Trans Siberian: Moscow - Irkutsk

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Our train left Moscow at 21.36 on Tuesday 10th October. Ours was the last carriage on the train, although we'd walked half the length of it (10 carriages) before figuring this out! Cabins are pretty compact to say the least. A cabin consists of 4 bunks, a tiny table and some storage space bags and not much else. We settled in and tried to make a conversation with our Russian cabin mate, Denis, a Russian car salesman who told us he had very good English. His favourite sentence turned out to be: "I don't understand."!
It really was very relaxing being on the train and knowing that we didn't need to move anywhere for the next four days. Quite a welcome change after the madness navigating the Moscow subway.
The train stopped probably 3 times a day and we could buy food from traders on the platform. At one of the stations, there was a shorter stop than usual and Gordon and myself had to run for the train after it started moving off.. Luckily the carriage attendant was still at the door. She was screaming something in Russian but was able to let down the steps for us!!

You're in a kind of time warp on the train because you cross so many timezones. By the time we got to Irkutsk, we were 5 hours ahead of Moscow time and didn't know whether we should eat breakfast or dinner!

Great craic in the restaurant car at night where the Westerners gathered to eat and socialise. I don't think any Russians joined us there at night.

We were quite pleased when we discovered our new cabin mate was a Russian model! Katya turned out to be great fun although she had very little English. She was headed home to Irkutsk, same destination as us. When we got to Irkutsk, she brought us to her house for breakfast.

For anyone that's interested in more details on the Trans siberian go to http://www.seat61.com/Trans-Siberian.htm

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Photos

Breakfast on the Trans-Sib
baked potatoes and blini (pancakes with some sort of cheese)

Katya and Sheep
not sure what this is about..

Comments

[BT]

model?
So you roomed and had breakfast with a Russian model and we get nothing but pictures of guys? C'mon! Work with us!

[CullyD]

Katya
By popular request here are a few pictures of our Russian friend Katya!

[fifi]

groovey hat!!
hi!love the hat, cully :) its pretty groovey...looks like your having a deadly time, good to hear..im soo jealous!! the photos of the russian buildings are amazing, esp of the famous red square. looking forward to more, xx