Minsk

I arrived in Minsk, and felt overwhelmed by all the Cyrillic. I found a money changer and changed $20 and got rid of my Polish Zloty. In total I got about 80,000 Rubles. I've never seen such a low valued currency. It turns out they don't even have coins, and they even 20 Ruble bills, completely worthless. Right after changing my money a guy approached me offering a taxi. Since he spoke no English, it took a little while for us to negotiate a price and destination. Driving through the city was overwhelming. All the buildings were huge and the streets wide. It reminds quite of bit of Chinese cities actually, especially Beijing. I got to my hotel, which was one of the ugliest I have ever seen, and entered the tacky lobby filled with Greek statues. Upon arriving at reception I learned I had made a mistake in my booking. Apparently I was supposed to arrive a day earlier! Even though I had already paid for two nights, I did not feel so bad. At this point I did not think I needed more than a day in Minsk. I went into the elevator and noticed an ad for the nightly strip show that hotel has. My room was fine, but a bit run-down. The TV only had German and Russian channels. after showering, I left the hotel to begin exploring. I walked along a wide street by the river that took me to the center. Thinking that everything would be cheap, I headed off to the main drag, the and eight-lane road to go to a department store. It was strange. There were lots of individual vendors inside that sold everything from cookware and appliances to utterly overpriced tourist crap. I left after looking for about fifteen minutes, and went to find a restaurant recommended in my book. On my way, I walked past the KGB building and the presidential palace, which has a huge statue of Lenin out front, and took pictures of both. Despite what my book told me, I was not stopped by the police. I failed to find the restaurant, and ended up taking the metro back to the main drag. The metro costs the equivalent of 10 cents to ride. I went to an Italian restaurant called 'Il Patio' because it had an English menu. Although I can mostly read Cyrillic now, I am very slow, and I didn't want to be surprised when I got my food. This must have been one of Belarus' most expensive restaurants, although my meal (lasagna and a juice) cost only about $8. Overall the food was mediocre and the portion too small. But, despite this the service was good, and the waitress made a good effort to accommodate me. Still hungry afterwards, I went to McDonald's, in which everything has kept the English name (albeit spelled in Cyrillic). I sat in an enormous square and ate. I then went to the reconstructed old town (Minsk was destroyed during the war). It sucked it was about two blocks of average looking buildings, and none of the shops were open! Wanting to buy some stuff, I then decided to go to a shopping mall located beneath a huge square. It was quite new, but only half the stores were occupied, and everything was expensive. I eventually went back to the first department store and bought a souvenir there instead. Also, for those of you whom I promised postcards from Minsk, they aren't coming. They did not sell postcards there because there are no tourists! By this point I was exhausted from all the walking and returned to the hotel. I found that my shoes had finally failed me, and made my feet bleed. I will have to buy some shoes in Lithuania. I ended up falling asleep on my bed, and woke up with much difficulty at around six to go for dinner. I decided on the hotel restaurant, largely because I knew it would have an English menu, and because I was close. While waiting to be seated, two prostitutes showed up and were escorted into a back room. After seeing the strip show advertisement, I was not particularly surprised. The food was really cheap there. I ordered a salad and main course, and a juice, and paid about $6. The food was average. I then went to bed early, still tired from many nights of bad sleep.