Russia

Irkutsk is situated 5,185 kilometers by rail from Moscow. It's situated in Siberia and has a subarctic climate, characterized by extreme variations of temperatures between seasons. Temperatures can be very warm in the summer, and brutally cold in the winter. The warmest month of the year in Irkutsk is July, when the average (between day and night) temperature is +18, and the coldest month of the year is January, when the average temperature is only −19 "C . Irkutsk is situated in a landscape of rolling hills within the thick taiga, typical of eastern Siberia, and in contrast to the flat, open steppe of western Siberia.

We arrived early in the morning and walked for 20 minutes from the Train Station through the rain and dark to our hotel.

Luckily we could access our room already and we had a nice breakfast (buffet). We took a long shower and had a nice rest after which we went out to try and find an internet cafe. It was still raining and cold and we were quickly quite wet. After a few hours of walking around without finding an open internet cafe we went into a nice restaurant. We managed to get something to eat and dried up. We then finally found our internet cafe (with the help of a very friendly local language student), called home and sent some e-mails.

In the evening we met two Austrians, father and son, Walter and Walter, who we had met already on the train from Moscow. They had booked a tour with a german speaking guide the following day and we decided to go with them. They were coming from "The Russian Tea House" which they could recommend and we went there for some tea and traditional "Blinis", russian pancakes. Yummy.

The day after we packed ourselves in a van to do the tour. It consited of a drive with the four of us, our guide Olga and the driver (who's name most probably could have been Ivan).

The first stop was at an outdoor museum ("Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture") showing different traditional houses and the way of life in Siberia during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Buildings include farm houses, a Church, a Chapel a School and an eye-catching watchtower.

The second stop was the natural museum (Limnological Institute) where we could learn a bit more about the local geography, flora and fauna. They kept local fish as well as a couple of the endemic "Nerpa seals" in tanks.

After the museum we arrived at Lake Baikal. We were hungry and luckily our guide had booked a local restaurant there. We had "Omul" (a cousin of salmon and trout) endemic to the lake, wrapped in hash browns and filled with sourcream. We drank "Mors", cranberry juice, which normally is accompanied by vodka (but not this time). The meal was a true delicacy.

The third stop was the village of Listvyanka right at the lake, which by the way, is the deepest lake in the world with its 1,637 meters. That means its the largest freshwater lake by volume (23,000 km³), containing approximately twenty percent of the world's total surface fresh water. People didn't really know that much about Lake Baikal until the Trans-Siberian railway was built between 1896 and 1902. It was however quite impressive and a beautiful sight.

The fourth stop was at the local skiing slope from where we had some beautiful views.

The fifth and last stop was at a supermarket. We bought some food for the train ride to Mongolia and were amazed by the range of stuff they had.

We had a great time in Irkutsk and lake Baikal and would love to be able to come back one day. Maybe in March to experience the Siberian wintertime (when it's not too harsh). For those who like running (Nick and Kirsti?) we also heard that in March they have a Marathon on the lake. That would be a challenge!!

Lots of Love,

Fredrik and Sabrina

We were not the only ones waiting for the train. The hall at the station was pretty crowded. A military woman with a mean looking dog was kicking out the drunks who were trying to get a rest inside for a while. The track from which our train would be departing came up on the board and many started moving towards the tracks. A large group of policemen stood in the doors where we had to pass and picked out some people to check their papers but not us.

Outside, waiting to get on the train, we met a couple of large groups of Swedes. We got the impression that there were many foreigners, actually more than Russians, who were going with the train.

We shared our cabin with a very nice Swedish couple, Robert and Emma, who were just starting an approximately 9 month long trip through Russia, China, South-East Asia and hopefully Tibet too.

The Cars
We were traveling in the last part of the train, the Russian cars where all passengers with destinations in Russia were. Food was distributed (some crackers, sausage and tea for breakfast and a small lunch box for lunch) only to these passengers. These were also the oldest and most worn down cars but as it turned out, with the best heating! The first night I was sweating like a bull even though I slept in shorts and a t-shirt. The second night I was a bit more clever and slept without the blanket and it was ok. And as we traveled further east it got a bit colder and soon the temperature in our car was perfect while others were complaining about the cold. Other cars were the Chinese, a bit more modern, cars with a lot of staff. Then there was the first class cars, which I think also were in the Chinese part of the train.

