There's a station called Stalingrad in the metro (!!)

It's not enough just to get to Charles de Gaulle. You still have to get out of it :)

Right on this weekend, they closed the railway for maintenance. Instead of trains, they sent free (!) buses. So I saved money here too. I'm liking everything so far :)

UPD: people are telling me it's actually a strike, not maintenance. I wasn't paying attention to the announcements.

Fun fact: you don't actually need to go to France to see Paris (:

PS. My layover in Frankfurt ended up being way longer than expected. First, they changed my ticket to a slightly later flight (for free). Then it turned out there was overbooking and they were looking for volunteers willing to hang around the airport for a couple more hours in exchange for a small bonus. Since things weren't going according to plan anyway, I figured what's a couple more hours. Third time's the charm—everything worked out!

Brutal roaming from T-Mobile. The internet apparently costs all the money in the world. Guess I'll just pull out the SIM card.

I'm back in Moscow (the real one now). Something's off at Sheremetyevo – they just can't seem to get their act together with baggage. I waited over half an hour just for my bag to start coming out.

And then I saw a huge pile of unclaimed luggage. Guess people ran out of patience waiting.

Sea lions! You can almost always find them at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Though there are plenty of people wanting to see them too.

Everything you need to know about safety in the San Francisco area: parking lots have official signs asking you not to leave anything valuable in your car, or it will get stolen.

In California (and several other states), establishments that want to sell alcohol must obtain a license (different types for different alcohol: beer, wine, etc.). After filing an application, residents have 30 days to file an objection. You need to specify the exact reason why the establishment would be problematic.

For example, the location is in the center of a residential neighborhood and would create noise disturbance. You can find more examples on the alcohol control department's page.

In other states, alcohol sales are controlled by state authorities, but that's a completely different story.

Photo post. As promised.

It's only early September, but many shops and cafes are already decked out for Halloween, which is still almost 2 months away.

Check out this awesome caterpillar :)

The most tolerant toilet :)

Scottish cows!

Some stores have an electric version (!)

Thanks to Igor for the photo.

A special wheelchair for people with disabilities in a grocery store (!) Honestly, they really pay attention to these kinds of things here. Especially compared to Moscow. As a result, people like that get around more and lead more active lifestyles. And that's pretty cool.

On domestic flights in the US, they often open your luggage and check that there's nothing suspicious in there. And they leave a note inside. They write that if they couldn't open it normally and had to break the lock, that's not their fault. You should've bought a suitcase with a proper lock (:

PS. Plus, throughout the entire flight there was unlimited free WiFi on the plane. And the speed was actually pretty decent too.

California is joyfully welcoming us with wonderful gas prices. $4 per gallon (~72 rubles/liter). For comparison, New York is 1.5 times cheaper: $2.7 per gallon (~45 rubles/liter).

On the bright side, rental agencies have hybrid cars available. They help save on fuel.

A special wheelchair for people with disabilities at a grocery store (!)

Honestly, they really pay attention to these kinds of things here. Especially compared to Moscow. As a result, people like this get around more and live more active lifestyles. And that's pretty cool.

Finally Moscow!

Wait, something seems off with the navigator (:

PS. Photos from the town's official website are gorgeous. Especially the Moscow police and the photo caption "God bless Moscow" :)

The office has a few decent meeting rooms where the windows have almost perfect views (if you ignore the walls that block the sightlines).

By the way, this is one of the busiest streets around. The video was taken during lunch hour, when it's pretty quiet. As evening approaches, you'll see noticeably more people and cars. If you need to get somewhere quickly, it's better to use the parallel streets. Stay away from 5th Avenue and Broadway.