Thanks for the compliment! I got the coat here in Russia, in a flea market in Saint Petersburg! Warmest and heaviest garment I’ve ever worn by far. Was a really nice find, because I’m a very tall boy and it’s usually hard to find good-fitting stuff in general, let alone flea markets.

Border crossing went eh, Estonian border authorities did a bit of a number to me. There was a recent European law forbidding export of European currencies (in particular bills) to Russia as a sanction, and I quote the Estonian border website, “with the exception of amounts for personal use”. I carried a total of 45€ in bills so that, in case that when I crossed back the border to Europe I missed my bus or something, I would have some cash for a taxi or whatever. After the 1h+ of outdoors winter queue thanks to the Estonian authorities not building facilities for waiting, I got to the control, and after half an hour of deliberation, they sent me back to Estonia for having 45€ in my pocket. I had to go to a currency exchange to change 45€, beg the people in the border control queue again to let me go first because they had rejected me, go through the control again, and because it’s low season, thankfully the EcoLines bus had waited for me (and the other fella in my same situation who got rejected for carrying 15€) and we could get in and ride on to Saint Petersburg. This was at the Narva-Ivangorod border crossing.

The Russian side took literally 5 minutes. I gave them my passport, they checked my face and compared it with it, didn’t even ask about medical insurance, checked my e-visa themselves on their computer, passed my suitcase through Xray (didn’t make it open), and let me go in, no questions asked. So much for the Democratic free Europe and the totalitarian oppressive Russia?