Gorgeous hot sunny day in Irkutsk. Our first impressions of the city were not high as it is dusty and dirty but they improved today. We walked 8 miles along the Angara river past the Alexander III statue across the river from the train station and down streets past cute wooden houses although most look pretty rotten! We saw the Moscow arch, Lenin statue and walked through some lovely open spaces. We will shortly be climbing aboard the Trans-Siberian express for another 3 days to our final Russian destination Vladivostok.