Russia Favorite Tips by swesn

MOSCOW : INTERNET CABINS

Favorite thing: Internet cabins appear to be a little bit more difficult to find because Moscow is SO HUGE!

Go to the Okhotny Ryad Shopping Mall. There is one very big internet provider located at the basement next to the food court. Turn right when you reach the bottom of the escalator.

It is open 24 hours, I believe. If you go early, like before 9am and stay late, like after 9pm (I cannot really recall the exact time), the price per hour is MUCH CHEAPER.

The mall may be closed at those hours. There are some guards standing at the entrance. Just do the 'keyboard-typing' motion and mouth 'INTERNET' and they let you in.

Another internet cabin is found along Novy Arbat ul. Walk towards west, after a huge shopping mall on the left side of Novy Arbat ul, watch out for the INTERNET sign. But this is a little bit more expensive than the one at Okhotny Ryad Mall.

ST PETERSBURG : INTERNET CABINS

Favorite thing: Internet cabins are readily found in St. Petersburg. There are many along Nevsky Prospekt, of course.

A good one is found on the left side of Nevsky Prospekt if you walk from Pl Vosstania metro station towards Nevsky Prosp metro station. I cannot quite remember exactly but I believe it is located before you reach Fontanka Canal.

READ BOOKS BY RUSSIAN WRITERS

Favorite thing: When in Russia, getting into the Russian mood and culture by reading Russian literature. Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky...

I read 'Crime and Punishment' by Fyodor Dostoevsky after visiting St. Petersburg and it was really great to read the description in the book writing about the streets and bridges I had probably walked by myself.