Woke up too early this morning on the train at 4am so spent several hours having several cups of coffee, a couple of muesli bars and listening to music while waiting for it to get light enough to see the Russian countryside. The approach into St Petersburg is through area of wetlands and birch trees, again, a different scene to both the Urals or Siberia. We got into St Petersburg under a grey snow laden sky, to be met by a Russian driver who knew no English at al...

About 1am this morning I got up and watched our train run through various settlements alongside the rail line. As I watched we came across some solar powered lights over a mud road. Not a muddy tar road; an actual mud track for cars and it got me thinking about the country that we are travelling through. Lenin and the Bolsheviks started the revolution exactly 100 years ago with the idea of giving the land back to the peasants, the factories back to the workers a...

Breakfast this morning was certainly a lot more than I was expecting. Given that the Chekhov is the kind of hotel that you would only recognise if you had heard of it and knew where to look, the place is amazing. They had managed porridge, several cooked items, smoked salmon with cream cheese on rye bread, blinis, ricotta cheese pancakes and a lot more. Including coffee. Our guide, Dmitri, arrived at around 9:20 and seemed quite surprised that we were ready. Iva...

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 ...