This day on tour is usually spent doing paper work and booking tickets, but as my next tour is so far in advance, I didn't have to do any of that today. I had a bit of a sleep in and then joined some of my passengers for breakfast.

At 12pm I decided to go on Helen's city tour as all the passengers had decided to go and I had never done the tour before. I actually got to go to some places in Moscow that I had never been and got all the history of these places. We went to Lublyanka square and saw the formed KGB headquaters, and Helen told us that in the communist days if you talked about the government or politics, people would say, Do you want to have a problem with Lublyanka? Meaning, do you want to get kidnapped by the KGB and disappear, probably to Siberia. Great saying, I think I'll keep that one.

We also went to the Novoditschy Convent with was absolutely spectacular. It was next to the lake and the colourful domes of the churches reflected in it. We then visited the adjoining cemetery and saw the graves of some famous Russian's including Boris Yeltsin.

As we were going around on the bus, Helen told us about her family and about her political views. She explained about the election and that she had not voted for Vladimir Putin, but had voted for the communist party. Something I found very interesting. Helen spoke fondly of the time when the communists were in power. She explained how there was no real poverty, there was no drugs, people on the street and no crime.

Helen showed us a panorama view of Moscow and the victory park and arch before dropping us at the metro and allowing me to take the passengers back to the hotel. I took some of the out for dinner to my favourite restaurant, a place serving mostly Japanese food, which I think they liked better than the traditional place I usually take people to.

I met the passengers in the lobby at 9:30pm and waited for our transfer to Leningradsky station, which the passengers paid extra for as they didn't want to get the metro. As excited as I was about not having to get the metro, I was worried about not being totally in control of the situation and having to rely on someone else to get us to the station made me a bit of a nervous wreck, especially when the transfer was a bit late. We eventually got picked up (still in plenty of time) and were driven to Leningradsky as the sun was setting. I got everyone settled on the train and then set about going to bed.

I have 12 passengers, which means they all fit nicely into the four person cabins on the train and I have to share with the locals. On this occasion, I was sharing with three Russian men. I love Russian men, they are such gentlemen. As soon as it became apparent that I wanted to go to bed, they all filed out to allow me to get changed, even though I always sleep in my clothes, the when I had gotten into bed, I saw one of them look in on me and then turn the lights off in the cabin for me so I could get to sleep. They then stood outside the cabin until they wanted to go to sleep, I didn't even hear any of them come in and no one snored! All in all a great trip to St Petersburg.