...I get up and the sun is still shining
...I go to the meeting place for the free tour, can't find it and miss my group
...I hang around the Red Square again marvelling at Russia's former - and present - glory
...I visit Gorky Park and a monument park with chopped off heads of discarded statues of communist dignitaries - imagine 200 Lenin heads in a huge wire cage or plenty of Molotovs, Stalins or Marxs standing around in what is otherwise a lovely picnic area. Pretty surreal.
...I walk around the Bolotnyi Ostrov, an island on the Moscow river, and take some scenic shots of the city
...I buy three iphone charging cables in rapid succession. I forgot mine from Belgium and these Russian knockoff, albeit cheap, break in a matter of hours!
...I visit a Ukrainian restaurant by the name of Taras Bulba. We do have a beer of that name in Belgium and here's an eatery. We have a rather pleasant chat, the staff and I, seeing as Ukrainian is easier to understand for Poles. The only hangup comes when I order beef Strogonoff. I have to spell it out for them, cause there's no way they can understand my broken Russian. They do give me gingerbread bread as a starter snack though! Yes!
...they also bring me a bowl of something that looks like lard, which I hate. When I ask what it is, they say: smotana (sounds like Polish word for "sour cream"). I sigh with relief and then I taste it. It is horseraddish.
...I visit the metro on an organized tour - some of these stations are genuine communist cathedrals! I'm wowed!
...in one of the restaurants close to my place I discover a genuine dual toilet - so two people can the stall at the same time. A singular Russian pastime this must be...