If you go anywhere in Russian and stay overnight, you have to register with the police. Fortunately, if you’re a tourist, the hotel does it for you. So, I got up early this morning and had my good breakfast. Then I went back to the room and made sure I had put everything in my suitcase, and went to check out. I got the police form from the receptionist and headed for the subway. I didn’t have to leave for the airport till about noon, so I figured I would stop off on my way to the Aeroexpress train station the Aeroexpress train takes you directly to the airport without stopping.) to check out the mosque. It was an an neighborhood with an interning mixture of architectural styles, as you can see from the pictures in the previous post.
The mosque itself was beautiful and was only built in 2015. There were completely different entrances for men and women and it was interesting that many of the women wore the same kind of aquamarine coat. After visiting the museum in the mosque for half an hour, I walked back to the subway station and rode over to the train station. I caught the train to the airport and had to ask where my terminal was when I arrived.
The security is strange. I had a half empty bottle of water in my backpack side pocket and not one person questioned it. I was really sort of surprised at how superficial I felt the security was. After I was through, I found my Aeroflot domestic flights counter and waited till I got called up. It took about 15 minutes. When I get up to the counter, the lady tells me it’s to early for me to check in. I should come back tomorrow. Now, I knew that I had just checked out of my hotel, so I could have been wrong on the date. I told her to look at my paper again and check her computer. Finally she found me and issued me a boarding pass. Whew, that was a close one. I would have camped out in front of that counter before I let her tell me I couldn’t get on the plane. She apologized and I went through another rather relaxed security check and then on to my gate.
When I got there, I noticed that my Russian phone was deed. Since my Uber app is on that phone, I figured I’d better recharge it before I got to Kazan. There was only one recharging station and two of the 6 outlets didn’t work. So I had to wait until someone else unplugged after about 20 minutes. I was a le to get it juiced up to about 50% before I looked up and noticed that my gate had been moved. I grabbed the phone and my suitcase and my backpack and my jacket and took off. I was there on time so it worked out fine.
Both flights to and from Moscow were excellent. I have the impression that Aeroflot pilots use much Less of the runway to take off than American pilots do, and they seem to rise more steeply. Maybe I’m imagining things. For the 1.5 hour flight, we even got served a lox and cream cheese sandwich and an apple. Not bad.
Kazan airport is pretty small so I got out right away. I took a taxi back home and was here in a half and hour. So know I’m just loafing and will finish unpacking tomorrow. Tomorrow night Sonia and I are going shopping and to a soccer game. I’m going to have to dress warmly for that one.
Enough for now. More tomorrow.
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