Lake Baikal - the Pearl of Siberia

Well, we survived. The 4 day train journey actually passed a lot more quickly than we thought. It was amazing to just chill out and watch the world go by. For the first part of our trip, we shared our 4 berth compartment with a nice Russian couple, Sergei and Ina, who were very hospitable and nice - we don't speak much Russian though and they spoke even less English so there was a lot of exchanging of our phrase book! We also got to know a few others on the train too. The second part of our trip, we shared the compartment with 2 men, Marid and Vadim, who were more the staunch silent type so we kept a lot to ourselves. There were almost no other foreigners on the train so that also meant we were a bit of a novelty....

The train itself was interesting - ingenious toilets and also the provision of a samovar (kind of like a permanent hot water urn) made the trip really comfortable.

And then... we arrived in Irkutsk. We met a lot more foreigners there before we headed straight to the bus station (somewhat annoyingly positioned on the other side of town from the train station) and out to Listvyanka, a very small village (pop about 2000) on the Southern shores of Lake Baikal. This is an amazing place - there are lots of random facts about the Lake that we learned when we visited the Baikal museum and also took a boat trip out on the lake. It is a fresh water lake and so you can drink straight from it. It is about a mile deep at it's deepest point, and it is filled with thousands of plant and animal species that can only be found here.

The weather while we were here was gorgeous - not too hot and always a slight coolness coming off the lake. Really sunny and stunning. Apart from just relaxing and recovering from the train trip, we walked along the lake shore to Nikola and took the chair lift to Shetse Rock which has amazing views over the lake and then walking back down through the woods and seeing a stream that was still partially frozen!

On our last day, we left mid morning and headed back to Irkutsk to spend the day there before jumping on the train to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia. Irkutsk was good in that it was easy to navigate and it has a really interesting Regional Museum but it's one of those places that is big enough to be OK but not quite big enough that there is a lot of stuff to do! That said, we still managed to fill our time before getting on the train at 10.15pm.

Goodbye, Russia.....

From Russia with love

After a slight (!!) delay at the border, we arrived in Russia!! We drove into St Petersburg only to discover that it was the anniversary of the city that weekend and there were full on celebrations in the middle of the city which meant that the metro was not running. Eventually we made it to our hostel and got to bed about 2am! So, after a rocky start, we braved the train station the next day to buy tickets for 3 days time to take us to Moscow. Slightly hairy but we managed!

Probably the highlight of St Petersburg was the Hermitage museum - such an amazing collection of art and history and the building itself is incredible - somewhat fading in splendour, though! Aside from this we also got to go to the fortress of St Peter and Paul, St Isaac's Cathedral (with great views), and a few other monuments. One thing that stood out was how much you have to pay for public toilets here - even portaloos!!

We ended up getting a fast train to Moscow - Virgin trains eat your heart out - these were very nice and it almost felt like getting on an aeroplane as we went through security, a hostess checked our ticket, and various announcement....rd - a s were made over the PA in Russian and English! In Moscow - big, noisy, scary and expensive - we made what should have been a half hour trip to our hotel in a record breaking 2 hours!! Never mind. Despite the heat (about 33 degrees!) we managed to take in the sights of the Kremlin and Red Square as well as the City's cathedral. The Kremlin was definitely worth it and the interior of the cathedrals there were quite beautiful although slightly full on.

Then, it was farewell to the capital and a 4 day onward journey to Irkutsk.

A Ball in the Baltics keeps on rolling - Riga and then Tallinn

We arrived safely in Riga and splurged on a taxi from the Central Bus Station to our hotel near the Riga Arena Sports Centre. Slightly random spot but airmiles = free accommodation with breakfast (which, often, of course, means lunch as well!) provided.

We only had one full day, the next day, in Riga so we made sure to make the most of it. We are glad though, that we took some good advice from our rellies and allocated the least amount of time here because while it has its charms, Riga did not have the same impact on us as Vilnius. The day started with the "Art Nouveau" walk down Elizabeth and Albert Street and the architecture certainly was impressive. We then paid a visit to the Freedom Monument before heading to the Central Market for some lunch. This was a definite highlight with this market having been in operation for at least the last 70 years and with stalls of food galore - not quite Borough Market as this one is more for every day shopping than for gastronoms but still very cool. We then went to the Old Town and visited the Occupation Museum, which, while a very good exhibition was a little bit overwhelming. Just enough time left for a visit to a couple of churches and a stroll along the river before heading back to the hotel for the evening.

The next day we caught a bus on to Tallinn where we stayed at the 16Euro hostel - a bit of a misnomer for most people but good for us. Really good hostel location and we had a HUGE room and our own bathroom which was a small luxury. We had only 2 and a half days here and the highlights were probably Kadriorg Park, Toompea hill, and seeing the sea! Daniel had his birthday here so we celebrated in style (haha) by actually going to a restaurant for lunch!! The Peppersack is just off the Town Hall Square and was a great place to do some people watching from.

