Russia is hot today, but not as hot as it was yesterday. And according to the rest of the crew, it’s not half as hot as the Russian nightclubs in St. Petersburg. But without the proper documentation, I’m stuck on the ship, unable to get through the immigration center they have set up outside.
People are all coming back from the black market with all kinds of western treasures – every CD and DVD you could think of for $2 or less each. My roomate bought Adobe Photoshop and the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy DVDs and spent less than $10. Granted, they are all bootlegged, and the second movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is overdubbed in Russian…
We’re moving on tomorrow to visit Tallinn, Estonia again. It’s one of the cheaper ports around here, and I’m looking forward to some Estonian cuisine tomorrow afternoon. I’m sort of tired of walking around the ship after these two days in Russia.
I found a 3-story bookshop in Helsinki the other day and just about fell over. I bought a bunch of books, and I’ve started reading up on the Mediterannean in preparation for our arrival there in about a week. The place had almost a whole floor dedicated to travel guides, and almost everything was in English (that’s not something often found around here).
Put up a post if your still around reading these chronicles, it’d be great to hear from all of you.
David J. Hahn
David J. Hahn is a Broadway conductor and keyboard player. He co-founded MusicianWages.com with Cameron Mizell in 2008. Visit his new project, Songwriter.fm and sign up for his songwriting newsletter.
