Having only 4 hours of sleep, Mike gave me the choice of starting to walk around town at 700h or sleeping in for a few more hours. Because Mike was headed to the hospital, his friend Elena offered to show me around. she woke me up at 1000h saying that she would be by in about 15 minutes to take me into town.
Pulled myself together quickly and was sipping my second coffee (needed) when she came ringing. 
We walked from the newish west end of town toward the Rechnoy Port in the city center along the Volga river. 
The Volga here about 500 meters across, with a number of smallish beaches lining its shore.We met up with Elena's friend and headed over to the Chuvash National Museum, which had the requisite anthropological, flora/fauna, and history exhibits. Quite a nice display over Soviet-era pieces, including some nice space race photos! We headed over to the central market place to find me some replacement/spare spokes for the bicycle. (I still haven't figured out why some many are breaking. Interestingly, all of broken ones are old and seven are located on the disk brake side.)
Grabbed a trolley bus and walked up to the WWII eternal flame monument perched high above the Volga. We were getting hungry by this point, so we went to a cafe and had my first plov (of many to come) - a standard meat+veggie rice dish. Went over to the fountains and rented a little paddle boat (catamarans in the local parlance) and zipped around the pond for an hour. (Why I decided to go bike riding on my day off, I do not know.) We then walked back to the flat, where cheese toasties were being prepared for my arrival (yay Russian hospitality!) Chatted with Elena, her mother, and Mike's mother for about an hour before heading to grab a 10 hour sleep!
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