Two weeks in Vienna and I am ready to leave again. Since this is not possible I will start with preparations for my next trip.
I am going to Moscow for a long weekend with my friend Tici. We booked it in January, got cheap flights and a very good rate on the hotel. Still there are some obstacles to overcome. In case of Russia it is a visa which we need to get upfront.
I remember years ago I have been to St. Petersburg with my brother who was invited to speak at a congress. Getting an invitation for the visa was a very long winded process. But it was all worth it because St. Petersburg in June at the brink of the “white nights” was an amazing experience.
This time I hope the visa process will be different. Years have gone by and Russia should be used to tourists by now.
We are not up for a good start. I am already cold when I arrive at the embassy getting colder by the minute seeing the line up. Maybe this chill is a little taste of what we might expect. Including the bureaucracy at the front door of the embassy…
Finally we make it through the door, first me and a bit later my friend. More lining up inside, there is only one booth for visa. When we are first in line, I am excited! Yeah, we did it! My happiness is short lived, we don’t have the necessary voucher and invitation from the hotel. So it is back to the start for us.
This evening at least I have some cultural entertainment planned. I am going to the Burgtheater to see ‘Der ideale Mann’ based on the same named book of Oscar Wilde (An ideal husband) but adapted for the theater by an Austrian writer/playwriter called Elfriede Jelinek. To be honest the first half was very long and I had a hard time staying awake. My friend told me after she fell asleep twice. The second act was better, maybe because it was shorter?
Btw I also finished “A Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire
Yours, Pollybert
