Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Perm, Russia

First snows of winter at the train station in Perm. 
The Tatar Mosque in Perm.
It's hard on the streets. A momma scares away birds from some food she found, her two pups(right) chow down.
The very centrally-located and hospitable Hotel Ural.
Another 15 hours on an overnight train from Nizhny and we were in Perm.

We had booked a room at the Friends Hotel in Perm. We took the bus to the location, but when we got to the address there was no hotel to speak of. We searched around for a while, even asking at a Fitness Club that was at the address the hotel was supposed to be. But still nothing. We looked further but aside from a couple large apartment buildings no sign of a 'hotel' Bree and I make a pretty good team when this kinda stuff happens. We just hopped on the bus back to the main part of town and booked a room at a hotel there. It was more money than we'd have liked to have paid, but that is what this kind of travelling has to allow for. Things happen. Hotels disappear. Turns out the other "hotel" had the wrong address on the booking site and was actually within one of the apartment buildings. Great, thanks.

It's been lightly snowing pretty much the whole time here in Perm. It's a nice touch. Bree's feeling a little rundown so we decided to not take the day trip out to the Gulag. There is still plenty to see.

- Matt