The start to our railway journey from Tomsk to Irkutsk was enlivened by my noticing that my mobile phone had disappeared. Luckily, it was in Jakov's car and he kindly brought it next time he was in Lappeenranta.
On the positive side, I quickly got used to life without a mobile - no need to reply to text messages, no need to check the web, and no stress.
Our train arrived in Irkutsk quite early, so when we went to our hotel, Hotel Empire, our room wasn't ready. We were put in a suite to wait a couple of hours until all was fixed, which we thought was rather nice, until we saw that they had charged us. But never mind, it was their right as we'd arrived too early and we were sorely in need of a rest.
Henry resting in our suite.
The view from the window of the suite - the Church of the Epiphany.
The view from our 'real' room was much less charming.
A sign warning guests not to keep fish in their room. Omul, a local delicacy, is a tasty fish but rather pungent.
Flowers on Kirov Square.
And the square looking in the other direction.
Some people seemingly missing the 'good old days'.
I should add that Irkutsk left a bit of a mixed impression. The driving was absolutely lethal - I feared for my life whenever I had to cross a road, and somehow it didn't seem to be my kind of place. Of course, the weather was not as nice as before, and we were perhaps getting the first symptons of travel fatigue.
On our second day we went to visit Lake Baikal. The normal buses were full so we took a minibus to Listvyanka. The driver's attitude to the rules of the road was somewhat idiosyncratic, but we got there safely, although not without my getting a few additional grey hairs. The minibus journey back was completely different - the bus was so decrepit that we had to worry more about the thing falling apart than the driver speeding into oblivion.
We didn't really have time to do much in Listvyanka, so on our day out we only dipped our toes in the cold, clear waters of Lake Baikal and strolled up and down the shore before returning back to Irkutsk. For travellers with more time Lake Baikal probably has much to offer.
Lake Baikal is home to the 'nerpa', one of the world's few freshwater seals. Our home lake, Lake Saimaa, has one of the other species of freshwater seals, the Saimaa seal. As a souvenir, Henry bought a little 'nerpa', who has adapted very well to living with his cousins on this side of the Ural mountains.
Henry with his feet in the clear waters of Lake Baikal.
Even I overcame my fear of cold water.
Fishing boat in Listvyanka harbour.
And a boat out on the lake.
On our final day in Irkutsk visited the ice-breaker Angara. The vessel was built in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1899 and now operates as a most interesting museum.
Museum ice-breaker SS Angara.
Irkutsk, too, has its fair share of sculptures and statues.
Henry with engineers in the rain.
It's that man again! Lenin in need of another drink.
Yuri Gagarin, the first human into space. In the background, a wedding party is arriving for a photo session.
A statue of Emperor Alexander III.
The next part of our journey was the longest stage of our rail trip, from Irkutsk to Vladivostok.
Henry ready to board the train to Vladivostok.
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