Hotel Imperia Irkutsk

... as in Moscow where they did not open the door due to sleeping in.<br><br>We hit gold, sleep a bit, breakfast and head out, Irkutsk is ok but not the real reason we are here. After a day of seeing the sites which made us happy we did not stop in the industrial heartland of Russia. Although Perm for it's name only and an opportunity to see a Russian women with the 80's ...

... Vodka and start consuming that. <br><br>Dutch guys from a few compartments up come over and bring more vodka.<br><br>Russian guys from another compartment join with more vodka too<br><br><br>Depart Mongolian Border 1am-ish<br>Can't remember any specific details about the Mongolian border.Was just happy I was on the train.<br><br>Dont think we left until around 1am...<br><br><br>Stopped some time shortly after the border ...

"Don't get to the station at the last minute," was the sound advice I had read in relation to taking Russian trains. "Never underestimate the time it takes to find your platform and walk the length of sixteen carriages before you can board."<br><br><br> Ever cautious with transport times, I allowed an hour on the metro to get to Moscow's Yaroslavsky Station, and a further hour to navigate to my actual train, thinking this would be ...

... train ride was to Ulan Ude - this was a baby one, only 10 hours. Thank God. It seemed we (along with a young blonde Russian girl) had cunningly managed to book into the ' drunks anonymous' wagon. Gab was on a top bunk ( she likes the top ones, she says likes swinging between the beds...) opposite to 'Mr Repulsively Smelly Drunk Russian man' (MRSDR) who insisted on chattering away in slurred Russian in our vague direction. She soon found out though that MRSDR awake was far better ...

... the tops of their voices first thing in the morning! Then when I went to have a sip of my water I noticed someone had been drinking it and put 2 &amp; 2 together. Well I have the man flu so hope that is now passed on to them. Anyway so wasnt impressed then when ...

... traffic with buskers &amp; performers doing their thing and lots of portrait painters etc touting for business. We decided to have an early dinner there which was wise as the service was so slow that by the time we got it, it was 6.30 anyhow! It was a nice enough meal at any rate, but we did find it funny when after 40 minutes since our order and expecting the food they came to say that the dish I ordered was unavailable ...

... when you've just woken up...... On Thursday morning I woke up needing to pay a visit, but we were a couple of minutes after lock-down. 1/2 hour later the train stopped in the city of Novosibirsk and I made a dash for the toilets in the main station building, which turned out to be absolutely huge. I eventually found them and ran to the door - which of course was locked. Curses! Cue a mad dash back to the train (you really don't want to miss it and be left ...

... out so completely as a tourist, but annoyed at herself for believing the guys line yesterday about the unisex nature of the hat from Red Square. We next wandered the souvenir market where you could buy hand painted lacquered wood items, music boxes shaped like St Basil's Cathedral, Amber jewelry, Soviet era items, water colour and oil paintings, many other things and, of course, the characteristic Matryoshka dolls. Most of the ...

... its best to see him while you can. Security is very tight and sullen looking guards are everywhere to chastise you for talking, touching anything, taking photo's or even putting your hands in your pockets. The Mausoleum itself is a surreal bunker like structure of highly polished red and black marble, with at it's center the very small and waxy looking body of Lenin. After a little further wondering we head back to the hostel on the ...

... the entire front of the building was a sight to behold. After stopping to look for awhile, we continued our trudge uphill (yes, there really are hills in Moscow) to Lubyanskaya Ploshchad (Square), and there facing us was the imposing and somewhat chilling ediface of the Lubyanka Prison. I'm not sure if the building was the headquarters of the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, or Committee for State Security) but I had read enough ...