I decided to head into Kazan in the morning. My phone was out of credit and I needed to top up, I could do with a haircut and I’d heard Kazan is a beautiful place. My phone was sorted from England for me, which was awesome! That was a huge relief.

The haircut I didn’t get round to, but I’m glad I took the detour. Kazan was full of great architecture, statues and churches. Well worth a visit. I’d heard about the museum of soviet life, so I made a point of finding it. It’s a bizarre collection of junk from the past 60 years or so.

What I particularly like about it is the fact you can play with all the stuff. Try on the clothes, play the soviet records on the soviet gramophone etc.. It makes everything that little bit more real. If I had grown up here, it would have been a real trip down memory lane – as was evident by the reaction to the toys by the Russian visitors.

The curator spoke very good English and helped me to understand what a few of the things were. We got talking about where I was from, going to etc.. Before I left I had my picture taken with the staff and some of the visitors.

A very friendly place, well worth a visit!