I am starting to travel visting the following countries. New Zealand, Fiji,Australia,Singapore,Thailand,Hong Kong,China then The tran sib to st petersburg.
Had breakfast as a group then John was advised his taxi was here, the rest of us then said goodbye and went off to pack. I packed then checked the bags into the day storage room and went into town and bought a few souviners and on the way back to the hotel someone tried to pickpocket me but to no avail as the wallet was chained onto the belt hook. Dropped the goods with the bags then came to the internet place. Me and stavrios are meeting at 8pm and going to the bus area for the bus to Helskini. You do not book in advance, there are about 40 buses going around 9-10 pm.... read more
At Breakfast me and Stavross sorted out how to get out of Russia and we decided to take the overnight bus on Saturday night as it is the cheapest way. Today we had a visit to the Hermitage museum which was good but very busy with tour groups we went round on our own. I left there at about 2pm then went to the church of spilt blood then made way back to hotel. In the evening we met for our last group meal at 7pm in the Idiot resturant very good food even though it is veggie place. We then left there and went on a boat tour to see the opening of the bridges. finally returned to the hotel at 3am. During the boat tour I caught the camera wrong and in error deleted ... read more
We arrived in St Petersburg in the morning and checked into the hotel only oone room ready so left our bags and went for breakfast. We then had a walking tour of St Petersburg which took us off the beaten track then the afternoon was free so had a walk around and visited a couple of churches and the river looking across to pauls fortress. We also came across a russian wedding at the river. in the evening me, Stavross and the 2 johns went for a meal round near the hotel.... read more
We left suzdal and took the bus to Moscow where we checked in at 7pm and Masha took us down to red square to show us round. We then on the 15th We went round the Kremlin and had the afternoon free. We then had the 16 free where we walked to the catherdal and Gorky Park then met the rest of the group at night for the overnight train to St Petersburg.... read more
Finally arrived at Valdimir at 1pm then caught a bus to Suzdal, checked in to the hotel and had a welcome shower and then sent the laundrry to be done. Walked around the town with Liz and Christa visited most of the 35 churches then went for dinner in the irish pub. John used his translator and tried to order lemon tea, the waitress burst out laughing and when Marsha saw the translation it read tea with a slice of raw meat.... read more
We checked out the hotel and me and Stavros went round the town and met the others at 3 where we caught the bus which took us to the station for the train. We were on the train for the 11 & 12 so had very lazy days longest stop was 20 mins... read more
Today is V Day in Russia. We left the home stay after a large breakfast @ 9:30 then went back to Irkutsk where we went round the Decembrists museum which opened for the group especially as it should have been closed for v day. We then checked in our hotel and in the afternoon I walked round the town and saw the eternal flame and various churches. In the evening went for a group meal then returned to the hotel. We were advised to turn our phones room phones off as the staff give rooms a call asking if you need any extra services. ... read more
Arrived in Irkustk at 8:20am and then took a private bus to Listvyank which is on the edge of Lake Bakaal the worlds largest lake. We dropped our bags at the homestay our host is Puva. We then met and toured the lake meuseum then went for lunch then had a walk round the town. We then returned to the homestay a flat and the host had cooked us boursch (beetroot soup) fish pie (Omou) then a jelly. In the evening the group went to the bar in a hotel. On our return the curtain pole came away from the wall when we drew the curtains.... read more
Woke up at 7am and our carraige had been removed from the train and we were left at the platform with no other train around. We had to wait for station staff and customs to come aboard as we were at the Mongolia border, they came aboard at 9am and we finally left to set off to the russian border and arrived there then went to Irkustk... read more
We met in the hotel lobby at 9:30 and Nemo took us on a tour of Ulaanbaatar where we took in the Gundan monastery then the Boghad Khaan palace then to the capital lookout called Zaism Hill. We then returned to the capital and had a free afternoon, as we had a 4 day train journey went and got some snacks. We all met in the hotel lobby at 6pm and went via the currency exchange then the station and caught the Trans Siberian train no 9 which left at 7:29pm.... read more