My initial plan to get by here with only knowing that an E in Russian is the same as English but backwards isn’t really working. I had to ask for the toilet this morning and nearly had to act it out.

We drove for miles today and ended up in a windswept rubbish dump . There were a few quietish whoops of joy at the first tulip spotting ( yellow) but as the group had gone straight from the airport to the minibus, most were just staggering about like Sean of the dead. I found a non copulating tortoise and have realised that people who like flowers are always staring at the ground so don’t spot much else.

The driver has a knack of finding the most desolate spots - an hours off road and I got excited. What would be at the end? A nice restaurant? Pleasant views? No, just more dirt track. I pottered about looking for pretty beetles while the others took pictures of leaves. As the others walked over the horizon to find another tulip (yellow), I sat in the sun sharing a bottle of wine with the driver. Hope you like my bus stop picture!