Intourist Hotel - Volgograd

... forgotten about, so it resembled a scene out of 'enemy at the gates' or any soviet war film. We ended up getting some ukrainian shopkeepers to watch our car all night in exchange for cash. It seems if someone doesnt watch your car, someone will be interested in whats in the car. They explained that numerous people approached them during the night and asked to 'see' the car. We bought a chicken and coffee from them in the morning, everybody we have met has been so ...

OK - so I'm cheating a little bit. Though I placed the pin for this entry in Volgograd, I'm really back in Moscow. That being said, most of this story took place in Volgograd so I think I'm allowed. All you accuracy police can leave me a note at the end of this if you've got a problem (though you may receive a colourful response if you do...). On the evening of July 6th, Tania, Danika and I met up with old friends Olga and Andreas, along with ...

The train journey back was quite stressful. After getting drunk with my fellow passengers, a soldier called Sergiy appeared and made us drink more with him. Not wanting to pass up free vodka, we did so, and he told me all about his military service. And about his mate's time in Chechnya. His mate, was of course completely insane, and not in a good way ...