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I was jolted awake in the very early hours of the morning, it was still dark so I decided to reach over and check my phone to see what time it was, 3:12am. I was just about to go back to sleep when I heard Maria whisper from the top bunk, Kris? Kris are you awake? Yeah, I whispered back, What's up? I've lost my dress! Silence. What? I say. I kicked it off during the night and now I can't find it and I need to go to the loo. Why did I turn my phone on I thought to myself, why couldn't I have just gone back to sleep.
I put my hand on the floor and begin to hunt around for Maria's little black dress. I can't find it, I'll get up and look. While I'm on the floor searching in the dark for a black dress, John wakes up and asked whats going on. He's understandably quite surprised when I tell him what I'm doing, but never the less starts helping me. We are now all searching in the dark for a black dress and trying not to wake up Andrea, who is still asleep until Maria knocks Andrea's bottle of water, which is sitting on the table onto her head. What the fock! exclaims Andrea in her think Swiss accent as she wakes up. I tell her whats happening and we are now all searching in the pitch black cabin for a black dress. After about ten minutes I realise that no one is asleep in here anymore so there's now no reason not to turn the lights on.
Thinking that this will bring the immediate solution I turn on the lights, we search high and low but still can't find the dress. John removes himself from the cabin so Maria can find some other clothes to wear to the bathroom. When she returns we are all at a loss as to where the dress is, but resolve to look again before getting of the train in the morning. Maria climbs back into the top bunk and pulls up the covers, just then in the darkness a piece of material flies out of the sheets. What the hell was that? Exclaims Andrea. Of course its Maria's dress. We are now all teasing Maria about the responsibilities of the top bunk and how she is lucky this is the end of the trip otherwise she would never get it again.
We all go back to bed and in the morning I proceed in telling Nat and Dane what happened, Dane immediately connects Maria's missing dress with the missing curtain and thinks I'm to blame. I tell him no way, there's no way I would disturb my own night's sleep for a bit of fun. He's not convinced.
We get off the train, and there are now construction works going on at Moskovy station in St Petersburg, so I have to leave the group outside the station and find another alternative entrance to the metro. We get to the hotel with no dramas and as usual can't check in, so I give the group an hour to get some breakfast, store the luggage and go off on the orientation tour. As of this year an extra day has been added to St Petersburg, so I now don't need to rush around on the orientation for fear of missing the Hermitage excursion. I finished the orientation at the Spilled Blood church and finally get my picture of teddy in front of it. Ian and Bob also take pictures of teddy in front of the Spilled Blood church.
Leena then goes off to meet with Tatiana from ASTA travel and then we have a look around the markets before heading to Sushi bar for lunch. I then head off to the hotel and Leena re does the orientation. On arrival, I have to explain about three times that it is only me that is checking in and that the other guests will check themselves in later. I am given a room key and I go up to find I have been given a double suite that wreaks of cigarette smoke. Not good enough, so I march back down, tell them I'm supposed to be in a twin room and sharing with Leena. This seems like a pretty hard concept to grasp, but I win out in the end and get the room changed.
Leena later called me to tell me they've put her in another room and Andrea and Maria have been given a double. I have to go down and sort that out, I ask to see the rooming list which ASTA has sent to them all in Russian Cyrillic and the stupid girl at reception still can't get it. I try and explain that she needs to follow the rooming list but to no avail, I'm back down a few minutes later, because they've tried to put Dan and Robert and Ian and Bob in a double and when they complained they told them there we no other rooms. Yet when I go down to go nuts at them, all of a sudden two twins open up. One has to question the logic (even without a rooming list) that puts Mr & Mrs Wilcox in a twin from and two middle aged men in a double. I am so glad I will never have to deal with this hotel again.
Andrea tells me they are all going up the street for dinner, so we wait on the steps of the hotel having a few beers for everyone to turn up. We then go to a small place up the street called Traktir, I have this really heavy meal of veal, covered in garlic, cheese and mushrooms, its nice but far too strong and I can't eat it all. I head back to the hotel afterwards, wondering what kind of mayhem is in store for me tomorrow.
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