Johnny Vodka
Well-Known Member
I'm 36. Had a good weekend. Loved the races (and will be going back) and Lykke Li was amazing last night. 8)
Halloween Weekend Plans
- Thread starter Morbyd
- Start date
kimajy
Well-Known Member
Friday - Flying to Minsk with my mate to celebrate his birthday. Going clubbing.
Saturday - Walking around town, nice dinner at Grand Cafe (probably best French restaurant I've been to in Eastern Europe), More clubbing.
Sunday - Pull head together, check out of hotel, lunch at a traditional Belarusian restaurant in the old town. Fly home.
Well, how was Minsk ?
Morbyd
Moderator
Well, the weekend started off on the wrong foot. Got stuck very late at work and missed my Friday night flight, so I ran a few errands, got some things done around the house, called it a (relatively) early night, and caught the next flight early Saturday morning.
The devaluation of the Belarusian ruble over the course of this year has made Minsk an insanely cheap city to visit. The nicer hotels are still somewhat expensive (prices were fixed in dollars, ours cost $165/night) but taking a taxi, eating out, getting into clubs, drinking - you can't help but bust out laughing with amazement at times.
I started off by checking into my hotel and popping open the $1 half-liter can of local beer in the mini-bar. Yep. It cost $1. Good brew too. Then went down to the lobby bar to meet up with my 2 mates who'd flown in the night before. Had a couple more beers.
Then we went to a sports bar nearby I'd scouted on the 'net (and called in advance) to watch Chelsea v Arsenal. Turns out they'd been booked full by the local Arsenal supporters club
We wandered down the road and found a bookmakers inside the casino of another hotel and plopped down in front of the TV there. Drank a few more beers.
Then we went to TGI Fridays for a quick snack (chicken wings sounded really good at that point for some reason) and more beers. Back to the hotel to get ready for the evening, at which point I passed out for an hour, having only slept 4 hours the night before.
Then we went to Grand Cafe for dinner. Seriously, one of the better restaurants I've been to in Eastern Europe if not Europe as a whole. Really good, attentive service and great Continental cuisine at inconceivable prices. We each had 2 courses and coffee, as well as several more beers, and the bill came to $50 each, including tip. And our main dishes were serious good eats - fillet steak in green pepper sauce, Chateaubriand, and (my dish) duck breast. Highly recommend the Chateaubriand.
Stopping by the bar area on the way out, we ran into a couple of guys we know from Moscow, met the restaurant owner who gave us some nightlife tips (while my mate drunkenly tried to pull his girlfriend standing nearby!), and met the DJ headlining a club we'd already planned on visiting that night, who put us on the guest list. Bonus!
We went from there to some nondescript bar with one of the transplanted Moscow expats we ran into. Then we went to Loft club. It's a small venue but the resident DJ Laurel was celebrating his anniversary. He had some German DJ visiting who was spinning top quality disco/house/funk. Really good time! 8) fun crowd.
That wound down around 4am so we went to an after-hours club I'd been to last time called Over Time, but they said the club was full
so we checked out another place called Mon Cafe which was hopping Top-quality techno DJ in there cranking the tunes. Unfortunate lack of drink choice at the bar (no more beer!) so we were forced to drink vodka sprite (yuck) but otherwise really top party.
Then we got a taxi to McDonalds drive through and back to the hotel to eat our breakfast in the hotel lobby (no one realized we could have just gone to the hotel restaurant for free breakfast)
Sunday - all of us were a bit wrecked, given the amount we'd drank the night before We went to a slightly seedy Belarusian restaurant for a greasy lunch and recovery beers. Then we took a long walk around the riverfront area by the skating rink, fish market, old cathedral, etc. Stopped off at a bar for another round of beers. Headed back to the hotel and then to the airport, where we sat drinking more beers
Minsk is clean. Like, insanely clean. It's orderly. People we met were friendly. And they follow rules (I have never seen a city where no one jaywalks). The architecture has that grand style of the Stalinist period since most of the city was destroyed during WWII and then rebuilt, which I really like. It is surprisingly European for a place we've come to think as being so cut-off. Surely, it can still be a little Soviet in some ways but I really like it there.
I spent a total of about $190 over the two days (not including hotel). Given the sheer volume of food and drink I consumed, plus the taxis, airport transfer ($25), etc... Amazing.
The devaluation of the Belarusian ruble over the course of this year has made Minsk an insanely cheap city to visit. The nicer hotels are still somewhat expensive (prices were fixed in dollars, ours cost $165/night) but taking a taxi, eating out, getting into clubs, drinking - you can't help but bust out laughing with amazement at times.
I started off by checking into my hotel and popping open the $1 half-liter can of local beer in the mini-bar. Yep. It cost $1. Good brew too. Then went down to the lobby bar to meet up with my 2 mates who'd flown in the night before. Had a couple more beers.
