The Russian commute

I've realised than when I travel to overseas chess events, I'm more of a commuter than a tourist. This was certainly the case in getting to Khanty-Mansiysk, which took around 2 days of planes, trains and airports.
The trip itself was largely uneventful, except for a bit of a detour on the Moscow Metro system where I confused north and south and started by heading away from Sheremetyevo Airport, before realising what I had done!
The 1am flight from Moscow to Khanty was full of sleeping chess players, including Ian and Cathy Rogers, who are here to cover the first week of the World Cup. For anyone who played at the 2010 Olympiad, the Olympic Hotel (where most teams stayed) is still the same as it was, including the downstairs bar that was popular with a lot of us.
The opening ceremony for the World Cup is this evening, with the first round starting tomorrow. According to the schedule the rounds are at 3pm, which is 8pm Canberra time. I face top seed Ding Liren in the first round, although the drawing of colors has not taken place yet, so I do not know if I am white or black. With the usual security restrictions in place, I won't be taking my phone to the venue, so any updates from me will have to wait until I get back from the venue.