After travelling halfway up Baikal's westen shore and a short ferry trip we reached Olkhon Island and made our way to Khuzhir, the Islands main settlement. Me and Chris stayed at Sunny Hostel, which is not your typical hostel as we stayed in a wooden hut for the 3 nights we were on Olkhon. Everything on the Island is very basic. All the houses are made out of wood, the roads are all dirt tracks, there is no street lighting or hot water and there are no cas...

After spending the night on the train getting drunk with Russian's again we arrived in Yeketerinburg at stupid o clock 0430. After having some typical Russian dinner for breakfast we walked to the place where Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered in 1917 and had a look at yet another CHURCH!! As the Russian's we were drinking with on the train had been here before they decided to give us a little tour of the city even though the only thing I really want...

We arrived in Kazan at a reasonable time for a change at about 0830 and found Hotel Fatima which was a stones throw away from the Kermlin. Here we got a nice bed and a decent shower for a tenner a night which was a hell of a lot better than the 15 quid we had to pay for the floor in the TV room in Moscow (I am never going back there)!!! After showering and getting some nice, CHEAP food up by the university we walk around town and bought our train tickets to...

I was really disappointed with Moscow. A part from Red Square and The Kermlin Moscow was a complete dump!! After me and Chris had found a hostel a stay in we went to see Luzhniki Stadium which was massive. On the second day we queued fir two hours to get into Lenin's Tomb but when we got near the front they closed it (cheers Russia)!! After that pointless queuing we walked around Red Square where St Basil's Cathedral and the State museum is and walked aro...

I got to St Petersburg at 0530 on the 2nd of August and met Chris at Vitebsk Station at about 0930. Once we had checked into our hostel we walked up Nevsky Prospect to the Hermitage and Dvortsovage Ploshehed. This is the main setting for the huge Winter Palace. in the centre of Dvortsovage Ploshehed (Palace Square) is Alexander Column, which is 47.5m high, and opposite the Winter Palace on the otherside of the square is the General Staff Building which i...