I just returned from Novokuznetsk, Siberia this past week. This is my third trip to Russia and my second trip to see Tatyana. I spent a month with her last summer. This trip was a bit shorter (19 days).
This isn't really a trip report just a little information and an observation or two.
Novokuznetsk is about 600,000 people located in South Central Siberia (little west of Lake Baikal). I stayed in a small hotel while there. Cost was 800 rubles a day for a 2 room suite. This Hotel (The Nadezhda) is the nicest hotel I have stayed in thus far in Russia. Very close to Western standards.
The city itself is very industrial with numerous steel mills, aluminum processing plants etc.. The air pollution was horrendous. I never did see any stars at night from within the city due to this.
Meals at restaurants were also fairly reasonable. I typically paid around 3 or 4 dollars per person. The most I ever spent was about 35.00 dollars for two. This meal would have cost me about 75.00 to 100.00 in the US.
Tatyana, works for one of the aluminum plants as a computer programmer. She was able to get time off for all but two of the days I was there.
I spent 9 days in Novokuznetsk visiting with Tatyana and her family. We then went up into the Shoria Mountains with her sister and Brother in Law. We stayed at downhill ski resort. Costs at the resort were. Liftickets $3.30, huge 2 room suite $ 65.00 a night. This cost included 2 meals a day.
The skiing itself was pretty decent. There were 4 runs. The best part part is that there is no such thing as skiing out of bounds. I could take the lift to the top of the mountain, hike the ridge and ski numerous back country bowls. As far as I could tell these bowls had not seen another skier all season.
The weather was not bad The coldest it got while I was there was -22C. Typical day time temperatures ranged from -10C to -2 or -3C. The mountains themselves were beautiful. At some point I plan on setting up a web site with some of my pictures.
After skiing a few days we returned to Novokuznetsk and from there went to Moscow for 6 days. I will not say much about Moscow since it has been written on by others more knowledgable then I. My 3 peices of advice concerning Moscow are: if you are going to Boshoi Theatre and are over 6 ft tall do not purchase tickets for any of the side balconies. I am 6' 2" and it was physically impossible for me to sit in my seat due to a lack of leg room. These were the only tickets I could find. In the future I would pass if this is all that is available. The Tretyakov Gallery is a must see. I had a 8 hour lay over between arrival in Moscow and my flight to Novokuznetsk. I got a room at the Hotel Rossiya so I could shower and take a nap. The Rossiya is a dump for what you pay. There are better bargains in Moscow in my opinion.
As far as Tatyana and I. I plan on returning this June at which time I will ask her to marry me (unless something weird happens). She is 35 and has a 9 year old daughter. Speaks pretty could English (about 6 or 7 0n a scale of 1 to 10), and is a very patient, kind, and gentle woman.
I thought some might also find this interesting. While in Moscow we stayed at an apartment belonging to her Aunt. On the day we arrived her Aunt let us into the apartment. I bent over to remove my boots and the next thing that occurs is Tatyana drops her coat on top of my head ( her aunt did not see this). Later, when we were alone I told Tatyana that I thought that this showed a lack of respect on her part. She responded to me that when I attended to my own needs (taking of myboots) before I saw to her's (helping her with her coat) I was being disrespectful to her particularly in her Aunt's presence. Her exact words were "this is treating me like a girlfriend and not a woman you care about". FYI I am usually pretty good about these things, this occured at 2200 and we had been up since 0200 (we started the day in Novokuznetsk).
Anyway this is just a brief synopsis of my trip.
