Trans Siberian Rail Trip September 2013

Trans Siberian Rail trip September 4- 22, 2013 

Monday September 2- Labor Day- Richmond to San Francisco via Detroit

Our house sitter and boarder Antonina gave us a ride to the airport at 7:30 for a relatively civilized departure time of 9:30. We arrived SFO about midday and took the Marin Airporter to San Rafael where Jill and Ravenna met us. Graham fixed salmon on the grill for dinner. Ravenna was feeling a little sick after a long weekend in Wine Country with a mix of other children belonging to Graham's Northwestern friends. Poor Ravenna would go from acting her usual perky self when her medicine was working to very cranky when the medicine was wearing off.

Tuesday September 3- Theron's first birthday

We spent the day at home with Jill, Ravenna and Theron. It was another up and down day for Ravenna, and Theron seemed to be stuffed up too. For Theron's birthday, he went for a well baby checkup and got four shots but he took it in stride. B&C went to lunch at the nearby Whole Foods and came to the conclusion California is very different from the East Coast. Billy identified a couple of new birds in the backyard. For Theron's birthday, he got a chocolate covered cupcake with sprinkles that Ravenna helped to make for him. He was quite a mess after eating it. The kids went to bed early and Jill had a moment to explain to us in much more detail what both of her jobs are all about.

Wednesday Sept 4-

Jill went to work early and Graham and Ravenna gave us a ride to the bus to SFO. It was a 12 hour flight on Korean Airlines to Seoul. The stewardesses were very polite, constantly bowing and smiling. One of them handed B a glass of orange juice which happened to have a hole in the bottom and so it spilled all over his pants. She was horrified and all B could do was laugh. She spent a lot of time (Connie thinks a little too much time) trying to dry the pants. The manager came by and apologized but B said it was not a problem. The manager said the stewardess was very upset and B said to tell her not to worry. He thanked B for his kindness. 

KAL served dinner then turned off the lights, then a while later turned them back on and served lunch and then turned them off again for a few hours. We were very confused and got little sleep. B watched a documentary about a lost Da Vinci painting and then The Company You Keep with Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and another couple of aging stars (Weather Underground radicals apprehended 30 years later). Then he watched Admission with Tina Fey.

We landed in Seoul at about 6:30 (who knows what time it really was?) and observed life in the airport for a few hours. There seemed to be a lot of young people who bought bags and bags of things in the duty free store and then unpacked them into much smaller bags before leaving. I later found out these were Chinese who come to South Korea to get better quality cosmetics and things and then take them back to China.

Friday Sept 6- Vladivostok

We left Seoul on Vladivostok Air (part of Aeroflot) at about 1:30 and landed in Vlad at about 5:30 after a two hour flight-again no idea what time it really is. Nat Geo met us at the airport and took us to the Hyundai Hotel in the center of town. It was about a 45 minute ride from the brand new airport along a brand new super highway (all built to be ready for a global conference in 2012). We took a bit of a nap and then went for a long walk around Vlad using our Trans- Siberian Handbook as a guide. Vlad was different from what was expected- hills and big port somewhat like a combination of San Francisco and Oakland; Soviet style apartments, some pre Soviet business buildings in the central part; much fewer Asian looking people even though the Korean and Chinese borders are close (our guide later told us people from Vlad regularly take trains or buses across the borders to go shopping); the churches we saw were new, the old ones having been torn down. We saw the central post office, train station, house of the Brynner family (Yul lived there), great views of the bays and the open sea. We tried to go to the Primorsky (name of the region) Museum to see Repins and others on loan from the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow but the museum was run down and the exhibit now only showed Chinese art. We had lunch in a Russian cafe (borscht etc) and dinner in an Uzbek restaurant. There were lots of small white butterflies and dragon flies attending lots of weeds.

Nat Geo left us some chocolates, a lacquer box, and a small bottle of Vodka in the room. The room had lots of space, the strangest toilet we have ever seen, and good internet, so we got to touch base with home one last time before the unknown connections on the train ride.

Saturday Sept 7- Vlad

It sure seems like a long time before the Nat Geo part of the trip really starts.

We had read that as part of the preparations for the global conference, the higher ups had also decided to connect two major parts of the city (imagine an upside down U with water in between) that had only been served by ferries (except in rough weather) by bridge and then to build a similar bridge connecting an island known as Russia Island to the rest of town. The last part of the plan was to move all the universities in town (Far Eastern Federal and Vlad State along with possibly others to new quarters on the island- they had been spread out in lots of buildings around town (FEFU 40,000 students)). So we decided to take a bus ride over to see the universities, figuring there would be lots of students there, lots of coffee shops and book stores etc. It was bit of an uphill walk to get to the indicated bus stop and later we found there was one much closer to the hotel, and we took a one hour bus ride across both huge new suspension bridges, got a look at the aging Pacific fleet (no subs), saw lots of very sketchy looking old Soviet style apartments and a couple of defensive forts on the island. The bus gradually filled with students and we figured we would just get out where the students did. We came up a hill and there was a stop where the students exited the bus en masse. It looked promising in that the buildings were brand new, there was a big sign up for the Pacific Meridian Film Festival, and there was a line of cars entering. However it turns out there no coffee shops, there was heavy security checking identification, and one needed student id or a film festival pass just to enter the campus.

We got back in time from this adventure to go to the Welcome Reception on the 12th floor of our hotel and then to go to an excellent dinner in the Fish Restaurant. It was a long block away from the hotel, but, given the age and infirmity of many of the travelers, and, given the blind curves and traffic, NG had us ride a bus. The lesson from dinner is that we will be well fed on this trip- multiple courses with each meal, and so pace is important.

