I managed a decent sleep and then met our guide Helen at 10am for our guided tour of the Kremlin. We got the metro and then I had to get some of the passengers to store their bags before we went in. I couldn't believe how hot it had gotten in just five short weeks! Last time I had been here I had five layers on and my scarf held in place with my sunglasses and still been cold! Now I was in a short sleeved shirt and long pants and I was boiling.

The difference in the way the place looked was unbelievable. Instead of while snow, there was green grass and tulips in the gardens. Instead of a bleak overcast sky, there was the sun and crystal clear blue. Instead of bone chilling cold and wind, there was heat and a cool breeze.

We did basically the same tour I had done in the freezing cold five weeks ago, except there were now lovely gardens in flower to walk through. When we got to the canon, I asked Helen if she minded taking a group picture of us. I had thought of it on the spur of the moment, for Dave one of my Africa tour leaders. My tormentor who used to make fun of the way I stood in group photos. I instructed the group to stand to the side, legs apart, chest out and looking up and slightly in the other direction. Ace Rimmer style. It turned out to be an awesome photo!

After we had finished at the Kremlin, I left the group and went to Red Square with Moy, Gen and Kate, I left them in the square while I went and had lunch in the Gum centre. After lunch I set about my errands for the rest of the day.

The first of which involved going to do some reconnaissance and Leningradsky station. Actually, I'd say that's my number one piece of travel advice: Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted. In other words, go and scout it out ahead of time, before you have to go out there with fifteen tourists and a huge bag on your back!

The last time I had been to Leningradsky, it had been so cold and I had been so tired, it was all I could do to put my head down and just follow the person in front of me. So rather than screw it up tomorrow night, I had decided to scout it out this afternoon. It was lucky I did because the station building was covered in green scaffolding (bane of my existence) and it took me 45 minutes to find the actual station, as I didn't recognize it and there wasn't even a sign over the scaffolding saying it was Leningradsky.

After I had found the station and figured out how everything worked inside, I went to collect the tickets to St Petersburg from our local operator at another location. I wondered if I could find them again, since they are just in a random old building, near no particular land marks. I found them with no hassles, checked my tickets and headed off via Starbucks, which I felt I had earned. Unfortunately, Starbucks was both awful and expensive. Boo hoo.

After catching the metro back to the hotel and collapsing, my new room mate told me I should have dinner, which unfortunately, reminded me that I was hungry. It was all I could do, to trudge over to the shopping centre and get KFC. I waited in a line of me and one other person for half and hour for it. Why? I have no idea. It is often the case, while traveling, that the simplest of tasks can take hours. Tasks like, buy new headphones, acquiring a glue stick, finding conditioner and getting something printed can easily end up taking all day.

When I had finished the shopping centre was closing and I couldn't find my way out. Every time I tried to exit there was a guard blocking my path and pointing in another direction. In other circumstances this actually would have amused me, but not tonight, I was exhausted and needed bed. When I finally exited the shopping centre and got back to the hotel, I pushed the button to call the lift. I was the only one there at the time. When the lift arrived I was shoved out of the way by about twenty Chinese tourists and didn't manage to even get into a lift for about twenty minutes! Then when I did I was squashed all the way up to my floor as they seem to think ten of them with their huge bags could all fit in there at once. Being on the higher floors, I was squashed in there for quite sometime. Actually it was probably a good thing I was squashed against the wall, if I hadn't been I probably would have fallen over. Stupid Tourists.