Trip 1 - Day 2

Day 2 began with a delicious breakfast by Ludmila. While we were in her home she definitely kept us well fed! We then had a few hours to get a little more rest and then Ludmila insisted on feeding us an early lunch before we headed to the airport. Pasha and Tatyana picked us up around 11:30 and we headed to catch our flight to Perm. They require you to be at the airport three hours before your flight leaves in Russia. So, that gave Tatyana, Troy & me LOTS of time in the airport to drink hot tea (which I drank more of in Russia than I have in my entire life)! We flew to Perm on a newer Russian airline called S7. It was a very nice airline. It was an Airbus 319. The airplane itself was painted a very bright, almost lime green color (of course I loved that)! The flight to Perm was only 2 hrs, but they served us a full lunch during the flight (hot tea included, of course)! There is a 2 hr time difference between Moscow & Perm, so when we landed it was about 7:00pm. A driver that Tatyana had hired picked us up at the Perm airport (which was TINY) and we began the hour long drive around town trying to find our hotel! Our hotel wasn't at all what I was expecting. It was in an alleyway behind a cafe. I was nervous, to say the least, when we pulled up. Once we got inside though, I realized the rooms were very clean. We got our bags put away and then walked down the alley to a 24 hr cafe. There we discovered Russian pancakes with jam. I was in love!!!! We finished up our pancakes and hot tea and went back to the hotel to get some much needed sleep!! I wasn't quite sure yet what to think of Russia, but it was definitely starting to grow on me!