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...