Connie’s notes from Vlad in an email to the kids-

Arrived on Friday morning after 22 hours in transit, including a long 7 hours in the Seoul airport.  Glad we came a couple days early, though, as we like the down time before meeting up with the group.  Vladivostok is an interesting city but doesn't really cater to English-speaking people.  Although signs in English are frequently seen, there are no tv channels in this hotel and no menus in English, at least in the three restaurants we tried on our own.  We've walked about the town and yesterday took a bus ride across a recently constructed bridge to "Russian Island," where the universities here are in the process of being relocated.  After riding the bus for an hour, we followed dozens of students to the entrance to the university buildings, where we found it was necessary to have a pass to get by.  Explaining that we were tourists who just wanted to walk around did no good; their concession was letting me take a couple photos of the buildings.  Turns out it's one of the locations for the Pacific Meridian Film Festival, which opened yesterday.  There were several films from the U.S. but the only title we recognized was "Chasing Ice."  Our hotel is one of the registration spots and there is a big welcome sign hanging on the front of the building,  Anyhow, after failure to get past the guards at the university, we caught the next bus and had another hour-long ride back to town.  Seems a long way away to for the students to travel for classes; don't know if whether or not there are dormitories since we couldn't get by the 16-year old-looking guards/

Last night we met our group of 20 other travelers, about half from California and the others from the east coast.  I am the youngest woman and Dad almost the youngest man - but all except one seem fairly spritely (is that the word?) and congenial.  Michael, the daughter and son-in-law of one couple own a farm-to-table restaurant in Brooklyn called "Grocery" - have you heard of it?  One guy named Pete is from Belmont, CA, near San Fran, I think, and is an amazing 80-year old. He's traveling alone (I think his wife died several years ago) but is sharp, interesting  and has a great smile.  I wanna be like him at 80.

Sunday Sept 8- Vlad

Today we get on the train, but only after a long day of touring town by bus. However each of the stops was very interesting in its own way. First we went to a museum about the coastal defenses around Vlad and went into a bunker with lots of bits of weaponry from the two world wars. Vlad was never attacked but that may be because the defenses were so formidable. Then we visited a very new and beautiful embankment by the bay which we had somehow missed in our walk around town on our own on the previous day (probably because it was finished after our book was published). There we walked thru C-56, a Russian WWII submarine very reminiscent of Das Bot. Next the bus took us on the very repetitive and complicated set of maneuvers on the new highways to get to Eagle's Nest viewpoint high above the city. The hill seemed to be held up by cables which were anchored into the hill further back and posed a significant tripping hazard. The bay at Vlad is called Golden Horn because it reminded the old sailors of Istanbul's harbor. It is very hard getting oriented toward where the open sea is because of all the inlets, islands and hills. We then went to lunch at a restaurant back near our hotel (and near the kitty cat bank we had used to change dollars for rubles) and then off to the Far East Federal University museum complete with guided tour by the museum director. He spent a lot of time telling us about the history of human settlement in the area up until the time of the Manchurians, and the artifact collection was very impressive- ceramics, arrowheads, fish hooks, simple tools. There was also a rare book museum, a history of the university museum, and a zoological museum which we quickly walked through. The next stop was the cemetery, sadly very unattended, where sailors and soldiers of other countries who came to the area during the Intervention after WWI are buried along with local mafiosi who killed each other off when Vlad opened up in 1990 (it had been a closed city because of the navy). Then on the way to a drive by of the universities on Russia Island we passed some examples of the mafiosi economics at work- they owned some land, built brand new modern apartments on it but no one wants to live there because of the severe wind in winter. And speaking of winter, the guide told us the new suspension bridges close when the wind reaches certain velocity- One wonders what the students do who happen to live in town and go to school over there when this happens.

The train was running late because it got delayed by flooding to the north. At about 7 pm the train crew had had enough time to clean up from the prior travelers and was ready to receive us. Our professor George Munro had told us to sit in the room for a moment before starting to unpack and to see all the spaces available. There did not seem to be much space at all but after leaving a lot in our suitcases we managed to fit the essentials in and get settled.

The welcome dinner was more than adequate. We sat with a young couple not in our group but from Mexico and in fact from the town we studied during the Don Quixote class. The train began moving on time at about 8:45 pm. 

Sleeping in close quarters and with all the bumps and lights of a moving train took a while but we will get used to it. 

Monday Sept 9- Khabarovsk (the most livable city in Russia according to the Handbook)

Arrived at 7:45 a.m. and met our guide at 8:30.  She was in her mid-60s, is a university professor of linguistics, works as a guide on the side and was excellent.  We learned a lot about the city, a place I’d never heard of until we signed on for this trip.

When we stepped off the train, I noticed that our Nat Geo expert George Munro was being interviewed and filmed by what we learned was the local TV station.  Evidently having a group from Nat Geo is a noteworthy event; I wonder if they thought we were all scientists or at least a learned group of people.  The twosome followed us to the first stop on our sight-seeing morning, the scenic overlook of the Amur River, and interviewed two of our group - including me.  I was simply asked my name, my impressions of the city and whether or not I’d like to return someday.  Easy questions to answer.

Back to the tour - Khabarovsk is a city of about 600,000 people, built on three hills and has three main streets.  It is known as the capital of the Russian Far East and is an expensive place to live.  The city was closed to foreigners until 1964, the year Japan hosted the Olympics.  Khabarovsk was on the travel route to Japan so decided to take advantage of all the people who were attending and allowed them to pass through and visit as well.  It is located on the Amur (“muddy river with strong current”) River, which just a month ago flooded higher than ever before, with the water level rising almost 25’, and in some areas homes and businesses were severely affected. The water has now just started to recede.

Khabarovka was a Cossack explorer who helped establish the first Russian settlements of the Far East.  He led two expeditions of the Russian Cossacks to the Amur River in 1646 and 1649 and reported the beauty and possibilities of the area.  In 1858 a treaty was signed with China and the region became part of Russia.  In 1861 serfdom was abolished and many Russians and Ukrainians moved into the area, seeking land and better living conditions.  The Trans-Siberian Railroad (1891-1916) further stimulated development.

Former and current industries in Khabarovsk include production of military equipment and machine tools, oil refinery, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, mineral extraction, forestry, fishing and wood processing.

The sites we visited on the city tour included:

• Assumption Cathedral - blue obelisk-shaped spires.  Built in 2001, it is a replica of the original which was destroyed in the 1930s.
• Transfiguration Cathedral - gold-domed - the third largest Russian Orthodox cathedral in Russia (272’ tall, capacity 3000). Built in 2003.
• Memorial to the fallen heroes of WWII from Khabarovsk.  A 25’ semi-circular marble wall curves around 20 equally tall panels on which are engraved the names of 70,000 killed or MIA soldiers.  An eternal flame burns in the center.
• The Local Lore Museum - exhibits of ethnic groups, local animals, a large map of the region and a panorama of the Battle of Khabarovsk during the Civil War, similar to the panorama we saw in Sevastopol.

