Irkutsk has several so-called hotels, the only one in any way habitable being the "Hotel Metropole," a name which has become suggestive of gold-laced porters and gilded halls.
"From Paris to New York by Land"
Harry de Windt
There is no lack of money in Irkutsk, for gold-mining millionaires abound, and I generally spent the afternoon watching the cavalcade of well-appointed sleighs dashing, with a merry clash of bells, up and down the crowded street, and sauntering amongst the groups of well-dressed women and brilliant uniforms, until darkness drove me back to our unsavoury quarters at the Metropole.
"From Paris to New York by Land"
Harry de Windt
I go to the Metropole.
"A Gentleman Vagabond and Some Others"
F. Hopkinson Smith