Food
We didn’t know what to expect food wise, so we had bought some food before getting on the train. Some bread, marmalade, nuts and dried fruits, water, and some fruits. When the train stopped the first time we picked up some juice, cookies and bread and with the lunch boxes we didn’t manage to finish everything before getting off in Irkutsk. At many of the stops food was available in many forms or shapes, dried fish, pastries, cookies, fruits, bread, or entire meals.

Stops
The train was pretty punctual. There was a timetable on the wall detailing all the stops with minute precision. To our surprise the train kept quite punctual and only at the end was it a little behind schedule. The stops were very precise and always between 15 and 23 minutes. Some people almost were left behind at a station with a 15 min stop as they had to wait in the kiosk queue. It was really interesting to watch people and just see everything that was going on. The stops were about every three hours or so and the highlight of the day.

Hygiene
There were no showers but we had two bathrooms in our car. There was a sink and it wasn’t too difficult to keep clean and relatively fresh.

Activities
We played some board games, read a lot, talked more, looked out the windows, took photos here is some of what we saw:

Then we ate, slept and generally just enjoyed each others company. It was great! The time flew and all of a sudden we were in Irkutsk!!!

Bye for now and take care!!!!!!!

Love,

Fredrik and Sabrina

Hello there!!!

We have now (18 Sep) spent 5 days in Moscow and it’s time to carry on our eastward journey. But before let me tell you what we experienced in the Russian metropolis.

To our surprise, the hotel we booked through our travel agency had a really good standard with nice rooms, TV (some international news channels), quite good (English speaking) service, Internet access, big breakfast buffet and so on. By the way, it has so far been the most expensive hotel on our whole trip, 1.200 Kr (130 Euros or 180 Dollars) for a double room with breakfast buffet. Since we were dead beat after our train ride from St. Petersburg to Moscow and adding the terrible weather, it rained cats and dogs, we took it really easy the first day. We had a solid breakfast, took a nap, watched TV, explored the hotel, used the Internet, called home etc. The only productive thing we managed that day was to pick up our pre-booked train tickets to Irkutsk and Ulan Bator from the Leningradsky train station. We took the metro and after some disorientated moves at the station, we found the office from where we were supposed to pick up the tickets.

The second day well rested and to some extend acclimatized, we were ready for Moscow downtown. The weather hadn’t improved too much, the sky was still covered in grey colors, so we decided to go to the State Tretyakov Gallery, the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world, with a fantastic collection of Russian icons and other pre-revolutionary Russian art. The museum was a big hit for both Fredrik and me. As Western European one has seen fine arts from countries such as Italy, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, the US, the UK but Russian art somehow has never come to our sight before. We rented an audio guide and found it most interesting to listen to the different interpretations of and histories behind the paintings. Unfortunately but not that surprisingly, we were not allowed to take photos inside the museum so you have to come and see the Tretyakov Gallery for yourself.

After the museum, we strolled around. We walked through a park where we saw at least 6 couples of brides and grooms with their friends and family posing in front of reflex and video cameras. We also discovered a piece of art which made an impression on us. Close to the park we found some “iron” trees decorated with masses of spring locks. Each spring lock had two names and a date engraved, probably two beloved ones hoping or wishing their love to last forever. Cute!!!

From the park we carried on walking towards the Kremlin. By the way, Kremlin is the Russian word for "fortress", "citadel", or "castle" and refers to any major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. We crossed a bridge from where we had the first views of the stately Kremlin, the apex of Russian political power and once the centre of the Orthodox Church. It is not only the kernel of Moscow but of the whole country. It’s from here that autocratic tsars, communist dictators and democratic presidents have done their best and worst for Russia. We decided to visit the Muscovite “fortress” the next day and kept walking along its high walls through the Aleksandrovsky Gardens, along the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” where we stopped and took photos. The Tomb contains the remains of a soldier who died in December 1941 at Leningradskoe sh, the nearest the Nazis came to Moscow.