We returned to the train by 11, had a good lunch of olivier salad (crayfish tails, duck, potatoes, peas, other veggies, mayo) and solyanka (yummy veggie soup).  George gave an afternoon talk “Introduction to Siberia,” then Tatiana (expert on board) spoke on the history of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.  Tea was at 5:30 with a guitarist providing entertainment.  Dinner 7:30- 9 p.m.  Clocks go back one hour tonight.

Tuesday Sept 10- On the railroad traveling all day with a few stops to take on water and to switch engines

Observations of this part of Siberia- We are now going almost due west and we are about as far north as we will get. The terrain so far has been flat, a mixture of field (with mostly weeds or natural, not cultivated) and birch forest. The leaves on the weeds and on the birches are changing to yellow, more so the further west we get. The mornings have been cool but warming considerably during the days. Today we have our first cloudiness which has lasted beyond early morning. There are lots of little rivers, especially compared to the huge and swift Amur which we crossed yesterday (getting across it was a big impediment to the completion of the railroad because of river flows north then east and thus has ice damming it up in spring- when the upstream thaws and the ice breaks , it would take out the wooden bridges), and swamps. Other than the small towns there really are no houses or signs of people. We were told that Siberia is 80% of Russia but has less than a third of the population. From what we have seen so far, I think Siberia might have less than 20% of the population.

About the train, after a couple of days we are used to the size of the cabin, maybe 7x7,  and the bath, and we have found a place or an accommodation for our things. Sleeping has been bumpy, a little noisy, and a little lonesome in that the lower berth is wide enough for two but not for all night. That said sleep has been good. Yesterday the sun set about 8 o'clock and rose at about 7. I would guess the days are getting shorter by about 20-30 minutes per week now. 

If I could use one word to describe what I see out the window right now, it would be "empty", meaning devoid of signs of people or animals or birds- just scrub brush and birch trees; beautiful, serene, but empty.

Note- all day yesterday we had cell service but none today. 

Today’s lectures:
History of Russian Tsars – Alla, prof on board for non NG folks

Russian lesson - Alla (not a great job, not prepared for so many people, song on laptop not set to go)

Russian Orthodox Church - George

DVDs watched:

Siberia: How the East Was Won - excellent

Ghengis Khan - excellent

breakfast - blini with tvorog and jam

lunch - herring salad, beet salad

dinner - vodka tasting with zakuski, golubtsi

Wednesday, Sept. 11 - on board all day

We woke up this morning 8 hours behind schedule because of a train derailment (!) last night; fortunately, several freight cars rather than people flipped and no one was hurt.  But - instead of arriving at Ulan Ude in the early afternoon and possibly making a short visit to the city center, we passed through at 8 p.m.  And now the border guards will arrive on the train in the middle of the night instead of 9:30 as was hoped.  The only time we got off the train was for about 10 minutes in Chita; felt good to breathe fresh air and stretch our legs.  I walked the length of the train - 20 cars plus the engine:  12 passenger cars, 2 dining cars, kitchen, bar and 4 for train personnel - found out later that 2 of these are sleeping cars, 1 for supplies and 1 for the generator.

The landscape changed a few times during the day - fewer forests, more fields (forest to steppe), more cows than so far, more habitation but all areas fairly depressed, with soviet/primitive construction.  The morning views reminded me of Canada with tall pines and rolling hills, then later of California, Mammoth Lakes area without the mountains, similar to the drive from Owens River Road to Mammoth - forest and open fields.  The weather was cool and clear this morning, warmed up to probably 60-ish then became cloudy by late afternoon. 

Lunch - shchi - yum!  for me and bean salad for B

Lectures - Was Bolshevism Inevitable in Russia?  Alla Kiseleva

        Russia and Mongols - George Munro

DVD - The Captivating Star of Happiness - about the Decembrists’ sentenced to  to the labor camps and the wives deciding to give up everything to join them there

Thursday, Sept. 12 - Ulan Bataar

We crossed the border into Mongolia during the night.  We were awakened twice, first so the Russians could check our passports, then three hours later, so the Mongolians could do the same.  It was startling to have the unexpected bright lights in our eyes in the middle of the night - reminded me of stories of Stalin’s time- the knock on the door you have been dreading. 

As we got nearer to Ulan Bataar, gers (yurts) began appearing.  These are the portable homes of the nomads, circular in shape, which contain all of a family’s possessions.  The Mongolians have traditionally been a nomadic people with open grazing for their animals (yaks, cows, sheep, goats, 2-humped camels, horses- “5 snouts” (cows and yaks count as 1)). The government recently passed a law which allows people to own plots of land up to a certain size with the conditions that they register, pay a small fee, enclose the land and put it to use immediately. This has changed both the traditional lifestyle for many Mongols and the landscape, now filled in places with many types of fencing (tires, wooden, concrete) to mark privately owned space.

The population of Mongolia is about 3,000,000, with more than 1/3 living in the capital city of Ulan Bataar.  The rapid influx of people into the city has far outstripped the ability of the government to provide housing and services, with the result that gers and multi-story apartment buildings exist side by side, providing a strange landscape. The city is crowded, there are too many vehicles, and it seems unsafe to cross the road at any given spot.

First stop - Gandan Buddhist Monastery, home to 200 monks (we saw about 6).  Notable were the thousands of pigeons (or so it seemed) covering the square in front of the temple and people selling seed to feed them (why?).  The whole scene was new to us and we admit our knowledge of Buddhism is nil - so we understood little of what was before us, including 

• the brass “wishing” or prayer cylinders which are turned in prayer (?)
• hundreds of about 18” “female Buddha dolls,” a few of which had money in front of them, arranged along three walls of the temple

• the HUGE golden Buddha, 100’ tall, in the center of the temple
• outside the temple, 20’ golden feet of the new Buddha, maybe for a new temple

During Communism, Stalin had 700 monasteries destroyed; some of the monks escaped and lived in caves in the mountains near our lunch spot.

