where you must ask for each item from clerks
behind counters and pay for items in separate areas (bakery, meats,
produce, etc.) Apparently the prices are higher in these ‘US style markets’
but they facilitate shopping for we non-Russian speaking persons. I put in
my cart a 5 liter bottle of purified (hopefully) water, a small carton of milk
which has an expiration date of several months away (it must be some
form of the canned milk obtainable in US, but it actually tastes much better
and I had no problem with it), a carton of orange juice, butter, 10 eggs, 4
containers of yogurt, Muesli cereal, bread, strawberry jam, a small package
containing something looking like baklava (but it turned out to be much
drier and less sweet) and two small containers of vegetable salads (sort of
like our potato salads except with other vegetables and perhaps some
meat included.) At the checkout counter, these items plus a plastic bag
totaled 410 Roubles or about $14.13.
Now, we walk back through the Passazh to Sveta’s car and retrace our
path back to my apartment. I am finding out quite a bit about Russian
drivers in general. They will not give pedestrians any right of way and they
will try to cut into traffic at any point. However, it appears they have pretty
good control from this constant attempt to gain every inch possible in
heavy traffic. They beep their horns frequently, but they do not lay on the
horns as in some countries. They are very quick on both accelerator and
brake, and there actually appeared to be very few fender benders. I only
saw three during my month long visit despite some of the heaviest traffic
and uncourteous drivers encountered in my life. Driving is still fairly new to
most Russians and I noted what appeared to be a definite feeling of macho
empowerment that the drivers seemed to get from their cars.
Back at the apartment, we carry the groceries inside and Sveta puts items
in the refrigerator while I go take a pee. I want to try out the phone while
she is still here, so I place a call to Zoya who I am scheduled to meet with
tomorrow. I get a busy signal. I still want to make sure I can actually
complete a call, so at Sveta’s suggestion, I punch in the numbers for the
Grand Europe which she points to in her appointment book. They answer
the phone, I say sorry wrong number and hang up; now I am satisfied with
the phone.
Rex
