Buck o' Five Howdy

Hello and Happy Independence Day from some random hostel in St Petersburg! (OK, it's not random, b/c it's where my brother and I are staying. One of us - not me - had a problem w/ what kind of visa he was issued, meaning no side trips and some regrouping/ booking...) Landing in St Pete's was a surprise.

As you may remember, it was 54C or so in Turkey. In St Pete's? More like 16 It was pretty stunning (and made me feel that much btr about how I packed). We're in the heart of 'White Nights' which means that there's about an hour - if that - of darkness here. The other thing that took some adjustments was the presence of alcohol. Picture yourself, walking down the Mall, and everyone on every park bench is drinking wine, beer, champagne -or something stronger. And every vendor that sells Coke also sells beer. And then there are the Russian women, which are a whole separate email and fashion discussion. Suffice it to say that I am no longer in Muslim territority.

The Hermitage was great. Fodor's says you need years to see the collection. I say four hours - and that's a stretch. Loads of broken dishes, dead men and sparkly things, etc.

Then it was on to Moscow. Flying domestically in Russia is interesting... and the full description will wait. First site after emerging from the subway was the TGI Friday's (more on that later). The Courtyard Marriott had the first alarm clock radio I've seen since leaving DC. They also had CNN, BBC and MTV. I think I'm actually all caught up on my scandals/ news for the moment.

I must give Rihanna and Jay Z a shout out for their world-wide hit -'Umbrella', which was literally played every hour of every day. (It'salso been played in every city I've visited) In fact, my brother and crooning - and ended up having to rally much sooner than anticipated.

In Moscow, I saw something never seen in St Pete's - darkness. The Kremlin/ Red Square, etc was also pretty cool. I have to confess thatI don't really have a fondness for plasticine-preserved bodies (sorry Lenin, Mao and Larry King!) Since my next stop is London, I may have to stop by to see some authentic wax peeps before I can fully comment.

St Basil's was just as goofy and pretty as it looks in pictures, but the singing choir made it that much more impressive. As advertised, the subway stations were cool, as were the other churches we saw. Word to the wise- if you plan to come to Russia, either recruit someone who knows Russian/ Cyrilic or learn it yourself. (Luckily, my friends Liz, Brian AND my brother Chris had these bases covered!)

Anyway, stopped by the Canadian Embassy for a Canada Day shout - out(sadly, they were closed, so we had sushi instead.) US Independence Day eve was dinner at TGI Friday's - I insisted. It was like being back in the States (damn shame there aren't any Cheescake Factories here - yet!). Well, with more smoking.

Today we went to Red Square w/ MGD's from the closest kiosk to toast to Democracy and the buck-oh-five spent for our freedom. Then we went to the Ritz (just opened three days ago and reported to be the most expensive hotel in the world. Riiiiight. Rms start at $1k and the priciest is $16.7k) Anyway, we toasted democracy - well, capitalism - there too. And I started contemplating this whole brand management in the hospitality industry thing. All in all, Russia's been terrific. The sun hasn't set in St Pete's (btw - worst line from any book? "The sun rose promptly at dawn" -Tom Clancy.) My brother and I haven't killed each other, we haveloads of amusing anecdotes, there are entire summer palaces and myriad other sights to see and I found free-ish internets. Stay tuned for more updates...Hope all is well!

PS - Sochi 2014! (!?)

PPS - 66 hot dogs in 12 mins? Blech. USA! USA!(?)