We kept walking in the hope to get to see the Red Square which lies outside the Kremlin walls. It was once a market square but during the centuries it has been a place where the occupants of the Kremlin chose to congregate, celebrate and castigate for all the people to see. To our surprise, the Red Square was fenced in and guarded; we could not get to it. We found out that there was an International Military Tattoo taking place, where 47 military bands from around the world would come together and perform, inspired by the Edinburgh’s Military Tattoo. What an amazing thing we thought in particular thinking of the location, Red Square. Wow!!!! We got some tickets for the next day or I should better say night. Fantastic!!!!

After a walk through and a short break at the GUM shopping mall, housed in a beautiful 19th century building with elegant and pricey shops, we finished our downtown trip for the day with dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Yummy!!!

The next day we were ready for the Kremlin. We were lucky, after having bought the tickets, we got in right away. We passed the Trinity Gate Tower started to wander around a bit until we heard the sound of a loud whistle from somewhere. Obviously, we had entered into an out-of-bounds area and the Kremlin police informed us “nicely” to stay out of there. There were no signs however, that could tell us where the out-of-bounds areas were. From time to time we heard the whistle and then we knew. We felt like dogs on training!

Eventually, we made it to the main attraction of the Kremlin, the Sabornaya Square with its beautiful, ancient cathedrals, palace and bell tower. The Assumption Cathedral was built between 1475 and 1479 and is the focal church of pre-revolutionary Russia. It is the burial place of most heads of the Russian Orthodox Church form the 1320s to 1700. The Annunciation Cathedral, built in 1489, was the royal family’s private chapel. Both cathedrals contain some stunning icons. No photos, sorry!!!

After a quick lunch break, we made our way to the Armory, a numbingly opulent collection of treasures accumulated over time by the Russian State and Church. We were above all impressed by the Faberge eggs, jeweled eggs made by Peter Carl Faberge for the Russian Tsars between 1885 and 1917, the joint coronation throne of boy tsars Peter (the Great) and his half-brother Ivan V with a secret compartment, baroque style horse coaches and gilded, gem covered jackets. Brilliant, in the full sense of the word!!!

Then at 7.00 pm we made our way to the Red Square to see the Military Tattoo. The view from the galleries was spectacular. We had St. Basils church, the towers and wall of the Kremlin right in front of us and thousands of Russians around us waiting for the music spectacle to start. Little by little it got darker and the illumination of the Red Square went on. Fantastic, what a view! The military bands started their show. We saw dancers from Ukraine, Danish, German and Russian military bands playing their drums and trumpets and others juggling their rifles to the music. There were Italian standard-bearers throwing their flags into the air and a huge multicultural bagpipers group with Australians, Canadians, Scottish and English played in full tones on their pipes. All together 1500 musicians and dancers came together who entertained an audience of about 40.000 people. And we were in between!!! What an amazing experience!!

The following day we visited St. Basil's Cathedral. Rising from the slope at Red Square's southern end, this crazy confusion of colors and shapes was created between 1555 and 1561, replacing an existing church, to celebrate Ivan the Terrible's taking of the Tatar stronghold of Kazan. Its design is the culmination of wholly Russian style that had been developed for building wooden churches.

The same day we allowed ourselves a real splurge at the Pushkin Café, the queen mother of haute russe dining, with an exquisite blend of Russian and French cuisines. Delicious!!!

Our last day in Moscow was filled with packing, buying food and getting ready for our Trans-Siberian train trip to Irkutsk, mailing home CDs with our digital photos, loading up photos on the internet etc. At 19.30 we got picked up by a taxi (we shared the taxi with a Swedish couple we met at the hotel who had the same destination) to the train station (Yaroslavl Station) where we waited for the train that should take us to Siberia.

Before I leave you here, some words about the Russians or the Muscovites. Apart from very few exceptions –like the receptionist in St. Petersburg whose shining teeth we never saw -, the Russians are very friendly people, always willing to help, for example, when you are lost in the street or need some translation help with the Russian menu. The only Russian words we really learned are “spasiba” (thank you), “pazhalsta” (you’re welcome), “dobraye-utra” (good morning) and “dasvidanya” (goodbye), somehow it works. The funny thing is, people in the street kept asking us things (actually, we have no clue what they were asking) as if we were locals. Somehow we must have blended in quite well with our grey outfits and bum bags. The only thing that was missing to make the look perfect was to have a cigarette in one hand and a beer bottle in the other.

That’s all for now, dear friends, but there is more to come in the next reports.

