Home » Russia » Travel to St. Petersburg and Mongolia (part I)

Hello my dear subscribers,<br /><br />Tomorrow I am leaving to my next trip It is not only my travel addiction, that drives me. I have to travel for health reasons also. Life in America is pretty unhealthy. People in the not so prosperous countries walk for groceries, walk to work, run after overcrowded buses and fight with others to get inside. This provides them with much needed amount of daily exercises, the natural way. Americans almost do not walk. They go everywhere by car. Every task which requires even a small muscular effort is mechanized or automated. Even two story buildings have an elevator. This, along with abandons of food produce an un-intentional result. Americans became fatter and fatter. Dedicated people with strong will, would wake up earlier and go for a jog, go to gym and eat, not tasty, but healthy vegetables. This way they stay in shape. Ordinary folks don't do that and get fat. A Stunning 70% of Americans are overweight.<br /><br />This is an unexpected result of a sincere efforts to make people's live better and easier. I did not get overweight yet, but I definitely got out of shape during four months of sitting in front of the computer and traveling between the computer and the fridge.

Travel to St. Petersburg and Mongolia (part I)

Alex Mumzhiu
2006-03-22 18:13:34

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/>"One doesn't have to be in Russia very long to realize that poets are to this country what baseball stars and presidents to the USA" "On the whole, the poets- from Pushkin and Lermontov to Pasternak and Brodsky-have been heavy drinkers, gamblers, womanizers and troublemakers. Nevertheless, school children bring flowers to their graves and can recite their poems before they know how to read"

They also noticed that Pushkin was a womanizer and foot fetishist.

Lecturing service

I am here already for 20 days and some things started getting on my nerves. All sales people are on a lecturing mission here. When you ask sales ladies how much something costs, she would not tell you just the price of the product. She will tell you "Young man don't you see the price on all products on display in front of you?"

If you ask in a cafe/restaurant/bar, "do you have tea?" They will not tell you Yes or No. They will tell you "Young man don't you understand that this is cafe/restaurant/bar and we supposed/not supposed to have tea
Some statistics

I read in English language newspaper "St. Petersburg News" that the drop in amount of tourists visiting St Petersburg on 300 years anniversary was compatible only with drop after Sept 11 2001. Many hotels were 50% empty. Reason for this are different bureaucratic bottlenecks, Such as this: Petersburg airport supposed to be closed for one day to welcome presidents, and ordinary visitors have to postpone their flight. This was not a problem, real problem was that many visitors had their visa expired and it has to be extended. Which is not a simple process. All these bureaucratic hurdles which make sense in the past, when every visitor was considered as potential spy, looks like absurd theater now.

Alex Mumzhiu
St Petersburg Russia
June 26 7pm

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