Museum of Mongolian National History - B learned about the progression from Huns to Turkic peoples to Mongols to Uighurs in the area.  I enjoyed the ethnic costumes but find all the weapons and jewelry and stones from museum to museum fairly repetitious.

Got on the road to Terelj National Park.  After clearing the downtown traffic, we drove on a new road until - surprise! - we ran into several rocks laying across the road, signifying a roadblock and the necessity of turning back - which the driver did by putting the bus in reverse for about 1/4 mile.  Then we used a bumpy, potholed from rain, gravel and dirt road, kicking up dust and bouncing along on our way to lunch.  Our lunch spot was at sort of a dude ranch for Mongolians where you could rent a ger or stay in a small cabin.  The location was beautiful, looked to us like Wyoming, with tall rock-faced hills on one side and a wide-open meadow all around.  It reminded me of Israel except green.

During lunch we had a short exhibition of Mongolian music which included a flute, a horse headed, two stringed fiddle and some throat singing. The flute playing which involves circular breathing (in and out at the same time) has been recognized by UNESCO as part of the national heritage.

We then went to visit a family living in a ger- plastic floor, colorful painted wooden supports and furniture, a men’s side and a woman’s side, a stove in the middle vented through the roof, and a southerly facing door (in older days it would have had a felt blanket for the door and an open fire fueled by animal dung). Then there were some modern touches- the four year old child had on rubber boots and spider man pajamas, there was a flat screen tv, and outside there was a solar panel. 

After this we were running a bit ahead of schedule so we took off basically across the meadows on a free for all road, with cars and trucks coming and going in several directions at once, for a while until, in the middle of absolutely nowhere and further from town than where we had been for lunch, there was the world’s tallest equestrian statue- of Genghis Khan. Visitors are supposed to be able to ride an elevator up into Genghis’ head, kind of like the Statue of Liberty, but there was no power to the facility today.

After a bouncy ride back to town and an end of day traffic snarl, we had dinner at a very good Nomads restaurant, an hour of souvenir shopping at the state run department store (a la Soviet times), and then back to the train. 

One side comment about the ride to the store and then the store itself- where is anyone in this town over 30 years old? The bus stops seemed to have nothing but young women as did the store, and the store felt like a Nordstrom’s- makeup counters, brand goods. There was also thin screen tvs, lots of cashmere, Playskool kids yard sets and a Cinnabon franchise at the very top. 

All Mongolians are supposed to know how to ride horses and the way the young who have come  to the city do it now is they get sent to live in a ger out in the steppes with their grandparents during the summers. This tradition will probably be gone in two more generations.

Added note from Connie- The day in Mongolia was as if on another planet -Buddhism, ger (yurt) life, Ghengis Khan, other things we knew little about.  We were out in the middle of nowhere, after visiting a ger-dwelling family, when we came upon a 100' tall silver statue of Ghengis himself, perched on top of a museum which was unfortunately closed because the electricity wasn't fully working.  Also saw a 50' tall statue of a female Buddha goddess (?) in a temple, surrounded by 3 walls of little Buddhina dolls, hundreds of them.  There is so much about this religion I don't know.

In the morning we go back through the long double border crossing and will spend the rest of the train trip in Mother Russia.

One more side comment from WMG- As we talk to the fellow travelers on this train, it has become very apparent that most of them have some sort of tie to Russia- a grandmother from Moscow, a grandfather who came over to the Far East of Russia during the Intervention after WWI, parents who left Russia and moved to Israel, and, as our Russki professor on board says, so so so.

Friday, Sept 13- Naushki and Ulan Ude -

Much of the day was spent crossing back into Russia from Mongolia -

• arrived in Sukhe Bator for passport check at 7:15, took a photo (illegally?) of the border patrol saluting the train as we departed an hour later.

• rode for an hour through the border zone; noticed a barbed fence along the way
• arrived Naushki, Russia at 12:30.  Russian passport control personnel boarded the train to check our visas.  This process took about 30 minutes but after it was finished we were allowed off the train (in the light rain) to wander for another 30 minutes.  I made my way to the local “producti” and bought some candy, just to buy something after looking around the small shop.

• another couple hours of sitting on the train while the engines were changed

Finally, we were told to be ready to disembark the train as soon as it stopped in Ulan Ude at 4 p.m. - and they weren’t kidding, as the train pulled away after only a 5-minute stop.  Our NatGeo group was taken by bus to a village of Old Believers about 45 minutes away. 

Back in the mid-1600s, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Nikon, decided that over time many variations had slipped into Russian church practice which differed significantly from the Greek Orthodox rituals.  With the agreement of the tsar, Nikon order changes to return to the more original “correct” Greek worship.  There were five major changes at this time to return to the earlier way:

• crossing oneself with three fingers instead of two
• the manner of bowing (full prostration instead of from the waist)
• the spelling of the name of Jesus (Исус instead of Иисус)
• polyphony in singing was eliminated
• the direction of going around the altar:  clockwise or counterclockwise

The Old Believers stuck with the “old” (Russian”) traditions, while the reforms closed the gaps between these traditions and the original Greek rituals.  Then, in true Russian fashion (says B), the “new” believers, those that agreed with the reforms, tried to force them on the Old Believers, with severe penalties (like death) for not conforming.  Some of the Old Believers simply left, with a minimum of possessions, to the White Sea (north) or the Buryat area (east).  

The houses of Old Believers are made of wood with the shutters usually painted blue so that when they are closed at night, a bit of heaven is seen inside the home.  The place we visited was a family compound, with a small 5-room residence, a few storage sheds with wood, tools, an inside storage area for other tools, coats, etc., a building for cooking and eating, an outhouse (decorated with painted blue dolphins) and a large garden with the biggest cabbages I’ve ever seen.

Our hostess, Olga, seemed ready and eager for our visit; she greeted the bus with a huge smile as we pulled up to the compound.  We think she might be 75-80 years old, was colorfully dressed in traditional garb with a unique headpiece adorned with pins and jewels.  Around her neck were several strands of amber beads, which we learned were passed on from mother to daughter; the fewer the daughters in the family, the more amber each daughter would have.  Olga invited us into her home, which might actually have been a museum to show the Old Believers’ way of life. Her father (1905-1995) had been a well-known singer and teacher and had traveled through Russia and performed also in France, Germany and the U.S. The living room walls were covered with photos, letters, awards and other family mementos plus handmade pieces of embroidery. A couple of very old handmade dolls sat on stools and there were hand sewn squares used for kneeling in the icon corner.  The one bedroom had a cradle suspended from the ceiling with a long rudder-like piece of wood which extended into the kitchen cooking area so that the cradle could be rocked by the person working in the kitchen.

