We arrived early morning in Irkutsk and were transported to our hotel on the Angara River, the only river that flows out of Lake Baikal. Everything was draped in fresh white snow - the beautiful powdery white stuff of scenes on postcards and Christmas cards. Our room overlooked the river and parkland running beside it. We eagerly awaited daylight which eventually washed over the city around 9:30am, then donned our winter layers to go walking in a winter wonderlan...