Russia

[hochi666]

I’ve been trying to figure out what to write about this first trip to Russia ever since we got back on Thursday night last week. I mean, there’s really a lot to it. I’m well past my days of exhaustively chronicling every single detail of any particular event or series of events. So, what exactly should I concentrate on? What was the most

Comments

[leighton]

Great story so far. I can't imagine having to leave...or read Cyrillic
or look at painted MDF.

... wait, what is MDF?

And what did I say about those Aeroflots? You're lucky to be alive.

[hochi666]

Medium Density Fiberboard.

Aeroflot was OK, really. The plane we flew on from Arkhangelsk to Kotlas was AN-24 It wasn't too bad.

Lufthansa was better, of course. We got to fly business class on the way back from Frankfurt to Detroit. It was like heaven.

[leighton]

I think that AN-24 is 87% MDF. But were the in-flight meals less than 50%.

How was the food? Over all, seriously. I'm guessing lots of pork and sour cream, but really good.

[hochi666]

Aeroflot meals consisted of an offer of a piece of Russian candy and later an offer of tea or coffee.

Food in Russia was great. Lots of veal, pork and chicken. I tended to go for chicken as I am not a fan of veal or pork. No vegan fare to be found, I'm afraid. I had some baked chicken and then some chicken that was a fillet wrapped around mushrooms and a bunch of other vegetables that was great. Another night we had veal that was cooked in a wooden form with some kind of dough and cheese spread out over the whole thing. It was awesome.

I really enjoyed borscht and it's many varieties. We had it served hot and cold. The hot typically had meat of some origin and the cold no meat and a lot more beets in it. Oh, I also had Horse Jerky at one point at the airport bar in Arkhangelsk. It wasn't bad. I had to try it. How often does someone offer you horse meat? We didn't drink any vodka, amazingly. But we did drink lots of Russian beer which is fabulous.