PRACTICAL INFO (printer-friendly PDF)

• APTU
  The school is held in the Academic Physics and Technology University (APTU). See the APTU webpage (in English) and its Wikipedia page (in Russian).
  
  
• Getting to APTU
  
  • Airport -> Ploshchad Muzhestva station
    • It's very likely that your flight will arrive at the Pulkovo-2 (pronounced 'pool-koh-voh dva) terminal. If you need a taxi, as soon as you landed in Pulkovo-2 and passed passport check, phone +7 812 600 000 (they claim they have English-speaking operators) and order a car from Pulkovo-2 to Khlopina 8 corpus 3. The price should be not more than 1000 roubles (about $30). Unless you're up to waste your money, do not take taxi waiting in the airport: they are twice as expensive as any call-a-taxi service. However there is no real reason to take a taxi unless you are in a great hurry or have much luggage. Using public transport (instructions are given below) will cost you about 70 roubles. If you have no Russian cash, don't forget to exchange some 200-500 roubles (plus 1000 roubles if you take a taxi) in the airport. The exchange rates there are bad, but you have to have roubles to get around the city.
    • Go to the bus stop in front of the arrival terminal (see white front-side of a bus in a light-blue rounded square). Take either a municipal bus number 13 (every 10-15 minutes from around 05:30 till around 00:30; about 30-40 minutes, 18 roubles) or any of the commercial mini-buses K3, K13, K113, K213 (frequent enough most of the day; about 25-35 minutes, about 24-28 roubles). You are likely to be required to buy an extra ticket for the luggage. Warning: beware of pickpockets in any public transport, especially when entering or exiting. The bus will take you to the Moskovskaya (pronounced mohs-'kohvs-kah-yah) subway station (blue line).
    • Enter the station through the underground passage; buy a single-trip token or a multi-trip plastic card and go downstairs. Take a train towards the "longer" side of the blue line (that is, towards the center; see the scheme).
    • Change the line at the Tekhnologichesky Institut (pronounced tekh-noh-loh-g'ee-ches-ky ins-tee-'toot) station. This station is unique in a sense that you only have to cross the platform to get to the northbound direction of the red line. You are in the right train if the next station is Pushkinskaya.
    • Get off the train at the Ploshchad Muzhestva (pronounced 'ploh-shchad 'moo-zhes-tvah) station and exit the subway. Please refer to the next section for instructions on how to get from there to APTU.
      
  • Ploshchad Muzhestva station -> APTU
    
    
    
    

    1. Get off the subway and turn right.	2. Go straight ahead along the road.	3. Pass by the cafe "Mix".
    4. Pass by the sports complex "Polytechnic".	5. At the secondary road, turn right.	6. We will wait for you near this gate from 10:00 till 20:00 on Aug 11.

  
  
• On the APTU campus
  Here is the plan of the APTU campus with three paths shown.
  • The blue path goes from the gate to the hotel.
  • The green path goes from the gate to the conference building.
  • The red path goes from the hotel to the conference building.
  
  
  
  

  1. The entrance gate to the campus.	2. The entrance to the conference building.	3. The entrance to the hotel.

  
  
• Where to eat
  All participants are provided with free lunches inside the conference building. Those staying in the APTU hotel are also provided with free breakfasts (08:30-09:30) at the same place. You can have dinner in the APTU hotel for 200 RUR until 22:00. Below is an incomplete list of cafes and restaurants close to APTU, but most interesting restaurants are located in the city center. There are lots of them between the subway stations Ploschad Vosstanyia, Nevskiy prospekt and Sennaya ploschad.
  
  
  
  

  name	address	average bill	open hours	notes
  Arizona	Khlopina st. 5	450 RUR	until 22:00	restaurant, sushi menu
  Summer cafe	Corner of Khlopina and Politehnicheskaya	200 RUR		sandwiches, coffee, beer
  Teremok	opposite to Ploschad Muzhestva subway station	200 RUR	until 22:00	pancake fastfood
  Fitness	Nepokorennih 2	350 RUR	unavaible at the weekdays evenings from 17:00 to 19:00	bistro, Czech beer
  Vodopad	Tihoretskij 2	700 RUR	12:00-2:00	appears to be the best restaurant in the region
  Portos	Tihoretskij 15	400 RUR		small bistro/restaurant

  
  
  
• Excursion
  On August 14th, we will have an excursion to Peterhof. The bus will pick you up at the entrance gate to the APTU campus at 09:00.
  
