Moscow: ours and yours.

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I woke up to the sound of Anya making animal noises. When I opened my eyes I saw a child looking down on me, not quite knowing what to do. Alissa is about eighteen months old and looks a lot like her mum and her grandmother. I entertained her for the morning in the universal language of silly faces and piggy-backs, then went for a walk around the neighbourhood with Ana and Anya. It was a bleak experience.

In the afternoon Ana and I went back to the 'Koffye Haus' where we had eaten two days before. We had ice creams and drank coffee for hours. As spoiled as it sounds, there is nowhere in Yaroslavl that serves good coffee and western food and I missed it. That was all I wanted to do with my week off; to sit somewhere stylish and relaxing and get to know my friend better. Obviously I made a lot of mistakes with my Russian but it didn't feel as if I was talking my second language. It's the most comfortable I've felt speaking it. She has invited me to Luganskaya oblast' for christmas, and if I can sort a visa out I will go, hopefully seeing Kiev on the way.

We went back to Anya's flat in the evening. Her family was so kind to me, there was no way I could say "This is my holiday, I don't want to be here." While she was putting Alissa to bed I talked to her parents about my studies and - more importantly - yesterday's Bolton v St Petersburg UEFA cup football match! Then it was time for Anya to show us the Moscow nightlife.

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Photos

A cold Moscow sunset.
War memorials to the left.