Hallo from Russia

Here is a catch up log on my experiences so far. My computer issues aren't completely solved, but being resourceful, i found a temporary workaround.

HorelicaNet Journal Operations have temporarily moved to Moscow, Russia. By virtue of you reading this means that i have made it here safely (as if the pictures in the previous post weren't enough proof.) We were greeted with 2 degree Celsius temperatures (36 degree Farenheit). That's kinda warm for this time of year...no complaints here. I think this is the first time that i could see the fog of exhale when going through my nose. I've seen it before when exhaling through my mouth...however, i'm sure i will experience the coldest temperatures that i have ever experienced.

The day (Dec. 4th, Central time) started very early for me...about 5am. I thought i had everything I needed/wanted for this trip. But in my haste, i still managed to forget a few things. I forgot my belt, not my dress belt, but my all-purpose-hold-up-my-pants-belt. I guess if i have to, i'll wear my dress belt for my casual needs. I suppose there are worse things to forget? Another thing i forgot to do was to leave my cell phone in the car. I'm sure my cell phone won't work in Moscow and i didn't bring my charger, so it'll be off until i get to atlanta. It is usually best not to bring cell phones. But the good news is that my cell phone isn't GPS capable, which is considered a no-no in Russia.

How did I forget to leave the cell phone? It's been my experience that when you park a facility at the airport you always have to wait on the bus to pick you up...not so in my case...the bus was waiting on me...so i was rushed.

Checking in a the airport was a little scary (at first). They didn't have me in the system. For a brief moment, i thought i wasn't going. Turns out because i was going international (requires a visa), they have to enter things in manually. The lady finally figured it out...although she should've known. Getting through security was a non-issue. The flight from Houston to Atlanta was uneventful.

Oh how i miss flying! It's not a whole lotta fun as a passenger though. Perhaps once i pay off the upcoming new vehicle and Finding Reason becomes a bit more established, i will have the time and money to stretch my wings once again. I'm jealous josh.

The flight to moscow was loooo-eee-ooooong. Uneventful, which is good, but awfully long. Tried to sleep, but i don't think i got more than 3 hours. I'm still pretty tired.

Made it through passport control without any issues and we received all of our luggage. Met the driver and headed over to the hotel. Checked in...had issues with the money machine (the darn thing wouldn't give us any roubles...at least it gave us our money back.) So we did it the old fashioned way...went to a money exchange place.

Then it was time to try my navigation skillz. Could i find my way around moscow and find my way back again? Ok...you've seen the pictures, so you know the answer to that. Yes, i was able to find my way to the metro, buy tickets, hop on the train, switch trains and navigate my way to Red Square...without getting lost. I popped out of the ground on the wrong side of the street, but that's an easy fix.

Wandered around Red Square for a while...walked down to the Moscow River and took some more pictures. By this time it was getting dark...and only 4:30pm. Worked our way back to Red Square. The one thing i wanted to accomplish this trip was to see Red Square at night. Mark that off the list. It was really beautiful there at night.

We worked our way around to the tomb of the unknown soldier and was stopped by the militia. Matt saw the militia approach me and he tried to wander off like a tourist. Thanks for stickin' by my side! But the militia asked if he was with me so i roped Matt into the mix. Turns out the militia guys were really cool...just checked our papers and let us be. had i not been freaked out at the time (we've all heard horror stories of running in to some bad militia), i would've asked to take a picture with them. Oh well...lost opportunities.

By this time, it was starting to get really cold. So we ducked into a mall and walked around a bit. saw a bunch of shoe stores...but didn't see any converse stores. Oh well. We decided to head back to the hotel to try and meet up with some of our fellow workers. But we missed them. Matt and I walked down to the Tractor...a nice pub type restaraunt. Pork shaslik and some good hotchipore.

That about concluded our very long day. I must say, i think i was asleep within 30 seconds of my head hitting the pillow. However, i woke up about 4am local time and really couldn't get back to sleep.

Time allowing I will try to blog everyday while i'm here. And i hope to post some good pictures, although there isn't much daylight here this time of year.
Thinking of you.
Hope to see you soon...