Russia 8: Tomsk, Oxford of Siberia

We caught the train to Tomsk at 5.00am, so early that we went back to bed on the couchettes. We had a fine Sunday lunch on the terrace of our hotel, fish soup and pie, Ann had blancmange with pine nuts for dessert and red Russian tea with added herbs. 

The gulag museum was closed. I had been fortifying myself for reading the accounts of life in the gulag. 

Central Tomsk has university buildings, the medical faculty adorned with statues of great men. The botanical gardens had elegant 19 th c building In Siberian parkland but the garden was closed.  

We explored the tower above Tomsk in the history museum. I counted 7 steeples from there. We were amused by an art installation about Russian sweets, full of sweet wrappers, including a biscuit tin celebrating the defeat of Napoleon in Moscow. We walked along streets of old wooden buildings, attractive old designs. We had smoked fish and beer for supper. I wandered round the university square later, enjoying the evening light and relaxed people.

Tomsk, ideal place to spend Sunday where we enjoyed food and views.

Russia 7: Novosibirsk: art and railways

We arrived in Novosibirsk early in the morning after a 2 night journey from Irkutsk.  We stayed in the modern Azimut hotel and enjoyed their renown buffet breakfast a day early.  We walked through the town and visited the Alexander cathedral filled with icons.  The Roerir museum is Novosibirsk’s link with the international world. He was born in St Petersburg and he left Russia after the revolution. He explored the Himalayas and Tibet with his family and friends in the 1920’s and produced remarkable work of brightly coloured views of mountains with religious figures included. The museum had a short film about his work but omitted his important work arguing that cultural work should be protected during war, The Roerich pact. He never returned to Russia but is highly regarded here and in India. Fortunately I learnt more about him from Wikipedia.

The state museum illustrated the development of Novosibirsk, driven by the railway development at the end of the 19 c. with Russian and English panels with many photos. I enjoyed an exhibition of Black and White photos by a local woman, capturing people in poses that told stories.

We enjoyed the evening light on the central square with presided over by a statue of Lenin and a huge early 20 century music venue with vast arches, built when the expanding town oozed confidence.

I eat Siberian octopus in a cafe and looking out on silver birches.  In Siberian towns we have enjoyed the summer evening light and seeing families relaxing and street artists performing.

In Novosibirsk I learnt about Siberian development, I enjoyed local art and saw how Roerir’s Siberian work is internationally important.

Train stats 1820 km with 2 nights from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk

Russia 4 Lake Baikal, fish and sunsets

Aug 6-7

We took the train from Ulan Ude to Irkutsk in the daytime to enjoy the views and had not expected a 2 hours delay. Russian railway is rigorous in timetable observance. Notices in the carriages give the arrival and departure times from stations, if more than 5 minutes passengers are allowed down for a stroll and I often wander the length of the train. Many people are having a smoke. So we were amazed to have a 2 hour delay on our train to Irkutsk. We wonder if The Russian rail service give pay delay compensation, I doubt it.

We went to the Baikal resort Listvyanka by taxi. Here we had a home stay, our host had an impressive collection of samovars and was drying his mushrooms there. He grew raspberries, potatoes and flowers in his garden. We enjoyed baked Baikal fish for supper on the lakeside. The fish market sellers had different varieties of Baikal smoked fish, which we bought for a picnic lunch, some fishes were leathery like kippers, others had white flesh.

The lake Baikal Museum had interesting maps of temperature and ice thickness and fish activity over the year. A fine glass model captured the depth of the lake.  The lake with the water, sky and forest is good for photography.  We took a local ferry across the lake to port Baikal, there were about 40 foot passengers and several cars, a huge old station remains from the days when there was a trans Baikal railway. 

The sunsets on Baikal were impressive, I could happily have stayed longer here doing lake Baikal walks or bike rides.

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