If the overwhelmingly bad scent that assaults your nose when you enter the lobby of Hotel Baltica (the caged birds can’t help) isn’t enough to keep you from booking a room, then maybe this will: a drunk from the 24-hour liquor-laden store adjoining the hotel made more of an effort to help us than the woman behind the front desk, who claimed she spoke no English and made no move to offer further assistance. You can do much, much better.