I'ver just opened my TV listing guide to find the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) are starting a 5 piece documentary (each episode an hour long) with a renowned (in Britain anyway) presenter called Jonathan Dimbleby.  He will be travelling across Russia, talking to people about the changes that have taken place and life in Russia.

2 excepts from the review in the listing guide say he meets a group of jolly babushka who hug him for longer than necessary and tell him, with a glint in their eyes, that he is a very handsome man, then proceed to flirt with him outrageously!  So flirting and and a love of hugs are a Russian trait not just an Alexei trait!!!

2nd bit talks about him meeting a young man in a squallid communal kitchen of an apartment block.  The reviewer notes "So no one washes up much in the new Russia it seems".  Actually reviewer, I think its a young man thing that, not a Russian thing!.

He travels from Murmansk, to St Petersburg, through Moscow to Belsen then across the 'bottom' of the country to Tomsk, Chita, finishing in Valdivostok.  So, one of those 'epics' the BBC does so well.  It  took 18 months to complete.

Mind you, I thought I was going to miss it.  I had to be 'rescued' from a rather large spider on the stairs by my neighbour!!  What a wimp (me not her)

Not surprisingly there is a book and a DVD (region 2) to accompany the series called:
Russia: a Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People, authored by Jonathan.

for details visit www.bbcshop.com

It's will be available for shipping outside GB to Europe and other countries.  It isn't on the American or Canadian BBCshop sites yet but may be available through other retailers when released mid-June
http://www.bbcamericashop.com/
http://www.bbccanadashop.com/

I'm really looking forward to it.