English update - journey continues

The journey has already lasted a week and this only the first update
in English. Very sorry about this! The idea to ride the Trans Siberia
by train was brought to daylight by me and Kati one gray Easter day in
April when skiing in Central Finland. All the needed preparation went
quite easily including 3 visas except the most part of the train
tickets were still missing when we took off. Minor details.. While we
should receive them on the way, hopefully.

A Russian train called Tolstoi took off from Helsinki railway station
on the 19 of July. This train seemed quite empty so we got an quite
easy start. The restaurant car in the train convinced as with the
quality of the food, decoration and simply everything! The first night
though was a bit restless, listening to all the train noise.

In Moscow we had unfortunately only one night but though some time to
look around. To visit Uncle Lenin, the red square, the all-russian
exhibition centre, Gorky park... Fortunately we ran into a really nice
local guy Alex but only on the second day. His tour was the best we
had. Alex was really a cool guy while he e.g. took us to one of the
Stalin's seven sisters which was his former university. And even
managed to talk us in the building and give a guided tour there. We
also invaded the Lamborghini and Bentley shop to get some idea of the
life of Moscow's high society. A huge thanks to Alex, will surely be
in contact with him when next time there and continue the tour where
we left.

The Rossiya train took off in the evening of the 21st of July. The
longest stay in the train, 3 nights alltogether. First we had only a
bit crancky Russian lady with us in the "kupee" but during the night
also a nice Dutch guy called Geert had appeared as the 4th passanger
without us even waking up. So apparently adapting to the train nights
had started already.

During the next 3 days what took place was mostly hanging around in
the kupee, chatting with other fellow travelers as Geert, Russian
Olga, Austrian Johanna and Danish Nikolas and Karen. Every stop the
train took it was time to strech the legs and buy all sorts of
delicatessen the old ladies sold on the platform: tasty pies, fish,
eggs, veggies, berries etc.. And of course cold beer. The days went
really smoothly without even opening the first books brought in the
bags. The train Rossiya was really a luxury train compared to the
expectations. The toilets worked mostly even when on a stations, the
space for storage in the kupee was well planned, everything looked
brand new.. The was a fancy restaurant car and the staff was generally
very friendly. A lady came once or twice a day selling drinks and
snacks in the cars and the whole car was even vacume cleaned once
every day! It felt almost bad to leave the train when the company was
great (except when the funny drunken Russian guy Andrei insisted on
join the "discussions" in our kupee) and the train itself was nice.

Rossiya arrived Irkutsk on the 25th of July, early morning. The time
causes a bit of confusion when traveling by train while all the train
schedules are in Moscow time. Despite the fact that in Irkutsk the
local time is already +5 hours to Moscow time.

From Irkutsk after finding the cozy TransSib Hostel we took off to
lake Baikal, by boat this time. The fact that the train tickets for
the rest of the trip had not yet appeared to the hostel caused some
additional hassle for the arrival. Fortunately they just appeared out
of nowhere to the hostel while we were at the lake. What a relief
although we are still missing the part from Mongolia to China. But
there are high hopes that they will reach us in Ulaanbaatar.

Baikal was misty and cold, though mighty. The special salmon related
fish called omul was really tasty when smoked. We enjoyed a nice
picnic on the shores of Baikal before taking the bus back. Irkutsk
itself was a nice mixture of old wooden buildings and European style
old stone houses, with some Russian style monstosities.

The next train took of on the evenging the 26th, with much less luxury
than the first train Rossiya. Russian train apparently but the staff
looks already more Mongolian. First night would have served great
sights of Baikal but were looking at them under the stars. Though did
get the last views of the great Baikal. This time our kupee is
occupied by an Austrian couple who were afraid of getting some drunken
Russian to join them.

The night was long and a bit painfull. The noise level of this train
is something else, also the draft from the windows made the night
cold. The general appearance of this train, including the toilets is
much less luxurious so I guess we have now the more normal standards.
The toilets are closed 30 min before, during and after each stop like
in older Finnish trains. In Rossiya this was not the case.

Now that we are standing for more than 4 hours in the border of Russia
and Mongolia that could be a bit painfull but fortunately we were let
out of the train (unlike the stories we heard from previous
travelers). So now we are sitting on the platform, enjoying the sun
and cold beer with all the fellow German speaking travelers who fit in
the 2 carriages continuing all the way to Ulaanbaatar. And of course
ran into the first Finnish person on the journey, just after talking
aloud about how a good looking guy was talking to some American people
.. And of course he heard that. Typical way of finding your fellow
citizens!