England 3 - Russia 0 We didn't end up seeing Lenin on Wednesday - he's definitely closed at the moment. There's preparation for some kind of military festival in Red Square at the weekend so a lot of it is blocked off. So instead we headed for the Arbat area, as according to our guidebook it is meant to be lovely to stroll down. When we finally found it, it was basically a long street with cafes, bars and stall after stall selling exactly the same stuff. Really...

More rain more language difficulties So I'll do a quick recap over the past couple of days. On the Sunday it rained hard all day. When we finally got in the bathroom (there's only 1) we got ready and decided to brave the elements. We decided to try and find Izmaylovo market; Ian Wright said it's a must in an episode of Globetrekker (no, not the sporty Ian Wright but a funny traveller guy from London) for soviet era memorabilia. We were searching for a Lenin...

Welcome to Mockba We arrived in Moscow at 9:20 this morning. The border crossing went fine - all very official and only mildly intimidating but we got our stamps and that's the main thing. At about 9.30pm last night (on the train) Matt went in search of a beer. 10 minutes passed, I brushed my teeth. 20 minutes, I made up my bunk; 50 minutes, I finished my book. After an hour I started to be mildly concerned. Forever the pessimist with an overactive imaginat...