A Hockey Game... and Public Transport

I think spring is trying to edge winter out over here... but we are in the awkward in between seasons stage and it is NOT very nice - there are massive mega ton puddles and flooded ice fields and potholes filled to the brim ready to attack-splash unsuspecting pedestrians. However, I am still well equipped for the weather with my all-purpose Sorels - I just can't really go running in them.

Last night we went to a hockey game - the first game of five in the quarter-finals. The team lost 4-0, but Steve and Freddy met some other hockey fans/maniacs/beer drinkers and bonded while Dasha and I gabbed and made sure the boys made it back into the stadium by at least the middle of each period. She saw a few people she knew there, including the father of one of her friends - who was there with another woman. She said that this kind of thing is pretty common in Russia, cheating and seeing other people while married... yuk.



Okay, and you know how I was wondering exactly how complicated taking the bus might be here? There are three different categories of bus... The electric trolley bus that I took (for 8 roubles, about 30 cents), a smaller bus that doesn't have to stop at every stop (12 roubles, about 50 cents) and a van-bus that only stops where passengers need to get off - very capable of weaving in and out of traffic (12 roubles for an intimate ride in a large mini-van... no thanks!) Daria and I tried to take the mid-sized bus once - she wanted to show me how it works (paying and telling them where I need to get off) - but it was full. So I am sticking to the #5 trolley bus, seeing as how I know how it works and exactly where it goes.

The small van-bus
Medium sized bus....
BIG trolley bus

This isn't a bus.... I think it kind of looks like a mini-tanker!