Rusher, Week 1

Lo ello all, at the moment we're in Nizhny Novgorod, a few hundred kilometres to the east of Moscow, where we spent the first five days. I was hoping to upload photos but the computer I'm at doesnt have a USB port, so I'll try to upload some later. Things have gone fairly well besides one or two hiccups. Moscow was great fun, we did lots of the touristy stuff, Red Square (big, impressive), St Basils Cathedral ( beautiful inside, much smaller than I expected), Lenin (rubbery looking, nice digs), also the Kremlin, which was a little underwhelming but still quite impressive and massive. We also took a day trip out to Sergiev Posad, where Connie's friend Olga lives.

I'm liking Russia more then I expected, though I still find it to be a countries of complete opposites in many senses. People we meet on the street; waiters, guards, shop attendants are almost always not just brusque, but usually unpleasant. On the other hand the two people that Connie has introduced us to, Lera who let us sleep in her living room for four nights and Olga who showed us around Sergiev Posad, are genuinely two of the nicest and most generous people that I think I've ever met. Alos, the places that we have been have included beautiful and shiny new buildings, but also lots of derelict buildings, both houses and public buildings, many of which are literally rotting. The same often applies to basic things like foot paths. This applies much more to the smaller places that weve been to so far than to Moscow.

Anyway, this evening we head to Kazan where we spend the bones of two days, then we overnight to Samara for another two days and after that to Rostov-on Don, followed by another day in Moscow and then to St Petersburg, followed by the week on a train heading into Asia. I'll try to post photos up soon.

Most memorable part of the trip so far: probably the two hour tour from the very eccentric monk who told us that Russia would be ruined when it looked like Europe and that the world was fine as long as Moscow was fine. Very nice man, a little crazy too.