Olga and her family (two nieces, the husband of one of the nieces, and two grand nephews plus others) served us a Russian dinner. It was a full table of food for 20 people and then they started bringing out the courses- cabbage soup, then rice pudding (from schish to kish or something like that), then some chicken, and a few toasts. A few of the items on the table were freshly baked bread, blini, pierogi with poppy seeds, some kind of thin pastry, tomatoes, blackberry buns, pickles and cucumbers, little breads made to look like mushrooms, and a breaded fish roll. 

After dinner the family did some polyphonous singing (WMG couldn’t pick up on that- tin ear) and some Russki dancing including WMG dancing with one of the nieces. Next the guys led WMG away and dressed him in Russki traditional clothes and left him in the kitchen. Meanwhile Olga was explaining to the rest about Old Believer wedding customs using CIG as the bride to be. Soon they led WMG in as a possible groom and went through the negotiations over getting married. Evidently we got married and started dancing but pretty quickly Connie abandoned WMG for the strapping blond 22 year old. The Nat Geo bunch had a lot of laughs over our performance.

The day ended with heartfelt goodbyes to Olga and family, an hour long ride into Ulan Ude, the capital of the Buryat Autonomous Republic, a visit to the acme of the Stalinist classical style of architecture, the Ulan Ude Opera House, and a quick stop at the 42 foot head of Lenin statue in the town square (but no pictures came out because the statue is not lit at night even though the whole town has very bright lights on the street sides and crossings and many buildings). This photo is from the internet:

Our guide today spent much time telling us about the Buryat heritage, which is a blend of the Mongols and other local peoples. She was very proud of the tolerance of the Buryat people. She also continued the story which we had heard in Mongolia about shamanism as the other prominent religion besides Buddhism. The shamanists believe in The Eternal Blue Sky and 99 minor gods- 55 good ones and 44 bad ones. They believe that the Buryat people come from the offspring of the Blue Wolf and the Red Deer, and those totems are seen in their houses and art. Lastly, Buryatia has about 1 million people and is the size of Germany. 

Saturday, Sept 14- Lake Baikal (400 miles long, 40 miles wide and about a mile deep- the largest fresh water lake in the world)

Awoke at 7:15 to a pink sunrise over Lake Baikal, a great way to start the day.  We ate breakfast in the chilly dining car while traveling south west along the southern edge of the lake.  Although we knew that it was a BIG lake, seeing it in person was still a surprise.  There was little wildlife, just a couple of gulls and maybe a few freshwater seals.  After breakfast we stopped at Polovina (“halfway”) Station, a spot by the lake completely in the country with a few homesteads on the opposite side of the tracks.  We walked along the edge of the lake, took photos in front of and alongside the train and walked among the few little houses.

  One brave tourist (and only one) took a dip in the lake and was cheered by the rest of us.  There were a couple of trackside souvenir tables; I bought a string of agate (plastic?) beads, was given a magnet “for free,” and B bought an 1832 5-kopeck coin, the prize of the day - all for $35 - probably highly overpriced but we were happy to add to the local economy.  I think I left my polarized “fit-over” sunglasses on the seller’s table after my purchases and didn’t discover they were missing until the train had left. I hope he will enjoy them.

We arrived at Port Baikal just after lunch and took a short boat ride to get across the Angara, the only river which flows out of the lake (336 rivers/streams flow in).

We boarded a bus at Listvyanka Village for the short ride to the Museum of Wooden Architecture, a reconstruction of authentic buildings of the 17th-19th centuries in this area. The buildings seemed solid, contained tools and implements of the period and at least one had an unusual roof of inverted (every-other-one) wooden half-cylinders.  It reminded us of Colonial Williamsburg.

Next - Lake Baikal Museum.  It was helpful to see a cross-cut representation of the geology of the lake and where the greatest depths are as well as a temperature/depth graph. Also enjoyed seeing the fish species and then actual fish in a small aquarium.

Came back to the train, moved about 20 minutes, then had a quick (for us at least) BBQ outside at a covered area with tables and a fireplace.  The fire was not helpful in warming the area, and since we were chilly, we were finished in 15 minutes and headed back inside at 8:30. I  tried omul and found it okay but not as tasty as I’d been led to believe.

We are now more than half way through the trip, we have been so busy the last couple of days we haven’t been able to shower (can’t when the train isn’t moving) , and pretty much all our clothes are either dirty or half dirty and so mixed up it is hard to know which is which.

Connie: Train travel is tolerable but can't beat a nice ship.  The train is 20 cars plus the engine.  We are about 5 from one end, 3 cars away from the dining car and 6 from the bar/lounge.  Except for meals (long meals, more like social events), we tend to stay in our room with the door open so we can see the view out both sides.  It took a couple nights to get used to sleeping on the train but we're good at it now.  Neither of us is very good at climbing down from the top bunk in the middle of the night.  I spent the first few nights there, but now it's Dad's spot since the lower is too short for him.

Sunday, Sep 15- Irkutsk

The trip from Baikal up over a mountain to Irkutsk, roughly along the Angara River which is the only outflow from Baikal, reminds us of Washington State although neither of us have ever seen the forests in Washington.

So far we have gone from rolling hills along the ocean to taiga, mixed birch forest and open but uncultivated field, to flooded marsh along the rivers, especially the Amur and Selenga Rivers, to much more open steppe with much thinner grass in Mongolia, to heavy birch and evergreen forest around Lake Baikal and Irkutsk, to open field for grazing and birch forest now west of Irkutsk. As we go along outside the cities and towns with Soviet style and some newer designed apartment buildings, we see fenced in family compounds composed a log main dwelling, a big pile of wood for heating the house in the winter, a tool building, a place for the cow to come home to after a day of grazing, an outhouse, perhaps another couple of storage buildings, a small garden plot, and a satellite dish antenna.

