So this morning we were up with the sun at 5am. We were joined by another co-worker Lyuba, who speaks Russian. She let us know that we got fleeced by the taxi drivers in Nizhniy.

Went to work after some major snags, and I slept the entire way there, and the entire way home. Since the plant closes at 4, we also had to leave at 4. We got back to Nizhniy Novgorod at 5:45, changed, then went out walking around the city.

There are a lot of things here that remind me of the Czech Republic... not sure if that is the communism or just being in Eastern Europe... There are several conflicting figures out there if this is the third, fourth, or fifth largest city in Russia. Our goal was to make it to the Kremlin - "The enormous red-brick Kremlin, one of the strongest and earliest preserved citadels in Russia, which was built in 1508-1511 under supervision of Peter the Italian."

So due to traffic on the bridge, we walked from our hotel - past the Nevsky Cathedral, across the Oka River bridge, and finally up to the Stroganov Church where we stopped to take some pictures. We wanted to walk down to the Kremlin, which was beautiful and saw the Kremlin Concert Hall and the Cathedral of Archangel Michael. We tried to go in the cathedral, but it was locked. By this time, we were hungry so we decided to come back and go into the Kremlin another day.

Lyuba recommended we go to Группа компаний for some authentic Russian dinner. We had "pies" for appetizers - mine was potato and was fantastic. It isn't the same thing as an American pie - more of a small snack. For dinner, Charles and I both got the Beef Stroganoff or Beef-Stroganov (in Russian: Беф-Строганов Bef-Stróganov). Authentic and so much better than I have ever had it in the USA. For dessert, I had some honey cake (which I think is German) but it was good - not too sweet, but not too plain.

We walked our way home and managed to see the sun setting behind the Nevsky Cathedral and reflecting off the Oka River. Amazing. Walking back over the bridge to the other side of the river was the worst part of the entire trip. There were swarms of bugs EVERYWHERE - I swear we were being hit with a plague. We had to walk across the entire bridge with our heads down and mouths shut or risk getting a rather large helping of 'bug protein'. Yuck.

Finally made it back to the hotel and went to the grocery store to pick up some bottled water and breakfast food. (The hotel breakfast is at 7am, however we leave for the location at 6am). I have been to grocery stores all over the world, but it is always interesting to see the differences. Here, I would easily say that the vodka selection outnumbered both the water and soda selection, no competition.

Well, good night for now