On our first day, Wes and Delia graciously allowed us to borrow their car and driver. This gave us a bit of freedom to explore a few places we wouldn't normally be able to in Moscow. Although the weather was far from pleasant, we still made the most of getting around. First stop was on top of the University hill which overlooks Moscow, the actual view was pretty forgettable with the most memorable thing being a ski jump and the actual University building which just said communism all over it.

Slava (our new shadow) then took us to Victory Park, a memorial to World War 2. The part was full of dominant, proud images of soldiers, weaponry and symbolisium. At the centre of the park was a museum, after battling to find a way in, we were quite impressed with the array of history on view.

At this point we noticed that unlike most cultures with a language barrier, as soon as the realise you don't understand them they revert to baby language and a lot of hand signals. Russians don't. As soon as they see a weakness of not understanding, they are off, talking a hundred miles an hour like you are the most ignorant fool in the world.

Last stop for the day was the Russian Exhibition Centre, originally built in 1939, this huge site was a centre to show off what the Russian people were capable of. It had a building dedicated to Engineering, Space, Atomic Energy, the Peoples Education, Radio-electronics and the Soviet Culture. It really is a huge site, which in more recent years has been turned into a bargin basement of stalls, boutique shops and garden supplies.