As we enter Saint Petersburg, I see signs for “9 Maя” (May 9th) and banners being removed. I don’t know what May 9th is, but I guess I missed some sort of celebration.
We made a few stops, letting people off. Including at the stop where I have to get the airport shuttle, good to know it for sure.
Finally, my last stop, 5am.
I walk up the street to the Metro, but I already know it doesn’t open until 6. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier?
I wait there a bit before deciding that if I walk to the next station, I will not only be closer, but the station might be open then. Spend the time walking or spend it freezing.
I easily find the next station and I’m able to go in to get a pass.
The machines have multiple languages, but only dispense singles. I want a 7-day pass.
Using Google translate, I ask a guard (yes all the stations have military guards, normal?) he has me go over to a window.
I try to get a 7-day pass, but am told they don’t have that. Wikipedia has failed me. I do get a 5-day pass, 1000₽.
I think more about using the metro right then, I have my bags and I don’t want to have to go through more security. I only have one stop to go, so why not walk and see more of the city. Actually, if I rode, I would have to walk back a little towards where I was anyway.
I walked through a park. It had a very fine gravel, so I had to carry my suitcase. But I saw a lot of interesting buildings and statues.
After a while, I arrived where I needed to be. As I feared, I see nothing of my hostel. I had looked at street view on Google, but the images were years old and they blur out some signs sometimes.
Using the camera translate, I found a hostel and went in. There was a million year old elevator. I didn’t know what floor, so I had to use the stairs anyway.
I walked all the way to the top, translating at each door. The top door had a sign that had something to do with a hostel, so I hope it is it. The door is locked. I press a button, no answer. I’m about to go back down, when a couple of women in robes and head coverings come out. They know a tiny bit of English, but let me in. I walk down the hall, all the way to the end. No sign of an office, so I walk back to the main door.
I recheck my mail again. A week ago, I had sent a support notice asking about the location and still had nothing.
Now I have to do the thing I didn’t want to do, I had to take my phone off airplane mode and make a call.
I call the hostel, but only get a recording in Russian. Great, now I don’t have a room and I may have an additional charge on my phone bill.
I go back down and out, rechecking every sign on every door. Nothing.
There is a kebab place with its door open, so I go in to ask. Still no English, but I guess he’s had other people ask, so he points me to the right place. The sign on the door says “Diskette”. I had seen this on streetview, but that isn’t the name on the booking site. It doesn’t even make sense.
Again I climb the stairs, translating at each door. I find it. The main door is a jar, but there is another just inside. I press the button that has an English sign telling me to.
I wait a few moments, but no one comes. I look more through the window, the clerk is laying her head on the desk. I press the button again (which does make an audible tone), her head comes up, she looks around and then lays back down.
I don’t want to be rude, but she needs to let me in, so I press a third time. This time she looks through the window and sees me and indicates I have to open the door after I press the button. The sign says nothing about that.
I show her my reservation and she verifies I am at the right place.
Check in is at 2, but I can leave my bags in the corner.
After my walk, I’m a bit sweaty, so I take off my jacket and leave everything there. My iPad was below 20%, so I left that too.
As I get back outside, I realize, I can’t go very far, I have no directions. That’s alright, the building on the corner has a row of balloons, so I should be able to return easily enough.
I walk down towards the metro station where I was originally going to get off, looking for breakfast.
The reason Russians are poor is because the businesses are never open. I could not find a single place on that street that opened before 8am, many were 11 o’clock openers.
Irony is that there are bakeries everywhere, but none open early enough for workers to get anything on the way.
I left the hostel about 6:15 and can’t check in until 2, but I also can’t go anywhere for the next 8 hours. Total catch-22. Also, I still don’t have my watch on and don’t have my phone or iPad, so I have no way of knowing the time.
I went down to the mentioned subway, crossed the street, then went down to another subway entrance, crossed and returned. Nothing for food was open, even when I asked someone the time, and waited at a restaurant doorway. I never saw anyone inside.
Finally, I found a place and got a pastry and orange juice. I went down to the subway plaza and sat in the sun to eat.
I noticed I was the least dressed person, period. I was not even that uncomfortable, in the sun. So much for the hardy Russian.
Since I had nothing to do and I was getting tired (Ok, more tired), I went back to the hostel. There was a new person, still no English, I asked if I could pay extra to check in early. She typed on the computer and made a phone call, but told me that the room wasn’t ready yet. It was around 8:30, so likely no one had checked out yet.
She allowed me to sit in the lobby, where I was beginning to pass out. Finally, around 11, she let me check in, for an extra 250₽, that’s a lot for 3 hours, but I was glad to.
We were on the 5th floor and she led me down to 3rd to my room.
I plugged in my iPad and considered a shower, but went straight to bed.