Amsterdam to Saint-Petersburg and waiting for the connecting flight to Barnaul 26.12.2007

After a flawless flight we arrived in Saint-Petersburg in the afternoon. The passport control was swift, in contrast with summer when there are long queues and a lot of pushing, and also the luggage was delivered fast. Having arrived at Pulkovo II, where most international flights are handled, we needed to take a small transfer bus to Pulkovo I for our connecting flight. Once in the terminal, we needed to kill time until we could check-in for the flight to Barnaul, scheduled to leave around mid-night. After a quick reconnaissance of the terminal – there is not much to do here – we left our luggage at the baggage storage, and decided to drive to the city – after I surprised Elena with a rose from Holland. The Bus 39 to Moskovskaya Metro station had just left, but there was a Minibus going the same route waiting, on which we could hop on. After some 20 minutes we got to the Moskovskaya Metro. Here we decided not to take the subway to Nevski Prospect and the city center, but to stay in the warm and check-out the shopping center Moskovskaya instead, consisting of a variety of small department shops. Slowly the hunger set in, so we looked for a place to eat. Besides a Pizza Hut, a fully booked restaurant and McDonald’s there is not much choice: we were happy that we found a small Russian café in a side street. Here we had a very tasty Solyanka soup, followed with “Meat by French” – pork cooked in the oven with potatoes and layers of cheese. Well-fed, we wandered around the area a bit, but decided soon to take the airport express bus back to Pulkovo I.

Now the boring part came: to kill more time. We tried a sushi bar where we eat some cakes, reading, and even doing some exercises until we finally heard the call for the check-in.  We hurried to pick-up our luggage and proceeded to the queue for the security check: In a big mess, we needed to get off our shoes, and put everything from suitcases, hand bags, coats and shoes on the belt, pass through and re-collect everything, just to rush to the check-in counter. Here, the ladies were extremely busy chatting with themselves, and did not seem to bother that there are passengers who would like to check in. Now another security check for our hand luggage followed – and a bottle of water discovered, which we needed to leave behind. Funnily enough, in the waiting area there were enough bottles of water circulating – probably only ours was considered to be dangerous!

Finally, after another half an hour or so of waiting, we could finally board the plane to Barnaul, an aged Tupolev TU-154M.  Once onboard, my next challenge awaited me: how to squeeze myself into my assigned seat?