Room 101.

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I set off for Moscow at 3.30 in the afternoon. The single ticket cost 68 roubles, about the price of a cup of coffee. My accent was terrible as I first asked directions to the station then spoke to the woman at the 'kassa', but they took pity on me and didn't scowl too much.

The 'elektrichka' train wasn't the most comfortable. I imagine it's an elongated prison van; it has a wide corridor, rows of hard metal benches and windows so grubby that it was almost impossible to see the beautiful countryside out of. Coming up from the muddy floor is the strong smell of wet dog.

Two hours and five minutes later I was in Moscow. I had no idea that my elektrichka ticket would also let me through the barriers into the metro, so I stared blankly at the entrance for twenty minutes before finding the right words to ask someone. Eventually I found my way through the crowd of people, down the escalator into Komsomolskaya metro station, and changed ten platforms later at Novoslobodskaya. The people in the metropolitan were just as they had been two months ago; middle-aged men in leather hats, middle-aged women enveloped by fur overcoats and bright rose make-up, teenagers dressed from an MTV video audition, gypsies carrying bags of clothes, ladies in their twenties reading a paperback book and listening to a walkman at the same time. Busy but quiet. The Communist paintings and busts at every station are stunning.

I stepped off at Tsvetnoi Bulvar, where Helen was waiting for me. When we met at university last year she had just returned from a year in Russia - half of it in Yaroslavl - and after she graduated last summer she found an internship at the British Chamber of Commerce in Moscow. She has always been someone I look up to - as I don't know the Russian word for role-model I have been calling her my hero!

We had a 'dabl kappuchino' and a catch up in Kofe-Haus, then walked next door to Pitstsa Khat - I'm realising that there is a huge western influence here. Roughly half of the 15 million population are Muscovites - many have arrived in the city from other parts of Russia, the rest are made up of 160 nationalities including British and American businessmen and ex-pats. 'Cosmopolitan' is the first word I would use to describe Moscow.

We walked back to her flat on Tsvetnoi Bulvar at 11. She lives with Jeremy, who is from Manchester and works for a sports' firm slightly out of town. He also studied at Yartek before working for RLUS. Small world. Their flat is spacious and light, with a comfortable kitchen and a new television. Midnight was bed-time. A night on the edge of Helen's bed was fine by me, especially compared with the last person I spent the night with while on my travels.

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Photos

Moscow skyline.
A view from Helen's kitchen - and a classic view from the thirteenth floor of most Moscow buildings.

Helen.
My father from the Exeter Russian play last easter.