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Best part of the World Cup? Nicolas, the taxi driver

Related Topics: Taxi Driver, FIFA World Cup, Russia

This is a picture of Nicolas. He’s been my sometimes driver in Russia during the World Cup and nobody here knows it yet, but he is a national treasure.

Nicolas, the taxi driver (Kevin Baxter / Los Angeles Times)

Nicolas has several odd, quirky traits. He mumbles to himself, a little like “Rain Man,” but always in English. And when his GPS interrupts him with an alternate route, he will trace the way in the air, waving his hands back and forth and adding sound effects like “zup” and “zip” for each turn.

He also uses the phone to look up things on Russian Wikipedia.