Dear Lonely Planet, you are not awesome.

So I woke up Denis by calling him and asking him to open the door. Which he did. And was, again, SO nice. And said he tried to call me on my cell phone, except now I have a new number, etc. He might actually be the nicest person alive, you don't even know.

So he showed me my bed and I laid down and then was unable to sleep. Finally fell asleep at some point. Woke up after, like, 3 hours of sleep. Left Denis a note in what I hope was comprehensible Russian, paid for my 3 hours of sleep and went to the train station. I ended up leaving much later than I had planned, so was terrified I was going to miss my train. Especially since I had to change metro lines and somehow ended up on the green line instead of the red line. And OF COURSE I was sweating in the metro, because, that's the number one you DO in the metro. Second most commonly occurring metro activity is transportation. This should give you an idea of how much I sweat in the metro.

Made it on time. Got on my train. Slept. Woke up and arrived in Yaroslavl. Looked at this nice new edition map of Yaroslavl from Lonely Planet and set off to find my hotel (also, this whole "Natalie's Russian cell phone doesn't feel like calling anywhere in Russia except for Moscow and St. Petersburg" is getting REALLY annoying.) So I figured I'd do the same thing I did, like, the last four times I went to some city, which involves just going to the hotel and getting a room. Works every time. Except for SOME reason this map is weird and I ended up wandering around Yaroslavl for 2 hours. It's -17 degrees Celsius. And even though I asked for directions, it was still very very far until I found where I needed to be. And unfortunately, I walked around the part of Yaroslavl that DOESN'T have anything of cultural significance (with the exception of the Che Guevara Coffee Shop, which I would very much like to visit if I have time). So I FINALLY find the street where I need to be. And the place where Hotel Volga is supposed to be. And what's there? A SHOPPING MALL. And I ask some woman and she said that yes, at one point in the past, Hotel Volga was there. And now it is not. And no one seemed to know where it was. So I wandered for awhile trying to find it, before deciding I would find another hotel. Which I HOPE still exists and is in the right place on this photocopied Lonely Planet Yaroslavl map.

So I'm walking along the Ulitsa in a world of pain because it's -17 degrees out. So I step inside what looks like another shopping mall and what do I find? A trendy wifi cafe. So I'm sitting here with my small cup of coffee and ferrero rocher candy and am still cold. Also the very upsetting part about all of this is that at this point all the museums are closed, which means I'll wander around and find all the churches and monuments I can. I think that's a good plan. Then I'll probably call home. And Deda. Which is necessary because I'm in Yaroslavl. I hope I can find a phone card.

Back to Moscow tomorrow. I'm sad because it means I won't get to spend that much time in Yaroslavl, but...I'll be in Moscow, and that'll be awesome.