MOSKVA

"So, what do you do for work?"

"I'm a fireman"

"Oh ok... so you put out fires."

"No. I'm a fire-man. BANG BANG! Passport control!"

So went the conversation on our overnight train from St Petersburg to Vladamir. We were in a 4 berth cabin with 2 other Russians, so we thought the best thing to do would be to get into the vodka. One of the Russians we met on our train was a 22 year old from the army who was a 'fire-man' (he works as border control with a big gun!), and another was in something to do with computers and was a huge fan of Interpol and Bloc Party!

It was a hilarious night, and Gwil discovered that even Russian vodka can leave you with a hangover!

We went to a Russian banya in Vladamir. It's like a sauna, but not as relaxing. You get into a hot room (110 degrees c!) and are beaten with birch twigs. It's meant to help the circulation. Once you're hot and beaten, you jump in a freezing cold plunge pool. Then you do it all again.

The next day, the bus took us to Moscow, where we are now. Red Square is incredible. You can stand in the centre and spin around to see the Kremlin, Lenin's Mausoleum, and St Basils. It's a bit scarier here than in St Petersburg. You must carry your passport with you at all times, as police can carry out random passport checks.

We've just come back today from Star City, which has just recently been opened up to the public. It's a secret city where the cosmonauts still train! They have a replica of the MIR space station in there which was used for training, and we went inside there to check out the space toilet... I'd never really thought about how you use the toilet in space before. It's quite interesting! Star City is also where 'space tourists' come to train. They offered us a flight to the space station for 10 days for $20 million USD (just like Lance Bass from N*Sync). Or you can go around the moon for $100 million USD!

After seeing the space toilets, I think we'll give it a miss.