By 11 we had checked out of the hotel and went to a parrot sanctuary nearby - there were dozens of parrots sitting on ropes and flying around - we fed them and let them sit on us for an hour, and went to the train station. On the way there we got snacks in Bristol. In the train I was watching Aeterna. At about am Kate wanted to drink, so I found a cooler. Next morning we arrived in Ekat, got a taxi to the Blimp and got into the bus home. In the bus I finished watching season 1 of Aeterna. We also went to Soni-Krivoy for some things and then finally got home

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I got some food for us in the morning and by 10:30 was at the Cup - we gathered at 11 for the steamboat voyage to Sviyazhsk. While sailing up the Volga river, we saw a monument of where Ivan the Terrible had his tent and watched the Tatar capital fall. It was raining for the first half of the excursion, so we were walking doun the ancient island-city-fortress streets in raincoats. The cathedrals and churches there are amaising for such a small place. there is a reconstruction of a gorgonion cannon people called "lassie's haed". I got a sbiten and a tubeteyka hat as souvenirs. I ate an oladushek, which is a local dish - a holeless goughnut with apple jam. There is a thinking garden there with quotes gathered by Leo Tolstoy and the apple trees from his homestead. There also is sa UNESCO heritage site there - the Asscention church. Highly recommend the tour.

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I had some work to do remotely and Kate got me 2 peremeches to eat. We went to Zoobotsad - it's both a zoo and a botanical garden. We saw a few cute De Brazza's monkeys - they looked very much like cats, lazy lemurs, suricates (the standing one was immediately crowned Timon), elephants, 2 lionesses playing like cats as well, a lion bathing in the sun, a gazelle, marabous, emus, zebras, flamingos, a hippo, cheetas, giant tortoises, gorillas, parrots and even a helmeted guinea fowl. It was really cool, but the gift shop was mainly just random animal plushees (not made locally).

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On Tuesday, Kate was busy in the morning, so I went to the Tatar printing near the Cup and got two books - one for myself and one as a gift. Then I went to the Kayuma Nasiri str (thinking for some reason that I was going to Baumana - the heat got to me). I got a tubeteyka hat. For some reason, I like different cultures' hats. Also, I went to Tubetay, which is a neotatar cuisine cafe, and got things like tiny fried echpochmaks, an echpochmotti, a qistibi, a tatarburger etc. - to share with Kate. Later we went to catch some fresh air after the rain - we got some drinks. The evening was spent watching Friends for who knows which time

Got Kate and myself a coffee each, a potato sausage roll and a homemade pizza. Chilled a little, packed our things, at 11:20 got into the taxi to the airport. The flight was delayed from 9:50 to 14:00. Later, the flight was cancelled and we took a taxi to the nerest metro station. Booked a hotel near the Kremlin

On Sunday, we went to the place called "Interesting Garden" for breakfast. It was close to the Cup, which we wanted to visit. I got the home breakfast and a pear latte, and Kate got a cappiccino. It was tasty. We climbed the Cup - nine stories with traditional folk ornaments displayed between stair flights. On top there were two levels - one like a walled ring with giant windows to look around, and the pot circulat platform to see the panorama. After that we took a trolleybus №5 instead of the autobus of the same number, so we got to a flee market instead of the zoo. Among thousands of trinkets there I saw a tiny red leather bound copy of Omar Hayam's selected poems in the Tatar language, but the gem was already snatched by a quicker buyer. We came home to chill under the AC and ate echpochmaks. At half to eight we went to the Kayuma Nasiri str - a central part of the Old-Tatar sloboda. We got a spiced tea and went to a shop near the hotel for souvenirs. In the hotel, I ate baursaks. We got the news that the flight back home got delayed for a few hours, so I had to shift some work to later, but it wasn't a problem

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We arrived to the hotel at about half past 3 in the morning and went straight to bed. The strange thing was that it was bright already and there were people in the streets, just walking. For breakfast, we went to Pera - a Turkish restaurant. I got a kavurmali pide, which was so large I needed willpower to finish it, a ruby chocolate coffee and a cold baklava. Kate got a muhammara, which she seemed to have enjoyed, but which was also on the large portion side. After that, we headed north to the Kremlin, through the Baumana str - the largest pedestrian street in Russia. We got ourselves docker hats, took photos with a giant echpochmak statue and overall enjoyed the walk. The Kremlin was nice - a fortress of white walls and towers on a hill look like something straingt out of medieval tales. We saw the Kul Sharif Mosque, went up the walls of the Kremlin, I climbed up the Transfuguration tower and took some photos from there. Later I went inside the moaque and went upstairs under the dome and heard about its decorum. Going back home, it was pretty hot, so we went inside a Harry Potter cafe. I got a butterbeer, which was a fun checkmark, but the drink was a little underwhelming. The interior was cool and they were playing HPatPoA - the best part imo.

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Today was a working day, but at 7 in the morning L arrived to help us with the pets - she'll look after them while we're gone. I will go to the train station by 5pm - the car to Ekat will leave from there. From Ekat we will fly to Kazan at night. Hopefully, the journey will be pleasant. I have downloaded the 1st season of Aeterna. The carpool taxi turned out to be a bad idea as the driver had to make a giant loop in the middle of the ride, but I still managed to be on time