Interesting Tidbits

Well, since Marc has stolen the thunder about all the places we've gone to see (plus I haven't uploaded my photos yet to my netbook), I'm going to share some interesting little tidbits that we've picked up while in Russia.

• Paul and Marc made it their mission to try to get the Russian people to smile. It's amazing that almost every person walks around with a scowled look. It's too bad as their faces just light up when they do smile.


• We learned a lot about the Soviet Union days and how the people were so oppressed and so many things were taken away from them. It's really quite sad to hear some of the stories.


• For a country that has so many trees (I would think more than Canada), their pulp and paper industry must not be very strong. I don't think we ever saw a box of tissues anywhere and their toilet paper is definitely not for little kittens to play with and crash into.


• If you're coming to Russia, you must, must make St. Petersburg your priority.


• Although we hear that Moscow has all the millionaires and billionaires, it goes to show you can't always buy taste. The people of St. Petersburg are much more fashionable. Plus, there are so many men in Moscow wearing sweatsuits as what seems to be their everyday wardrobe.


• Muscovites seem to like cheesy American love songs - like the kind you hear at weddings with a bad DJ. That's all we seem to hear while we were there. Thankfully, this improved in St. Petersburg.


• The stores never, ever seem to have change when you make a purchase. You practically have to have exact change or they scowl at you like it's your fault that you don't have it. This does not just apply to foreigners - our Russian guide says this is a common complaint amongst the Russian people.


• Not sure why but McDonald's and big hotels is about the only place you can get cold beverages that are actually cold. White wine, water, juice .... never cold. But they sure love their ice cream - they have ice cream vendors everywhere - almost on every block in St. Petersburg.


• Until we reached the Rossi Hotel in St. Petersburg (which we highly recommend), service with a smile (or good service at all) was negligible. Also, you never get your food in the order you think you should get it (ie appetizers didn't always get to your table before your main course). We learned to just eat whatever food they brought to the table, even if one person was just left sitting there with nothing (Paul didn't like that at all - that's for sure :)


• Oh and I almost forgot - until you get to those nice hotels, sugar and cream for your coffee costs extra. Actually, in many places, all condiments are extra - ketchup, mustard, sour cream (they put sour cream on everything).

So once we figured out the customs and processes (or lack of), we just went with the flow (most of the time). Unless of course, Paul was annoyed or Marc was tired or Yuki was hungry or Cathy's feet hurt. And you're right, one of these things was usually happening - haha. I'm leaving them now as I go to Paris and they go to Norway so I won't have to deal with the consequences of that statement.