Where do you start when talking about the 'Oxford of Siberia'? Arriving in tomsk after being cramped in a minibus with 15 people was a refreshing change, even though it probably would have been a refreshing change no matter where we would have come from. Being a university town, Tomsk had a completely different feeling than the other cities we have been to, with their giant avenues and monolithic buildings. It seems no major russian dwelling is complete with a ...

After leaving Kazan, we have been almost only on trains. Things took an interesting twist when the train station in Kazan was packed with people at 430 am, at which we fretted the train would be packed. What actually was going on was that a batch of new military recruits was reporting for duty for the first time, and all of their friends and relatives came to see them off. That first train(second, counting the one from moscow) was another russian 'fancy' FIRM tra...

Here is a first list of interesting encounters: first and most importantly, the two owners of the hostel in Kazan. Two very nice boys, really into their mission of providing Kazan with options for young travellers. They spoke good English and were extremely helpful and nice, in particular with Odd and his weird footbalistic requests. At the same hostel I met a very nice girl, who was very happy to practice her English. We talked for a good half hour and she told ...

Kazan After a day on a fancy 'FIRM'train from Moscow, we arrived in Kazan. The capital of the autonomous region of Tatarstan, this felt like it could easily be Russia's third city. It didnt feel like a city of inheritants of the Mongol horde. Tatars, which in the end we did confirm were the same as Tartars, have little left from a tradition of nomadic horsemen, and instead Kazan is presented as an exemplary case of multiculturalism, between the Orthodox russian ...

Primo viaggio in treno da Mosca a Kazan: voto positivo. E' partito e arrivato in orario, era pulito e gli altri due letti sono rimasti vuoti, quindi avevamo lo scompartimento tutto per noi. Kazan ci ha accolti con un bel sole e un venticello fresco proveniente dal fiume Volga. La citta' ha sorpreso entrambi. Sapevamo che aveva un bel cremlino e una moschea gigante (e' la capitale del tatarstan), ma non ci aspettavamo tanti bei palazzi, parchi e fontane. Si res...