We got a taxi into town to look for Russian hats (as I promised to buy Max one). We walked over to see the "Mother Russia" statue (or rather than better translation, the "Mother Homeland" statue).
We were wandering around looking at the sites (such as the Eternal Flame located at Mameyev Kurgan in the Hall of the Warrior Glory in tribute to those who died defending the city between 1942 and 1943) when word came through that because our newly acquired travel companion wasn't allowed to leave Russia due his giving away his car in the Ukraine. The car had now become flagged as stolen He was, we were told, now a fugitive in Russia. We went to lunch. Whilst waiting for steak whilst John phoned the Irish embassy in Ukraine about being a fugitive in Russia. Between a fixer in Ukraine and the number for some top guy in the Irish government it was turning into an interesting afternoon. The basic details from the embassy were for John to get out of Russia and fast.
I hung around with some of the teams in a square in front of the Museum of Tractor factory and Kieran sped him to the airport. He was given a police escort, though i'm not quite sure why since the police were out to arrest John. We also heard news that another team was rushed to hospital with rabies after being bitten by a dog. Good times.
11:30pm local time. Very heavy rain. We tried to decide whether to push on for drier roads and camp or find a cheap hotel. Best make a cup of tea and ponder it was the plan.
In the end we stayed in yet another field.
