Siberia, Week 3

Nearing the end of September and we're in Irkutsk in the centre of Siberia. We spend one night here on the shore of Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, and then tomorrow we get on the train to Mongolia, where we stay for four days.

Since last I posted we spent most of our time St Petersburg, which is positively beautiful. Walking around the centre of the city is like walking through a museum, filled with ornate 18th and 19th century buildings. The Hermitage, the city's art gallery, which has over three million pieces, most in storage, was an amazing experience. Myself and Laura spent four hours in there and still had oodles of stuff left to see. The entire city feels so different from most of the rest of Russia that we have seen. The remains of Communism were so prominent almost everywhere else, especially in Moscow, but were absent here, which was a very odd transition. Its also far easier to get around with English here, which was abonus, but also meant lots of tour groups.

After three days in St Petes, Connie and Laura left for home, leaving myself and Dim alone for a whole three months, so starting with three days in a compartment together was somewhat of a change. The Trand-Siberian, all four nights and three full days, was in honesty fairly dull. Though crossing five time zones on a train is definitely an experience worth having.

If things work out in Mongolia then we should spend the next four days sleeping in ger tents, hiking and riding horses. Yak tipping may also feature.

As promised, a picture of the great lady herself, Mother Russia. The little dots at the base of the statue are people.
Laura with her trusty Lonely Planet and remembering her mantra.
One of the glrious interior rooms of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It was a truely amazing art gallery, some of the rooms were more beautiful than the paintings.
Dim carrying Connie across a bridge. Not for any particular reason I think, just our amusement.
And the three of my travel companions, two of whom have now gone home, just leaving myself and Dim, kinda odd.

Rusher, Week 2

We're in Volgograd at the moment, which most people probably know better as Stalingrad. The city was almost completely destoyed during World War 2 and rebuilt after, so we made yesterday our Battle of Stalingrad day. The War Memorial on the edge of the city stands on a site where over one million are estimated to have died over months of fighting. Its centrepiece was an 80m high statue of Mother Russia holding a sword over her head. Needless to say it was very impressive. (pictures soon). They also have a very good battle museum.

Prior to Volgorgrad we were in Samara and Kazan. Unfortunately we were blighted in both by awful weather, we got one horrible wet day and one chilly dry day in each. Both were certainly interesting, with some beautiful architecture and sights. We went to see Lenin's old family home in Samara, where an old woman gave us the most uninformative tour ever: 'Here is his desk, here is where he cut bread'. Both I think left more of an impression from walking around than from anything in particular we went to see. Kazan I liked most I think. It reminded a little of home; lots of cafes and lots of new buildings, most not finished yet. Nothing reminds me of Ireland more than scaffolding and cranes.

This evening we head to Rostov on Don, and then back to Moscow for a day before going to St Petersburg. I'll post agin in a few days, and try to put up more pictures too. I hope everyone is good.

x

Pictures! I finally have a chance to sit in an internet cafe in a while so Im posting a few, starting with the obligatory one of Red Square. At the far end is St Basils, with the walls of the Kremlin on the right, wih Lenin's Mausoleum in front.
This is us in front of the 'Boran'. It was the only Russian space shuttle built but failed all of its security checks so was instead stripped out and put in Gorky Park in Moscow as a flight simulator. Its a terrible flight simulator, but it was so bad it was hilarious, we all just giggled the while way through.
This is an interior of one of the Metro stations in Moscow. We saw quite a few of them. Most of the city centre ones are absolutely beautiful, with ornate plaster work and chandeliers. Most also have statues and sculptures. It made traveling in the city so much more interesting.
This is one of the new Cathedrals they've built. Its only a few years old. The Soviets knocked the original down and put the worlds largest outdoor swimming pool in its place.
And here's the big man himself, in front of the one of the very imposing Soviet buildings we visited.

Rusher, Week 1

Lo ello all, at the moment we're in Nizhny Novgorod, a few hundred kilometres to the east of Moscow, where we spent the first five days. I was hoping to upload photos but the computer I'm at doesnt have a USB port, so I'll try to upload some later. Things have gone fairly well besides one or two hiccups. Moscow was great fun, we did lots of the touristy stuff, Red Square (big, impressive), St Basils Cathedral ( beautiful inside, much smaller than I expected), Lenin (rubbery looking, nice digs), also the Kremlin, which was a little underwhelming but still quite impressive and massive. We also took a day trip out to Sergiev Posad, where Connie's friend Olga lives.

I'm liking Russia more then I expected, though I still find it to be a countries of complete opposites in many senses. People we meet on the street; waiters, guards, shop attendants are almost always not just brusque, but usually unpleasant. On the other hand the two people that Connie has introduced us to, Lera who let us sleep in her living room for four nights and Olga who showed us around Sergiev Posad, are genuinely two of the nicest and most generous people that I think I've ever met. Alos, the places that we have been have included beautiful and shiny new buildings, but also lots of derelict buildings, both houses and public buildings, many of which are literally rotting. The same often applies to basic things like foot paths. This applies much more to the smaller places that weve been to so far than to Moscow.

Anyway, this evening we head to Kazan where we spend the bones of two days, then we overnight to Samara for another two days and after that to Rostov-on Don, followed by another day in Moscow and then to St Petersburg, followed by the week on a train heading into Asia. I'll try to post photos up soon.

Most memorable part of the trip so far: probably the two hour tour from the very eccentric monk who told us that Russia would be ruined when it looked like Europe and that the world was fine as long as Moscow was fine. Very nice man, a little crazy too.