Irkutsk turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. I guess I was expecting a frontier outpost, and there were a lot of wooden houses and other buildings, but Irkutsk got civilized  to a large extent because of a few of the Decembrist revolutionaries who were nobility, having served their time in Siberia, set up houses in Irkutsk with the wives who followed them.

We walked around the Christ the Savior Church which had an outdoor fresco (!, in this climate) and then the Great Patriotic War Memorial which was like the Viet Nam Memorial in DC except showing pictures of those from Irkutsk who died in the war. We circled back around on the Angara River waterfront and came to the Church of the Epiphany where a large motorcycle club had just arrived carrying an icon of Alexander Nevsky.

Next we visited the Volkonsky house, which is where Sergei V and his wife Maria lived after he had finished his time in the mines for plotting against Nicholas I. It was a large house with many pictures of the family and the other families of the rebels. The whole story told there paralleled the film we had watched on the train- The Captivating Star of Happiness about three of the wives who followed their husbands into exile.

From there we went to the house of a prosperous businessman from the 1890s where we listened to a concert of music by Chopin, Mozart, Glinka, and a couple of Russian folk songs performed by a tenor, a soprano, and a pianist, all excellent, with a champagne toast afterwards.

At lunch, we had been told there was wifi available so no one talked and everyone spent lunch checking their devices. For fun I decided to try to download War and Peace onto iBooks on my iPhone and did it in about three minutes.

After lunch we went on a couple of walks, one through a very modern esplanade with brand name shops in a mall (bought Connie a pair of sunglasses) and then along another part of the riverside embankment. We climbed a church tower on rather sketchy wooden steps and had the local bell ringer play a brief concert. Very loud.

Added note from Connie- We are spending the day touring the Siberian city of Irkutsk, population 700,000.  Just saw the home of one of the Decembrists exiled here after the 1825 uprising.  Interesting that 11 of the wives/girlfriends followed their guys into exile and when they were freed after 25 years, they established a good life in Irkutsk - music, literature, fine clothes, good education.  Must have been family money flowing in from western Russia because the Volkonsky home we visited was spacious and solid.


Now just came from an unbelievable musical presentation at the former home of a couple  named Sukachov who must have also been of the upper crust, as they were dedicated to furthering culture in Irkutsk at the end of the 19th century.  11 a.m. on a Sunday, and we had a 45-minute concert with a remarkably gifted pianist and two singers.

Earlier this morning we stopped in at a Russian Orthodox Church, and as we left, about 40 bikers (motorcycle), men and women, who could have been Russian Hell's Angels, all of a sudden appeared with a priest and gathered in front of the cathedral for a group photo.

So in Russia, we are to expect the unexpected, and this trip has proven no different.

Monday, September 16 - On the rail to Novosibirsk

Awoke to a beautiful sunrise.  Landscape has become flatter, now in the steppe region.  Alla gave a lecture this morning on Communism and George this afternoon on transportation in Russia, specifically by water and rail.  Had borscht for lunch, yum. I listened to Dmitri, the amazing pianist, who played in the club car for a half hour before dinner  The train stopped in Krasnoyarsk in the middle of dinner. I tried to call Mila’s daughter but the number I was given was not correct.  Set the clock back another hour before bed - really like traveling east to west on the TSR and gaining the 7 hours between Vladivostok and Moscow.

Connie adds from her email: Monday was another full day of travel..  We were able to get off the train twice for about ten minutes each but the first time it was raining and the second was during dinner.  There were two lectures during the day, Russian language class for those interested (not me) and the usual two-hour lunch and dinners, so captive on the train wasn't as bad as it sounds.  We're just glad we're not in car 1 or 13, the furthest from the dining car.  It's a long haul with about 15 doors to open and close each time you go to a meal or the lounge car.  Monday during dinner we were surprised with a double rainbow of the brightest colors I have ever seen.  

Tuesday, September 17 - Novosibirsk

Enjoyed millet kasha this morning for breakfast, much better than buckwheat.  Arrived in Novosibirsk by 9 and were off the train soon after.  Third largest city in Russia, with a population of 1.5 million.  Toured the downtown area, with the first stop at the statue of Alexander III at the edge of the River Ob and a look at the single railroad track along the bank - as the TSR was when it first opened.  On to a plaza with three statues: Lenin in the middle, to the left a triumvirate of peasant, worker, soldier and to the right a statue of a peasant man pointing toward the future, and a peasant woman with wheat, symbolizing the fertility of Russia.  Behind the square on which these stood was the opera/ballet house, and our tour there lasted about 45 minutes. It is supposedly the second widest stage in all of Russia. I sat in the seat Vladimir Putin sits in when he is in town.  Tonight is the season opener, Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.

Next was a 30-minute ride to the Railroad Museum, an expo of 10-15 different trains used since the beginning of the rail system, all painted and new-looking, not like any we’ve seen on this ride.  We were able to step inside several of the cars and to see, for example, how 1st, 2nd and 4th class passengers rode in the early 1900s, a surgical suite car for use during some war (there were 6,000 such cars) and a car for transporting prisoners which held 75 men, 7 to a cell, no windows.

As we were getting on the train to leave there was a strong wind and sleet/ hail for a few minutes.

Connie’s email from Novo adds: Yesterday we stopped in Novosibirsk, a city founded in 1893 with the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railroad; its growth in the 20th century to the now 3rd largest city ( pop 1.5 mil) was largely due to the railroad industry.  We saw the beautiful opera and ballet house (with disgusting stand-only bathrooms) and got a backstage look before their season-opening concert of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" last night.  In front of the opera house stand three typical Soviet statues: in the middle a large Lenin, on one side a triumvirate of worker-soldier-peasant, and on the other a young, athletic healthy-looking guy (the face of Russia) pointing toward the future, and with him an equally robust and country girl holding a shaft of wheat, symbol of Russia's fertility.  Good grief, propaganda still exists.  Later we traveled 30 minutes to the outdoor Railway Museum, where there were 10-15 actual trains which had been in use (but now all had fresh coats of paint) sometime in the past 100 years.  Seeing how 4th class passengers traveled back in the 30s made me glad we're taking this trip now and paying the extra for a private room and bath.  The hospital car used during WWII was pretty interesting, though I can't imagine how any doc could have operated on a moving train.  Thomas would have liked all the trains and especially the engine that we were able to board.

