Dr. Brueck, plastic surgeon in Russia - Day 3

This is day three of Dr. Brueck's Siberian Adventure.

June 26^th 2008

The train trip to Saint Petersburg was less than relaxing; my bed was a tad short. Below Grisha and I in the birth were a young mother and her daughter. Not being too comfortable and exhausted as I was I didn’t think it was fair to our 2 lower birth traveling companions to subject them to a painful auditory overload of a Brueck sawmill in the middle of a hurricane. I didn’t want them to think less of us Americans.

I arrived in Saint Petersburg in a sleep deprived stupor but I was pumped up to see the city. Not sure for what I had heard Saint Petersburg was truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I was certainly not disappointed they were right, the city was beautiful, and I have to say it is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Many of the buildings we saw were undergoing renovations. It was truly a special treat and experience.

Thursday night was also special because European cup soccer was on. Grisha and I spent a good portion of the morning trying to find our hotel. We must have walked 50,000 miles to find this little hotel that was stashed away in a building through a doorway. It was called Nebsky express hotel. When we got there we made reservations to come back later that evening to have a place for the soccer match.

Everywhere in Saint Petersburg there were Russian flags and people were cheering and it was really an exciting opportunity. The game was going to start at 10:30pm which is a great time for the Bru because I’m usually in bed by 8:00. We had to pay 600 rubles and there are about 23 to 24 rubles per dollar and that was just to reserve a seat.

There were vendors everywhere selling flags and banners and celebrating the Russian success in soccer. There was electricity in the air to say the least. I was hoping that Russia would go up 6 to nothing in the first couple of minutes so I could competently declare the match over and head off to bed but no such luck. The first half ended 0-0 ugh!!!

When it was 3 to nothing Grisha knew it was over so we went to our rooms and by now it was 1:00am and it was still light outside and so of course since I had stayed up that late I had a second wind because in 2 to 3 hours it would be my normal time to awaken.

Not only was I up because of the day light, my comfort pedic mattress was less than ideal. In essence it was nothing more than a 2 inch mattress that had a sheet over it, but I was excited because the room did come with a hot shower so I was thankful for small favors. I probably slept for 2 to 3 hours only to get up Friday morning and begin the next day.

June 27th will be posted tomorrow.