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 watch or snow globe; either would do.

Wishing that we had invested more time in learning Russian, in particular Cyrillic, we finally found it. (After getting off at 2 wrong stops; at the first one we did find a market but it was more akin to the Arndale Centre's indoor market, the 2nd was a truly dismal looking area; made even more dismal by the grey sky and persistent rain). The market itself was actually pretty depressing in the grey drizzle; unable to find a Lenin snow globe I opted for a Babushka (or however you spell it) doll.

At night we headed to a veggie restaurant listed in the Lonely Planet and after another map reading ordeal (with one map in the regular alphabet and one in the Cyrillic alphabet so we could cross reference -can't seem to get a map with both alphabets on) we found it; I rather fancied a drink for the first time in ages, to discover it didn't sell alcohol .

We were woken yesterday at 9am by the buzzer and 2 new arrivals; Alex and Mareike from Germany. Then a Romanian couple turned up; unable to hide their disappointment as I'm not sure what they were expecting, but it wasn't this!

In the afternoon we paid through the nose for a Moscow city tour; we figured we weren't getting very far on our own. It was ok - some pictures are attached. We made our own dinner at night as it's pretty expensive here.

Bit strange in the night as the doorbell kept going at about 1am. Alex (the owner) wasn't around, I answered the intercom thing and it was him; he had forgotten his key..! He slept in the dorm with us and the Germans; wherever there is a bed spare he seems to sleep; if it's full he sleeps in the kitchen.

Today we headed out with the intention of seeing Lenin's mausoleum. However, it seems it was closed today. We got utterly frustrated AGAIN with the metro and finding our way around. Tomorrow we will go into the Kremlin and hopefully pop in to see Lenin. As you do .