While in Tallinn, probably the biggest rip off was paying 3 Euro each to go on to the Town Wall where you only get a short walk along the wall and a small art exhibition (which was a bit beyond us) in one of the towers. That said, there were some decent views from the top of the tower.

Fortunately we have had some really great weather while travelling and Tallinn certainly disappoint. All to soon, however, our time here ended and we moved on to.. Russia!

Having a Ball in the Baltics

Well, we survived. The train trip was actually really smooth and passed in no time at all, really. Vilnius, Lithuania, was a definite highlight of this region. We had managed to find a great hotel only about 10 minutes walk from the rail station. It had a great view across the old town and dozens of church spires, provided a large, varied, breakfast, and was only another 10 minutes walk to a lot of the main sights. On the first evening there, we walked through the town to the Cathedral square and climbed the hill up to the upper castle to watch a beautiful sun setting and get great views of the entire city. On Sunday, we visited the National Museum - very interesting with a really cool special exhibit on cross craft in Lithuania. At lunch time, we headed to the town of Trakai in the countrys smallest national park of the same name. We felt so blessed to have such great weather and be surrounded by such awesome natural beauty. We then followed the rest of the people to the parts which weren´t quite so "natural" and walked past dozens of souvenir stores en route to the castle and museum. This was alright but not fantastic.

We returned in the evening to Vilnius by bus and had a lovely relaxed evening. Next day brought some rain but still quite warm - perfect weather for exploring some of the many local churches. We enjoyed the extravagant Rococco decor of St Thereses, some cool photos at St Casimirs and the simple space of the Cathedral.

Then, our first bus trip (!!) on to Riga, Latvia.....

War-Saw

It was really a flying visit as we only had one full day there but it was still great. Warsaw is a cool city - quite cosmopolitan, feels really buzzing, and alive. Such a deep sense of history too - the old walls of the Jewish ghetto from WWII were clearly demarcated on the cobbled pavement of the old town. The old town was nice to meander through but we mostly loved the parks and gardens and open spaces.

We arrived some 8 hours before check in at our hostel so we spent another day in already pretty grotty clothes wandering around the city in 25 degree plus heat taking in the sights. We were so relieved though to check in later in the afternoon and shower!

Next day though was the first test of our long journey train survival skills with a 8.5 hour train trip to Vilnius, capital of Lithuania....

Farming in the Czech Republic

After a couple of train delays and faffing about with left luggage, we safely arrived in Prague, Czech Republic on 10th May. We spent a couple of blissful warm days exploring there before heading South East to a tiny village of Kotoun-Oselce, where we spent a week working on a farm that belonged to a Czech-English couple. We had a great trip out there and were amazed by the beauty of the area - wild deer, beautiful fields of wild flowers and a lot of forest! There was a French couple, Agnes and Regis, working there also who were very nice - they had a very cool converted van that they were travelling round Europe in. Agnes and Regis will also be doing the Trans-Siberian rail trip later in their travels but we will not be seeing them on that leg as they are going later in the year.

The work on the farm was good - our hosts were generally quite laid back and flexible. We spent the majority of our time putting in fence posts, clearing the section of half buried scrap, moving rocks, clearing animal areas and feeding the animals. We learned a lot from our hosts about keeping animals and what it means to run a small holding. Their knowledge of birds as well as local flora and fauna also really inspired us to learn more about these things in New Zealand.

When our week was over, we returned to Prague for a day before heading off to Warsaw by overnight train...watch this space... we promise more blogs and pics to come.

We're leaving on a jet plane.... part II

Well actually we are leaving on a train but, for the sake of continuity.... that's right, we are saying farewell to the UK in less than 3 weeks time!! After 1-2 years turned into 3 and a half years, we have decided it's time to move back to NZ and settle in there. By the time we get home it will be about 3 years and 9 months out of NZ so we are expecting a bit of a culture shock. We are nervous, apprehensive, sad, but also really excited about what is going to happen in this next chapter of our lives.

Of course, half the fun is getting to New Zealand! We are going overland by train from London to Beijing and then flying from there. On the way we will be spending a week on a farm in the Czech Republic and doing a bit of work there, spending some time in the Baltic Capitals and then going from St Petersburg in Russia, down to Moscow to catch the Trans Mongolian rail to Beijing. We are hoping to stop for a few days in different places and we are looking forward to Lake Baikal and Mongolia in particular. We finish this part of the trip with a week in Beijing with Susanna's brother, Andrew, and sister-in-law, Jemma, before flying home.

For those of you in London or the near surrounds, do feel free to join us for Lunch on Sunday 8th May and/or drinks in the evening of Sunday 8th May. Drinks will be at the Old Dairy Pub from about 7.45 pm www.theolddairyn4.co.uk and lunch will depend on the weather!

Thank you London and Good night!