Enjoy!
Super shuttle picked
us up right on time and we arrived at the DFW airport with sufficient time to
get boarding passes, go through security and find our gate.. We were told that an additional 24 Texans
(from Denton) were also going on the Russian River Cruise.
Airplane was rather crowded, but N and I had a row to
ourselves having the two side seats. We
were given really dry tasteless cracker
snacks with a hot towel for each of us I guess to clean our hands after snack and before the meal. Lufthansa really believes in the little hot towels.
We discovered one of the consequences of being placed in the
last few rows of the plane is that when the meals are handed out, no options
remain. It was pasta, or pasta.. So we had pasta. After supper, we read, listened to
ipod, and tried to sleep. No sleep came and about 11 pm (Texas
time) --(6am German time) we were
“awakened” with lights and another hot
towel. Breakfast followed—pretty good
with egg and peppers omelet and some
cheese
Awhile later, we arrived in Frankfort airport. I’m thankful that the bags were checked all
the way through to Moscow, so we didn’t have to deal with getting them through
customs And with our new rolling carry on bags, our trek through the airport
was much easier than in previous trips.
It was a long hike, through the main part of the airport, and then
through security again. . Here the
security was very well organized, efficient, fast and friendly—and that can’t
be said of lots of places we’ve traveled.
One thing we found interesting is the fact that the plane landed way,
way, way out and we rode buses to the terminal.
We had a rather long wait in the Frankfort airport and when it was time,
we again rode buses out to the correct plane.
The explanation given for this was that the number of planes in use at
the airport at any given time widely out numbered the amount of gates available
for the planes to use.
While we waited we shopped, changed some $$’s to Euro,
bought dark chocolate Kit Kat candy bars, enjoyed Haggen Das ice cream, and saw
folks going in and out of an “onsite” casino.
Down the way, free liquor shots were being given out to whoever stopped
by. We did watch a fellow traveler who
had her black cat in a cat carrier. I
might add it seems to be quite a well behaved cat—Wonder why she needed to
travel with him/her?
When we got on the plane to Moscow the young woman next to
me got out her antibacterial wipe and went over her part of the airplane. She wiped the arm rests, the seat back in
front of her, the window and wall, and her tray table. Not a bad idea at all, but I felt a little
like a slob for not following suit.
After she finished, she put the used wipe cloth in a ziplock bag and put it in the flight attendant’s
trash.
We had another meal
on the flight from Frankfort to Moscow and then we were there. The Moscow airport was very chaotic and not
at all like the Frankfort terminal. We
were lined up to have our passports inspected, but then the baggage claim
was a push and shove activity and the
“customs check” was even worse. There
were 3 “stations” for customs, but no-one seemed to be “on duty”. People pushed, shoved and almost knocked
folks down getting though the customs check area, NO ONE CHECKED ANYTHING at customs check. I did not have to pull my large suitcase
because it was being pushed for me by the woman behind me with the luggage
cart. There was no personal space at all
in this area.
 |
| Moscow airport |
Once we got through the madhouse, we were met by the
Collette representative, Daria, who was a transportation guide. She spoke very softly, so most folks didn’t hear
what she was saying. She pointed out the
toilets and where to change money into Rubles.
She is the first person who pronounced the name of their currence as-
RUBBLE ( like Barney and Betty Rubble from the Flintstones). I had always thought it was Ruble, like Rubic
cube. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. When we bought our Rubles in Arlington at our
bank, the exchange was 33 rubles to a US dollar. Remember their goal is not to make money, but
to provide a service. In Frankfort
airport, the exchange was 22 rubles to a dollar. The Moscow airport exchanged 28 rubles for a dollar. Just depends where you are, I suppose.
I will finish this by mentioning that we drove in a bus from
the airport to our river boat in extremely thick traffic. This was a two hour drive from 7:30-9:30
pm Surely that isn’t their “rush hour”,
wonder what that is like?
More about the ship and our room accommodations later. It’s been an extremely long time since we
left our house in Arlington at Friday noon and with little or no sleep..--
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