The rest of the day was riding along toward Yekaterinburg.

Wednesday, Sept. 18- Yekaterinburg

It was another cold day- clear at first then cloudy. All day during the tour, I felt I was one layer short of comfortable.

It is too hard on this bouncing train to write Yekaterinburg over and over so I  will abbreviate it to YK.

YK was chartered by Peter the Great in 1723 and named after his wife Catherine.  The occasion for opening the city was a dam across the local river and then use of the power for budding mining industry (malachite, gold, mica, amethyst, and lapis). During Soviet times it was called Sverdlovsk and was a closed city to non Russians until 1991. However there was one exception to that in 1960 when Francis Gary Powers "dropped in" after his U-2 spy plane was shot down by MIGS (very embarrassing for Dwight, ruined his chance at detente and a better legacy). (Watch the movie "Bridge of Spies".)

YK’s greatest fame came after the story of the last Tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were murdered here in 1918 became public knowledge.

Our guide today was Dasha, a 20 something year old newly wed, a very cute girl with an impish sense of humor. However she also gave Spanish tours and mixed the languages up a bit so she would talk about the Peter and Pablo fortress as an example. She also has never been to the US and  her English syntax was translated straight from Russian. She also would say things like Nicholas was mostly thinking about his hair when she meant his heir. Instead of the Tsar’s family’s remains she would say “rests”. But her English was much better than my Russian.

Our first stop was Ganina Yama which is where the Bolsheviks brought the Tsar and family’s bodies after shooting them, then doused them with sulfuric acid or lye and dumped most of the bodies in an old coal mine and then covered them up. Since the discovery of the remains, the church has built a modern monastery there with 7 chapels, one for each family member (ignoring the 4 family servants who also were murdered). We visited the coal mine site and a couple of the chapels. It seemed artificial to me.

Next we drove back into town (more modern than anything we have seen because of the industry (machine tools), fourth largest in Russia, a real city according to Dasha because it has an Ikea (and also a “motor mile”)) to go to the site of the Ipaniev house where the family was shot, now the huge Church of the Spilled Blood. There is a side chapel in the church which is supposed to be located where the basement room was and there are photos of the room after the shooting, with damaged walls from the shots (a lot of ricocheting  bullets since the daughters had diamonds sown into their clothes- the diamonds largely disappeared-what a surprise!?).

We had lamb kebobs in an very upscale restaurant- crowded with professional looking young people. When our Nat Geo rep wanted to order some coffee, he called the waitress “young girl”. I can’t imagine doing that in the US. 

Next stop was the hypothetical border line between Europe and Asia, and again it was artificial but a lot of fun. There was a very red nosed young guy in a soldier’s uniform to check our passports and to ham it for the photos, and some of our group got pictures taken jumping from Europe to Asia and vice versa. 

At this point the sun started to come out and I really learned that black absorbs heat- it was the best I felt all day walking on the plaza over the dam where the city got started. As we were walking here and between the old train station and the new one, we got the most gawks we have gotten on the trip. I guess it goes back to being an open city for only a relatively short time.

Connie email from YK: We are nearing the end of our rail trip, with only two days to go before arriving in Moscow.  We will be in Ekaterinburg in an hour and will have internet access at the lunch restaurant, so I'm writing this now so as not to be in a mad rush like last time, ignoring our table companions (who themselves were checking in, actually).  The sights today center around Nicholas II, the last tsar, who was murdered along with his family and some of his personal staff in July, 1918.  We've had a lecture and seen two movies about the family and the events at the time so feel a little prepared to hear the local guide's presentation on the bus.  We'll visit the church which was built on the spot where the murders took place - the actual house was demolished by the Soviets around 1976 - then will drive outside of town to see the memorial erected at the place their bodies were dumped.  A sad part of Russian history, much of which is sad.  The final stop before lunch  is to an obelisk marking "the geographical border of Europe and Asia."  I wonder if it will remind me of Four Corners (Remember that, Mike and Beth?)

On to Kazan. 

Thursday, Sept. 19, 2013 - Kazan

Rain and about 50 degrees on arrival. The rain got a little more intense during the early morning but stopped after we visited the Kazan Kremlin. It never did really warm up beyond about 52 and stayed cloudy.

Kazan is another big Russian city with more than a million people. It was founded in 1005 and was the seat of a khanate until conquered by Ivan the Terrible in 1552. Now it is the capital of the republic of Tatarstan within Russia (there is a conflict between Tatarstan’s constitution and the Russian constitution in that Russia does not allow a republic within the federation to have a president but the Tatarstan constitution requires election of a president- nothing in Russia is black and white). Kazan and Tatarstan is mixed- a significant %age of Russians but a majority of Tatars, mostly Moslem but some Christian. They all manage to live together harmoniously and intermarriage is quite common.

Kazan by the way is not on the normal Trans Siberian route- we detoured south yesterday to get here and will head back north tomorrow to Moscow.

Our first stop was the Kazan Kremlin (fortress) which provided a great view of much of the city from its hill. We visited the Kul Sharif Mosque (blue and white) which was approved to be built inside the Kremlin only in the 1990s. In a city which used to have a lot of mosques, all torn down by Ivan the Terrible, this was viewed as a really big gesture since the other dominant structure within the Kremlin walls is the Orthodox Annunciation Cathedral.

We drove around a bit with the guide pointing out a lot of high rent condos and government buildings. We then visited the monastery where the Virgin of Kazan Icon, one of the three holiest to Russian Orthodox believers and recently returned from the Vatican, now resides.

Our guide told us something about tatar cuisine and we went to a good restaurant to try the good things they do with potatoes (stuffed and folded like a tortilla) and the honey flour desert called tchak tchak. 

After lunch we went to the Techno Idea Park which is a business incubator somewhat unique for Russia. Then a short boat ride on the Volga River.

Our last stop of the day was at the local conservatory where we had a quick tour, saw some amateur traditional folk singers practicing for a competition, and then listened to a series of wonderful performances in a small concert hall. There was an organist, a pianist playing Chopin and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Prelude, a balilaika and dobro playing pair of girls doing folk tunes and then a soprano singing a couple of arias. 

