Photos - Russia

The first part of our train journey in 2002 took us from St. Petersburg to Irkutsk by train. It was our first visit to Russia so we really wanted to spend some days in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The train journey to Siberia took three days and there we stayed a couple if days in Irkutsk and around Lake Baikal.

Our interest for the Eastern Block countries started when we visited Czechoslovakia just after the fall of the iron curtain, but it became a real hobby after we travelled trough Russia in 2002. We had panned to do the Trans Siberian Express that year and also planned a visit of St. Petersburg and Moscow for some days. In St. Petersburg we stayed in the Moscow hotel, a typical example of a giant Soviet tourist hotel, only surpassed by Hotel Russia were we stayed in Moscow. We did not have much time, so were restricted to the general tourist attractions of St. Petersburg like the Hermitage Museum, Nevsky Prospect, Neva cruise, Church of the Saviour, Peter and Paul fortress etc. We only saw a minuscule part of what Moscow has to offer, like the Kremlin, Red Square, Lenin Mausoleum, State University, some Metro stations, October Square Lenin statue and some other things. We have been back in Moscow since 2002 and probably will need to go many times more to see all the important sides! In Moscow were boarded the Trans Siberia Express and had 4 fantastic days on the train, enjoying the company of the Russians and seeing the endless landscape go by. We got off the train in the Siberian capital Irkutsk were we stayed some days. We stayed a night with a local family on Lake Baikal were we made an adventurous trip with a Hydrofoil to the other side of the lake.