"You know, if we invested half the time we spend checking out women in things like experiencing cultures or learning languages, we'd be like the best people who ever lived..... I suppose that's what's inherently wrong with us, as a gender" - Me, to Vinny, about two hours ago.

What did you do last night?

It being a Saturday, perhaps you took a loved one out to see a show? Or perhaps cooked a meal at home and stayed in watching Variety Performances from comedy greats? Or maybe you just got liquored up and trawled the worst of the nightspots looking for some action?

Here's what we did.

I sat in the bathtub in the hotel room surrounded by my own dirty clothes that I was washing, making the water go a little off colour, and with a pickle jar full of water over the plughole - because the hotel may cost double our combined daily budget, but they don't give you plugs. Meanwhile Vinny was sat in the bedroom, eating crabsticks and opening sealed pistachio nuts with his teeth, watching The Bourne Identity on a tiny telly with bad reception, with a Russian translation shouting over the dialogue.

We are certainly living the highlife.

Today we went out to get you wonderful people the attached photos of Moscow. We don't have a great deal to do at the moment other than wash clothes in bathtubs, watch poor television, and sightsee.

Those critics that this Travelpod has become little more than an account of a two month International Experiment in binge drinking will be pleased to know that due to our budget controls, we aren't drinking at the moment..... much.

We found a great supermarket yesterday, that we felt a little too shabby to be in. There were people sat playing pianos, and all the staff wore shirts and ties. The produce on sale was all imported from everywhere in the world apart from Russia. A jar of pickled broccoli with brown paper wrapped around the lid cost five pounds. A big jar of mixed pickles cost two hundred pounds. This was our first taste (cracking gag) of the "Nouva Ruski", or the 'new Russia', or 'new money' as they are often called.... Or, by those a little less polite, "Mafia".

Although the customers didn't seem too much like criminals, they did appear quite stupid for parting with their cash in this place. We felt rather cheap for buying a bottle of coke and a jar of pickles, but what do we care......

I have to go now, because I ran out of time messing around uploading the photos. I'm sure we'll be back with yet more mean-spirited digs at Moscow tomorrow as t'internet is cheap and air-conditioned. And then you'll have to survive a whole week without our updates as we enjoy the delights of spending six and a half days in a small moving box with Russians......