Big hugs and kisses,

Sabrina and Fredrik

The train wasn’t open like the one from Riga and had compartments. Otherwise the train looked pretty similar to the Latvian one. We shared our compartment with Rodney, a really nice gentleman from Yorkshire, England and Vladimir from Moscow. Vladimir was going home to his family after a hard week of work in St. Petersburg where he works every other week as a Photographer. We got along very well and Vladimir tried to teach us some Russian. He told us that this is the cheapest of trains on this route and that there are other more comfortable ones that even have all the meals included. We didn’t mind, we were comfortable and in good company. We managed to sleep like babies all night.

At around 06.00 am we arrived in Moscow at Leningradski station. We were considering getting a taxi but Vladimir told us that they would charge us a fortune and that we better take the Metro instead. He even volunteered to show us the way. Rodney got picked up directly at the station by somebody at his hotel and would be continuing shortly to Yakaterinenburg and on towards China so we said goodbye.

Vladimir paid for our metro tickets and took a long detour just to make sure we didn’t get lost. He left us his number in case we would run into any trouble or have any questions and we said goodbye.

It was dark and rainy when we got of the metro at Vladykino. We wondered around for a long while, asked a couple of people for the way and eventually found our hotel. It was really nice and we got access to our room immediately. We had a large breakfast, had a shower and took a long rest.

Take care everybody!!

Love,

Fredrik and Sabrina

11th of September
We had breakfast (the same dry breakfast buffet) and then took the metro in to town. St. Petersburg’s metro is said to be the worlds deepest. We don’t know if that is true but it definitely feels like it. We timed going down the escalator and it took almost 3 minutes to get from ground level to the train level. We got of at "Mayakovskaya" Station and wanted to check out some travel agencies to see what city tours or events they could offer. The agencies turned out to be of no help at all so that was just a waste of time. We carried on to "Nevsky Prospekt" metro station and walked to the Winter Palace where, as I mentioned in the earlier report (St. Petersburg (1)), the Hermitage (art museum) is located. We have read that if you were to stand for one minute in front of each piece of art in the museum it would take you nearly five years before you could leave. The director of the museum also said once that - "I can’t say that the Hermitage is the number one museum in the world, but it’s certainly not the second". Well, we had to see it and wanted to be able to dedicate as much time as possible so we decided to come back early the next day. Since it was already late in the afternoon we decided to do something else, but only after we had bought tickets to the ballet "Giselle" at the Hermitage theatre for the following evening. Then we walked over to the St. Isaacs Cathedral, one of the worlds largest, where we climbed up to the top of the dome and enjoyed the views of the city. After that we went for an hour at an internet cafe and then dinner at an Indonesian restaurant called "Sukawaki".

12th of September
After breakfast we went for another session at the internet cafe. Then quick lunch and on to the Hermitage museum, finally! It is grand and we can definitely recommend it to anyone who visits St. Petersburg. The building itself is fantastic and filled with interesting sculptures, artefacts from Ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Greece and all corners of the world. If you are still not impressed it houses a large collection of western art which include for example Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Rembrandt, Monet, Pissarro, Renoir, Cézanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, Picasso, and Matisse. There is much, much more to see however, including for example the Russian imperial regalia, an assortment of Fabergé jewellery, and the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

Quick dinner consisting of sushi at the "Banzai" restaurant. Still no local food, but at least we got some Russian caviar in the makis :-) Then we went to see the ballet Giselle at the cosy hermitage theatre. Two very enjoyable hours for about as much as a Russian state pension (2500 rubles, but i think the average pension is actually even lower than that). We took a taxi back to the hotel and the negotiation about the prize was hilarious. We tried to get it for 400 until we realized we were 10 rubles short and tried to get it for 390. After a long discussion the taxi driver said, "-Ok, 350 then!". DONE DEAL!!!

13th of September
The last day in St. Petersburg we spent packing and checking out and then on to an internet cafe for a longer session to burn our photos to CDs and to upload some photos for you guys. At the hotel they told us they could not help us send anything other than printed material (!) so unfortunately we haven’t managed to mail them home yet. We went for a quick lunch at a cafe and then we went back to the hotel to get our bags and get to the station. We found the train and got on all right without any problems.

More about the ride later!!

Lots of hugs!!!!

Fredrik and Sabrina