  
• Conference dinner
  The conference dinner starts at 19:00 on August 14th at the Grenaderskiy restaurant, Bolshoy Sampsoniyevskiy prospekt, 60. The two nearest subway stations are Lesnaya and Vyborgskaya.
  
  
  
• Transportation
  Please, be very careful on the roads -- many Russian drivers like high speed but dislike the rules.
  • Underground
    After you enter the St. Petersburg underground you can unlimitedly move inside, paying only once, on entrance. A single-trip token costs 20 rubles and goes into a special slot on a subway turnstile. Another option is a smart card with some preset number of trips; to pass, you should bring it to the white circle located on top of the turnstile. If you need more trips, you can extend your card in the ticket window at any time (20 rubles/trip, a little cheaper if you buy many trips).
    Please, do not take photos or record videos in the underground: it is prohibited and may cause trouble with the police. It is a good idea to stick to the right side of the moving stairway – those in a hurry come rushing down the left side. The doors are automatic, so in case of a crowd, watch out not to get your clothes stuck.
    
    
  • Municipal routes
    In municipal buses (numbers without letters T or K), trams, and trolley-buses you should pay a ticket-collector (he/she will most often wear a red arm-band and orange jacket). One ticket costs 18 rubles.
    NB: You do not need to punch the ticket.
    NB: This transport has only regular stops and you can not get out wherever you want, so do not try to find a stop-button or pull the emergency brake.
    NB: It does not matter which door you use to come in or out except buses without ticket-collector: in such situation you should pay a driver and leave through front door (you won't get mistaken because in these buses only the front door opens at first, and the other doors open when passengers have already left the bus).
    
    
  • Commercial routes
    In commercial buses (marked by letters T or K) you should also pay a ticket-collector, while in minibuses you pay the driver when you enter. At some (bigger) buses you pay the driver when you exit. The price depends on the line (usually 24-26 rubles), and it is always clearly marked on a label.
    
    
  • Taxi
    Taxis are expensive in St. Petersburg; if you feel anything strange about the car, do not use it! Always ask the price before you get in, and if it is more than 700 roubles - do not use it!
  
  
• Phone calls
  There are many phones in the streets and especially near underground stations. There are several types of them. You can pay either by underground tokens, or coins, or phone cards of different companies (this depends on the phone). You can buy phone cards at underground stations. To dial internationally, dial 8, wait for the dial tone, dial 10 (not 00!), then the country code (without preceding zeros) and the number. Don't be discouraged if you hear a busy signal after dialing 8 - just try again. But note that international calls from public phones are very expensive. It is also possible to get a temporary local mobile phone number for 200-300 roubles - you need only your passport for this. It can be done in any communication service, for instance there is one called "Евросеть" (EVROSET') near the Ploshad Muzhsestva subway station. As for the service providers, Megafon and MTS provide slightly better coverage (no difference in the city, but far-away suburbs may get better reception), while Beeline and TELE2 are cheaper.
  
  
• The most important Don'ts
  Please,
  • do not drink unboiled water from the tap;
  • do not buy anything (especially alcohol) in the street;
  • do not exchange currency with private dealers;
  • do not walk alone late at the night in unpopulated streets;
  • do not cross the road in inappropriate places (the drivers are absolutely not polite) and be careful even when a crossing is marked.
  
  
• Contacts
  • Alexander Chinyakov
  • Alexander Kulikov
  • Alexander Smal
  • Alexey Filippov
  • Andrey Breslav
  • Anna Yudina
  • Catherine Tuzova
  • Dmitry Itsykson
  • Grigory Yaroslavtsev
  • Julia Belyaeva
  • Olga Melnichuk
  • Sergey Nikolenko
  In case of any questions select a random mobile number from the list above. =)
  • APTU hotel: +7 812 448 69 99
  • Emergency calls: 112 (free from any mobile phone and phones in the street)