Monique and Sander to Russia, September 2019

Old Believer in traditional garb. An Old Believer member who was the lead singer. She is wearing jewelry on her head which they call KITSCH. We arrived in Ulan-Ude after an 8-hour train ride from Irkutsk. Interestingly, at that hour of the day, 8am there were no security personnel and one did not have to put the bags through x-ray as in all other stations.  The stretch between these two cities cost more to build than any other stretch on the Trans-Siberian rail length.  Until this 400 km length was built, the train only went to Irkutsk and then the train, passengers, and freight were loaded onto large vessels which made the 25 km crossing to the east shore of the lake.  This, of course, was a very time-consuming process but the south end of the lake abuts rather large mountains which no one was sure how to get through.  The railroad had been built simultaneously from Vladivostok west and to Irkutsk east with both ends ending on opposite sides of Lake Baika...

 View of the eastern shore of Lake Baikal from our hotel balcony. The mountains are about 10 miles on the other side. Pictures we took in Irkutsk and at Lake Baikal can be seen at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZZ8Epa5jXS7wUA5w8 We were met on the platform by Elena who will be our guide for the next two days.  When we arrived,  we were immediately subjected to the endless staircases which are the trademark of Russian train stations with no elevators no moving staircases. Our guide Elens in Irkutsk and Lake Baikal. As a matter of fact, the whole tourism industry in this country is still in its infancy with very little being invested to promote tourism or to make tourists feel welcome. We saw that throughout this trip. We hear it from our various guides who feel the brunt of the negative views of tourists they guide.  There are very few signs in any other language than Russian, trains are uncomfortable with old carriages made many decades ago, rai...

Monique in front of the statue of Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Krasnoyarsk. Monique and Pasha looking out on Krasnoyarsk. We boarded our train in Novosibirsk at 9 pm for Krasnoyarsk.  This meant another night on the very uneven and rather unpleasant shaking train.  It is not a steady click-click one would like to hear on the train.  The track is obviously very old and very out of line.  The result is that the train gets up to a maximum of 80km or 50 miles per hour. Every now and then, the whole train seems to hesitate and lurch forward.  We are in first-class which means we have two lower bunks and do not share the cabin with others.  But the bunks are hard and narrow and frankly not comfortable to lie in.  Having colds makes it all the less enjoyable. Without saying so aloud, both of us are starting to question why we were going through this voluntarily.  Between the rock and rolling train ride and the schlep of getting our bags throu...

Statue of a mouse in Novosibirsk Science park representing the contribution of mice to Science. We arrived in Novosibirsk the morning from our overnight trip out of Kazan.  Our hotel rooms were not available so our new guide Natalia scooped us up and we set off to visit the large outdoor railroad museum and the Novosibirsk Science City which are both about 30 km out of town.  We got into a lovely traffic jam which delayed our arrivals but we had a loose schedule. Pictures of Novosibirsk can be seen at: https://photos.app.goo.gl/xESh2siGW9xnXHCy6 The outdoor railroad museum is huge and has some 200 cars and engines on display.  We visited various cars including the car used by the Tsar when he traveled.  Not really that impressive except that it was fully bulletproof.  But it did drive home how important the railway is and was in the development of Russia. The Novosibirsk outdoors train museum Inside the Tsar's rail car. The Novo...

We arrived in Kazan at 8 am after the night on the train. We found the ride rather rough as the tracks are certainly not well aligned. The result is that the train sways constantly and rather roughly from side to side. We had a first-class cabin which means we had a normal cabin with only two lower bunks. We found our table set with water and some snacks. Later, we were served a light meal and we then had our first night on board. We will be sleeping one night on a train and one night in a hotel for most of the trip. This means that we get off the train,  then go to a hotel for the night, the next day we see a town and re-board a train for the night. It will take a while to get used to sleeping on the noisy and shaky trains. Nadiye, our Tartar guide in Kazan. The walls of the fort of Kazan. The mosque in the Kazan Citadel, or Kreml. The layout of the city of Kazan. Inside the new Mosque of Kazan. Monique trying her hand at making Tartar samozas. ...