This morning, I woke to find my watch stating that it was 6am, and my phone stating it was 5am. Ben woke soon after, and his watch had synced to 4am. The joys of crossing time zones by train. We decided to ensure that everything was set to Yekaterinburg time, and then Ben and I got off at Ishim. Not a lot to see, and only a 10 minutes stop, but it gave us a chance to stretch our legs in the 1C gloom. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful; we did go to the d...

Today was spent on board the train, generally reading, talking, drinking coffee and looking at the world go by. The taiga (thick Russian forest) gives way to various towns and cities and the occasional stream or river. Todd lent me a murder/ mystery book that he had been given to read by Theresa. As it was an uncorrected proof, and not due for release until May 2018, I won’t mention the author or title, suffice to say that it was an enjoyable read and reminded ...

After a very leisurely start, Damian stated that he would pick us up from our hotel at 10:30, breakfast was at a comfortable pace. John found that he was once again able to request a specially prepared omelette (this after he had already knocked off a cooked breakfast) and I managed to find some blinis (Russian pancakes). We were continually served by the Siberian waitresses, all of whom were extremely attractive. Damian gave us a fairly quick walking tour of th...

This morning started quite late again as the guest house doesn’t serve breakfast until 9am. As such, we were packed and ready to leave before breakfast (which this morning consisted of porridge, bread, sausage, cheese, boiled eggs and savoury pancakes). After we had finished what we could, we assembled outside of the guesthouse to be met with a different guide to Eugene, who first took us to the Baikal Museum. The trust have recently updated this Museum, and it...

Today began late, as breakfast in the guesthouse doesn’t start until 9am. Breakfast consisted in whole of; bread, pancakes, porridge, sausage, cheese and egg and also yoghurt. Our guide turned up and handed over our train tickets for the rest of the trip to Berlin, but of course they are all grouped together and I got volunteered to look after them all. This morning we drove down to the Listyanka ferry to go over the Angara River, which happens to be the only ...