♫ SIBERIA ...... the place to be! ♫

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Thank goodness for Russia and the amount of Russian themed songs on my ipod! Scooter, Boney M, Dschinghis Khan, The Beatles and the Anastacia soundtrack were all played excessively during our Siberian jaunt!

I arrived in Listvyanka more hungover than I have ever been in my whole life. I caught a glimpse of myself in a window reflection, and scared that I would terrify small children and puppies as much as I terrified myself, I wrapped my scarf around my head burqa style so noone could see what I looked like. We stayed at Nikolays place in Listvyanka, and I didn’t see much more than the stairs leading to my room and the mattress as I passed out until 3 in the afternoon. When I finally awoke, showered and felt slightly less mingy, I walked down to Lake Baikal in the freezing wind and took in the awesome sight that was the deepest and oldest lake in the world. FUN FACT! Lake Baikal has such a huge volume of freshwater that if all the world’s water ran out, Baikal could sustain human life for 40 years! The following day we walked along the lake to the lookout, where we took the ski-lift (minus the skis) to the top to give us some wicked views over the lake. 1500 photos later we left the viewpoint and headed back home for dinner. Nikolay (or more likely his wife) served up some pretty awesome dishes while we were there, including smoked omul, a type of fish found only in Siberia. Delish. I also had mashed potatoes for the first time since leaving home and I think I finished it with 20 seconds it was so damn good. Another fun fact! People eat pinecones here.

We took a car back to Irkutsk and checked out the Decemberists Museum which I must say was the most controlled and watched over tour I’ve ever done. While one lady was giving us the history of the Decemberist Revolutionaries, another was watching us very closely and if we dared got too close to a table, or upholstered chair, or god forbid, breathed over a glass covered painting she would practically jump down our throats. Funny!
From Irkustk we took the train to Vladimir, which took 3 long days to get there. 3 days, no shower. 3 days, GREASY hair. 3 days, smelly boys I had to share a cabin with. Fun!

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Comments

[Sarah]

You are hillarious!!! I hope you took a photo of your hangover face. :)

[rachelisawesome]

There are photos.... but trust me, they shall never EVER see the light of day!!