Vilnius is an easy place to like the city is compact so I have walked everywhere today, visiting a chilling museum in the old KGB building first, that describes the history of Lithuania in the 20th century, the cells and execution room in the basement were shocking. Next I continued along the main shopping street stopping briefly to eat before continuing on to Cathedral Square, the church is lovely, but the highlight is the stunning royal palace. It has been beautifully modernised/restored and explains the history of Lithuania during thre two or three centuries when the Duchy of Litnuania was the power in central europe. I was very impressed with the way information was presented, particularly as every exhibit was in English. I then went to the national museum which was average then climbed the hill ... read more

Arriving aroud 9pm we decide to get a taxi to the hotel so had to negotiate with the dodgy taxi drivers, our 5 star hotel (probably the first one I have ever stayed in) was located a few kilometres away in a beautifully restored building. Our room is lovely, comfortable and modern, I dont think they see many people wander in with backpacks. After check in we enjoyed a few drinks at a local bar before crashing out. Next morning we headed down to the Hermitage which is truly an amazing museum, the palace is so beautifully decorated it is a piece of art itself, comparable to the Monet and Da Vinci it houses. My favorite areas would be the central asia and caucasius sections and knights and armour section. We went to look at the ... read more

Kupeyny vagon or second class is four to cabin and is far superior to cattle class, so our trip to Krasnoyarsk was suprisingly pleasant, apart from one drunk clown who was so inebriated that he could have been dangerous, first chance we got we left the restaurant car. Sometime later the waitress delivered our meal to our cabin which was nice. I slept well, ear plugs certainly help of course, waking about 7am, just 4 or so hours to Krasnoyarsk. On arrival Antoliy from the Transib hostel was on the platform waiting with a big name card, I just love that it means no aimless wandering or dealing with dirty cabbies. He was also able to help me change one of our second class tickets to first which I never would have been able to do ... read more

Aeroflot's reputation is far from glowing but I found there food to be excellent at least. As usually I had one of those people who insist on reclining their seats within minutes of the aircraft taking off so the 8hr flight was far from comfortable. When we arrived at the airport all factors conspired to ensure we missed the 9am train ro the city, the baggage took an eternity to come out, then it took ages to get past baggage control and then the persistently bored looking and unhelpful stsff ensured we would miss the train my just moments. In Russia air travellers appear to ho to extremes in wrapping their luggage in plastic, it was only later when I found one of my locks damaged that I understood why, they also have that annoying habit ... read more

I tried to visit Masuleh the last time I was in Iran but a serious traffic accident put paid to that so this time I am going to get there. It is a long day trip through some beautiful country which is saying something because Iran is often an ugly environmental disaster, unfortunately even the pretty mountains around Masuleh are tainted with rubbish where ever you look. I had a sleepless night so I spent most of the trip to Rasht dozing, with the madness on the roads here believe me it was a blessing. We stopped briefly for tea at Fumen before heading on to the pretty mountain town, as with Kandovan people still live here so it was pleasant to wander the village while people went about their daily business. It was also amusing ... read more