Two famous sons of Kazan- Shishkin, the painter, and Shaliapin, the bass.

Back to the train for dinner and the ride to Moscow.

Friday, Sept. 20- Moscow- drizzling and about 50 degrees

After Kazan, we felt like we were back in Europe and in the Soviet Union. Russia does some things extremely well, like statues, monuments etc, but the rail view into Moscow was mostly of dilapidated buildings just this side of collapse and the old rusty looking apartment buildings. I felt like we were back in the 50s.

Then we arrived at Kazan Station. At once one could feel the vibrancy of the big city- throngs of people going in every direction.

One feature of the approach to Moscow especially for us is that the train dropped the diesel engine about an hour or two outside of Moscow and added a coal fired steam engine- not much good for the environment but it added to the ambience.

After saying thank you and goodbye to all the staff we had come to know, and after making sure all the bags were accounted for, we got on a bus for a quick overview tour of the city on the way to our lunch at the Suitcase restaurant owned by the star of Kolya, a famous Russian movie. After lunch I got the feeling we were killing a little time before we could check in to the hotel rooms, but we did another couple of spins around Red Square and the Kremlin. Then we stopped at a place with a good view of the Novodevichiiy Convent, which is known for two main things- this is the place where Ivan the Terrible sent his wife to be a nun when he was tired of her (Peter sent his half sister here to get her out of his hair), and then there is a famous cemetery within the walls where Khruschev, Mussorgski, Raisa Gorbachov, and Chekhov  among others are buried. At the scenic spot there is also a duck and duckling sculpture given to the Russians by Barbara Bush. The last stop was an overlook near Moscow State University with a view of several of the Stalin Gothic towers including the U and of the Moscow River.

A word about Moscow- Wow. In the main part of the city, the buildings are a mix of old, classic, and then brand new. Moscow itself is an example of what the Russians can do well- The restaurants were lively, the crowd courteous.

We checked into the Lotte hotel, near Smolensk Metro stop and New Arbat street, to find a huge TV, a truly wonderful shower, and a heated toilet seat waiting for us. 

Addendum from 2/25/2020, courtesy of Planet Money, 
 
"Japanese toilets are marvels of technological innovation. They have integrated bidets, which squirt water to clean your private parts. They have dryers and heated seats. They use water efficiently, clean themselves, and deodorize the air, so bathrooms actually smell good. They have white noise machines, so you can fill your stall with the sound of rain for relaxation and privacy. Some even have built-in nightlights and music players. It’s all customizable and controlled by electronic buttons on a panel next to your seat.

In Japan, these high-tech toilets are everywhere: hotels, restaurants, bus stations, rest stops, and around 80% of homes. It’s glorious. Then, I come back to the United States, and our toilets are stuck in the age of dirty coal mines and the horse and buggy. They basically have one feature: flush. No heated seats. No nice smells and sounds. No sanitizing blasts of liquid. It’s like cleaning your dishes without water. It’s gross. And it got me thinking: Why can’t we have high-tech toilets too?"

Connie had a bit of a cold and we felt like we should repack in an organized way so we took the night off while the rest went to dinner and a walk around Red Square at night.

Saturday, Sept 21- rain and 50 degrees

We had an early entrance ticket to the Armoury Museum and Olga our guide was excellent. She stopped and explained any number of significant holdings- too numerous to mention, but, as an example, boots cobbled by Peter the Great for himself, 10 Faberge eggs, Catherine the Great’s carriages and wedding gown.

Then in pelting rain we went outside for a quick orientation to the churches in Cathedral Square (I think I have them straight now) and then on to a great Georgian restaurant for lunch.

After lunch Connie and I split from the group again and went to the Tretyakov Gallery to see our favorites- Shishkin, Vasnetsov, Repin and a couple of others. We took the Metro all by ourselves and had no major problems. One little mishap- The Metro machine would not accept Connie’s pass, she asked the attendant, she didn’t understand him and asked him to slow down, he said "how can I help you if you don’t understand?". Then we checked and Connie was trying to use her hotel room key to enter the Metro. Once we found the pass all was ok. A light moment, but we didn’t have the courage to let the attendant in on the joke.

Dinner at Armenian restaurant and then repacking.

Home for me tomorrow and St. Petersburg for Connie.

Note from Connie about her St Petersburg time- Sounds like my trip through the airport came off better than yours.  I had a really nice driver who was pleasant to talk with and introduced me to some Russian "narodni" (homegrown? local color? "real" people's?) music.  I had to ask for help to find the right check-in spot at the airport but all went okay, and there was an hour to spare before boarding.  I had the center seat, but next to me was a guy about Michael's age wearing a Clemson sweatshirt.  That was cause for saying hello, and "Nic" turned out to be both pleasant and conversant.  He works on ships, contracts out to different cargo carriers (or something like that) and was headed home to St. P. for three months' vacation.  He had been to several ports all over the world, including up and down the east coast, and got the t-shirt while on a South Carolina stop in Charleston.  He'd been to Norfolk but not on a long enough stopover to see Virginia Beach.  Anyhow, it was a good thing we chatted, because when I couldn't find Margarita inside or outside the terminal, I ran into Nic again and borrowed his phone.  Everything turned out okay; since our plane was 30 minutes early, she had only just arrived.

So off to the Astoria Hotel, which appears clean and comfortable, to leave my big suitcase, then we went to a new little restaurant called Soviet Apartment, sort of a 50's diner-like interior except how everyone decorated during Soviet Times.  Hemingway's portrait on the wall, along with big rugs of animals and photos of classmates that is just how Margarita said that her parents' apartment looked, and the friend who joined us said they still have Hemingway on the wall of her dacha.  I took some photos to show you.  I had solyanka (that good beef and veggie soup) and beef pelmeni.

We then got on a bus and headed toward the Russian Museum, but this time to the Benois wing, which has its entry on the canal where the Church on Spilled Blood is.  M wanted to see a temporary exhibition by a Russian artist named Arkady Plastov.  Google him - I really liked his work, more real Russian people stuff.  We also breezed through an exhibit by Filipp Malyavin, who M says was sort of the first Russian impressionist, and that was okay, too.