Day Three. Couldn't get to sleep, couldn't wake up. Nearly missed breakfast again. Porridge with salt. Yummy! Not. Asked reception for maps of town and of underground, as promised in room brochure. She thought that all the maps had gone. There was a Metro map on the counter. I took one.


last view of Moscow


Her colleague told me to take the Metro to Komsomolkaya, and a lady there turned my eticket into a regular ticket. E voila. My route home is certain. And all the trains and boat booked in sequence after that. I can't break the chain.


Sit at Leningradsky station and drink tea for a hour . .
And spotting Krasnye Vorota from the other side I realise how close I came to finding the station yesterday. I find this very comforting.



















Get on 2.30 train and now my holiday begins. Enter Zoya and granddaughter Olya, already ensconced in our four bed compartment. She is happy for me to shout " Minutochkoo" every so often as I resort frantically to the dictionary. By 6.30 we have swapped food, mugs, and earrings; have photographed each other and have passed out.