Then we went to a sports bar nearby I'd scouted on the 'net (and called in advance) to watch Chelsea v Arsenal. Turns out they'd been booked full by the local Arsenal supporters club
We wandered down the road and found a bookmakers inside the casino of another hotel and plopped down in front of the TV there. Drank a few more beers.Then we went to TGI Fridays for a quick snack (chicken wings sounded really good at that point for some reason
) and more beers. Back to the hotel to get ready for the evening, at which point I passed out for an hour, having only slept 4 hours the night before.Then we went to Grand Cafe for dinner. Seriously, one of the better restaurants I've been to in Eastern Europe if not Europe as a whole. Really good, attentive service and great Continental cuisine at inconceivable prices. We each had 2 courses and coffee, as well as several more beers, and the bill came to $50 each, including tip. And our main dishes were serious good eats - fillet steak in green pepper sauce, Chateaubriand, and (my dish) duck breast. Highly recommend the Chateaubriand.
Stopping by the bar area on the way out, we ran into a couple of guys we know from Moscow, met the restaurant owner who gave us some nightlife tips (while my mate drunkenly tried to pull his girlfriend standing nearby!), and met the DJ headlining a club we'd already planned on visiting that night, who put us on the guest list. Bonus!
We went from there to some nondescript bar with one of the transplanted Moscow expats we ran into. Then we went to Loft club. It's a small venue but the resident DJ Laurel was celebrating his anniversary. He had some German DJ visiting who was spinning top quality disco/house/funk. Really good time! 8) fun crowd.
That wound down around 4am so we went to an after-hours club I'd been to last time called Over Time, but they said the club was full
so we checked out another place called Mon Cafe which was hopping Top-quality techno DJ in there cranking the tunes. Unfortunate lack of drink choice at the bar (no more beer!) so we were forced to drink vodka sprite (yuck) but otherwise really top party.Then we got a taxi to McDonalds drive through and back to the hotel to eat our breakfast in the hotel lobby (no one realized we could have just gone to the hotel restaurant for free breakfast
)Sunday - all of us were a bit wrecked, given the amount we'd drank the night before
We went to a slightly seedy Belarusian restaurant for a greasy lunch and recovery beers. Then we took a long walk around the riverfront area by the skating rink, fish market, old cathedral, etc. Stopped off at a bar for another round of beers. Headed back to the hotel and then to the airport, where we sat drinking more beers Minsk is clean. Like, insanely clean. It's orderly. People we met were friendly. And they follow rules (I have never seen a city where no one jaywalks
). The architecture has that grand style of the Stalinist period since most of the city was destroyed during WWII and then rebuilt, which I really like. It is surprisingly European for a place we've come to think as being so cut-off. Surely, it can still be a little Soviet in some ways but I really like it there.I spent a total of about $190 over the two days (not including hotel). Given the sheer volume of food and drink I consumed, plus the taxis, airport transfer ($25), etc... Amazing.
kimajy
Well-Known Member
Does sound very reasonable and a bit like Singapore in the sense of being so orderly ? Guess it's not a particularly easy destination for a short break from UK, but sounds a nice place to go for 'something different'.
There's definitely a very beery theme to your weekendlol .. hard to say no at $1 a go, though !! The juxtaposition of gastronomic indulgence with forays into TGIs and McDs does make me smile tho' ... must be that darned beer !!!
Glad you had a good trip and well done for persevering after missing your flight on Friday night. I failed miserably to make my trip at all Saturday after getting away far too late on Friday night.. best laid plans and all !! Blinder night at Drumcode in London made up for missing the notorious Mr Hawtin's extravaganza in Madrid .. but a very hefty cloud of guilt did follow me all weekend (not unlike "drinker's regret" !!) at wasting $200 worth of use it or lose it flights and club tickets. Genuinely felt quite ashamed of myself at the time .. come to think of it, I still do !
There's definitely a very beery theme to your weekend
lol .. hard to say no at $1 a go, though !! The juxtaposition of gastronomic indulgence with forays into TGIs and McDs does make me smile tho' ... must be that darned beer !!! Glad you had a good trip and well done for persevering after missing your flight on Friday night. I failed miserably to make my trip at all Saturday after getting away far too late on Friday night.. best laid plans and all !! Blinder night at Drumcode in London made up for missing the notorious Mr Hawtin's extravaganza in Madrid .. but a very hefty cloud of guilt did follow me all weekend (not unlike "drinker's regret" !!) at wasting $200 worth of use it or lose it flights and club tickets. Genuinely felt quite ashamed of myself at the time .. come to think of it, I still do
!
Morbyd
Moderator
I know that use-it-or-lose-it feeling. I'd used miles for my plane tickets so if I abandoned the trip then they were gone for good. On the flip side, it cost me 100 euros to change my plane ticket. It took me a few minutes to decide.
Luckily, the hotel let me out of paying for that first night despite the very late cancellation, which covered the cost of the ticket change. So I spent the same money, just for 11 hours less fun.
Luckily, the hotel let me out of paying for that first night despite the very late cancellation, which covered the cost of the ticket change. So I spent the same money, just for 11 hours less fun.