<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cordelli:
you have to give up your passport to get a visa now. Before it was just a copy of the page, but now you have to submit the passport (unless that has changed, and if it has somebody will certainly correct me).</font>
This is correct. The new Russian visas are not just a little piece of paper anymore, but a sticker that takes up an entire passport page.
So having room in your passport is another thing you need to make sure of.
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by alexwuk: And how many LHW Hotels require Patrons of the inhouse Casino to go through a metal detector? To cap it all: on my first visit, just before check-in I spied the St. Petersburg Times headline: "Astoria Murders Caught" (Turns out a month before two guys were gunned down outside)!</font>
This is what my Nevsky Palace scary story was about, too. It's not just the Astoria. And frankly, if this is the sort of thing that goes on, then I'd be pretty happy to see the metal detectors!
The Astoria rooms are small, but at least they're bigger than the standard rooms at the National in Moscow (only time I've ever paid over $200/night for a room with a single bed!)