Russia 5 Life on the train

Aug 9

We had 2 nights and a day on the train travelling from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk. We easily got into the rhythm of life on the train. I made morning coffee using water from the water heater in each corridor.  The provodnista provides glasses in metal holders to each passenger. They are the best way of carrying hot liquids around.  We eat our bread and cheese and veggies. Russian cucumber is tasty with salt.

In the early morning the landscape was misty. The landscape changed over the day, from forest to a wetter terrain. We saw many silver birches and different pine trees. The ground became swampier. We saw many dachas with small vegetable patches. The potato harvest should be good in Russia this year. Around towns there was evidence of light industry with pylons and generators. We passed through 21 stations with a long stop at Krasnoyarsk station. This has a beautiful neoclassical style tiled roof.

The train travels quite slowly, about 50 km/ hr very different to the intercity trains in the Uk. We relaxed and read our books and phones, leant Russian, walked up and down the train and slept. We bought extra food on the stations, pies stuffed with potato and cheese. We drank Kvas, a brown summer drink with a clean cool taste made from fermented rye bread.

We had an excellent supper in the dining car, Ann posted a popular photo of me eating herrings and drinking champagne. An evening storm blew across the landscape and water leaked in through windows left open.

We rose early because we reached Novosibirsk at 6.00 am.

Irkutsk to Novosibirsk 52 hrs