City That Sleeps

Day 482
Vera had left me a key the night before so I didn't have to be up with her. After some breakfast I confronted a huge problem, how to lock the door. I'm not kidding, I don't think that I would be able to leave the apartment at all. Just when I was about to give up I finally had it figured out.

I had forgotten to ask which bus to take downtown so I just got on the first one that came by. Luckily it was going the right way and soon I was in a place that I recognized.

After some wandering I decided against the art museum. I just wasn't in the mood. I decided to try and work on the blog but just screwed around for a few hours. I then headed back to Vera's after a quick supermarket stop. By the time I had showered and packed Vera had returned from work. It's really a pity that we didn't have the time to get to know each other better.

We then chatted until about 9:15 when I had to get the bus as they stop running around 10pm here. My train didn't leave until almost 1 am though so I would have quite a wait at the train station. At the station I read until my train finally arrived. I think I passed out pretty much as soon as I laid on my bed.

Help I Could Do Without

Day 481
My train pulled in to Novosibirsk around 10 am. I was couchsurfing again but couldn't go to Vera's place until 9 pm so I put my bag into storage. I then bought my onward ticket. That took a lot longer than it should have. I couldn't find a good way to explain my question so in the end I just bought what I thought was right. Later on Vera confirmed that I had the right thing. Luckily the woman I bought the ticket from was much nicer than most in her job.

I then went wandering for some food, I was famished. Over breakfast I did some planning for the day. My first stop would be an internet cafe to update and then to some museums.

When I was done online I took several pictures of a massive Lenin statue before heading to a museum. I went the wrong way though and didn't notice until I got back to the train station. I figured that I would try and find the railroad museum. I never managed to find it though. In fact, I think I ended up in a not so nice area so I left.

By the time I was in the museum area there wasn't much time until closing so I just went back to the internet cafe. I meant to update, but messed around instead. I then went back to the train station for the third time of the day. After grabbing my things I tried to find the right bus but it never seemed to arrive. Instead I asked someone and they put me on a different bus. The bus was quite full and I was trying to stand near the door so that my bag wouldn't bump into anyone. I didn't mover fast enough though one of the times that the door opened and a woman started yelling at me and then telling the attendant to do something about me. I asked her if she would prefer to carry my bag, but of course she didn't understand. I was happy when it was my stop.

Another woman on the train decided that she would "help" me. What she did was send me in the wrong directions. All of the apartment blocks look exactly the same and I got really lost. Luckily a guy on a bike offered his help and then found me again to tell me where I needed to go. When I got to Vera's I rang the bell and soon I was in her apartment.

I was so desperate for a shower that I hardly introduced myself before jumping in. I apologized afterwards and Vera said she would have done the same thing. We chatted over dinner but called it a night around 11, she had work in the morning. I was pretty exhausted and fell asleep fast.