After the epic day that was yesterday, I managed to get a bit of a sleep in before going off and redoing my walking tour.

I set out up the street, past the victory church with its bright blue domes and stars on the roof, next passing by St Nicholas church…the patron of sailors and painted pastel blue in colour…again with gold domes. I passed by the Marlinsky theatre where the ballet is held, past the vodka museum and then reaching the biggest gold dome in the city, St Isaac's cathedral.

I then went for a walk through the square in front of the Winter Palace and passed through the triumphal arch, with its massive quadriga of horses. I thought about how even at this time, people so far removed were still obsessed with the Romans.

I walked down the main street past the Cathedral of Kazan and finally ending up at the Cathedral of our Savior on Spilled blood with not one mistake or wrong turn. Brilliant.

My next task was to collect my first lot of Trans-Mongolian tickets from our local operator, from Irkutsk to Moscow. Easier said than done. I found the address with no problems, but the in the office marked with their number was another company. Outside I had asked two people if I was in the right place and they had both said yes. Thoroughly confused I asked the lady at the wrong company for help. She said there was another entrance through a restaurant on the ground floor and that I should try there. Of course, how silly of me.

So up another four flights of stairs I went through the restaurant and finally I found them, checked and collected my tickets. I then walked back to the hotel to do a bit of paper work and then went out for dinner with the group.

We went to a really nice and reasonably price traditional Russian restaurant only a few minutes up the road from the hotel. I realized how cheap it was when I realized that the meal I had there was only ninety rubles more than the extortionate hot chocolate I'd had the day before. The group also really enjoyed it. After dinner I went back to the hotel to bed, we are off to Estonia tomorrow.