Hello. Irkutsk was ok, got pretty slushy and slippery. The highlight was definately visiting Lake Baikal - the largest freshwater lake in the world. We went to a little fishing villiage, walked along the cliffs a bit, saw sunset over the mountains on the other side of the lake. It was amazing. Met a lot of people on the train and in Irkutsk. We've all moved onto Mongolia at the same time too. There's some Finns, Irish, English, Canadian, French Canadian, ...

So we missed overnight train to Moscow because I (Matt) took us to the wrong station. Much panic followed as we tried to find a bed for the night at midnight. We did though, and managed to get a train the next day. Safely in Moscow now, just been for a walk around the Red Square. Seems to be an OB going on so we can't get into the main part. It's a bit warmer here which is nice. Another day in Moscow tomorrow and then off on the Trans-Siberian Express if ...

We've been in St Petersburg for a few days now and it is mighty cold! We've generally been outside viewing the amazing cathedrals, churches and palaces. We went into a couple of museums but could not read the information signs. The Zoological museum has a large collection of wooly mammoths which had been preserved in the ice which were wicked! Also went to a graveyard and saw loads of famous composers graves - Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov etc....