Tuesday was just going to be one of those days where nothing works out. We slept too long and got into town late, and then spend the best part of 5 hours just buying a ticket to Moscow. We tried to get over it by having lunch in what the Lonely Planet describes as a 'delicious budget cafe' but which actually sold overpriced tasteless slop. So with a little time left in the day we headed to the 'nearby' internet cafe so we could arrange some Moscow details only to find a sign on the door saying they had moved to the other end of town. The bus we got on to take us there hit gridlock and so all time was gone and we had to head back home. This was to have dinner with some Australian friends of our hosts, who have just done the Trans-Sib east to west and therefore of great interest to us, and upon returning we learned they had to cancel.
Lessons learnt from the day: Don't oversleep when you've got lots to do; don't try to save $5 by buyng tickets from one of Russia's 'central ticket offices' which are actually free conversation centres as far as I can tell - its well worth the small surcharge to go to a main train station where there will be a cool, empty 'service centre' who will just sort it all out for you; don't use old foreign travel guides as authentic sources of eatery info; don't get the bus along a gridlocked street when you're in a hurry; don't let all these mistakes stress you out - I did and it didn't help!
As it was I found myself at the end of the day on a balcony with blue skies above me, a warm gentle breeze, a beer in one hand and a roll-up from the best tobacco I have ever tasted in the other (Mac Baren original, Danish, found during Trying Tuesday and worth every bit of grief I experienced!). All this after eating a delicious meal prepared by our fantastic new hosts Cat and Andy, who are wonderful, kind, generous and realy good company. So if this has been a bad day then I can count myself very luck indeed.