Hello,

I am in Moscow the capital of Russia, this is the first time I come. It is all new and exciting  but  freezing cold, cloudy with -6°C outside! Brrrrr… I will be travelling  across Russia by train via (West to East)  Moscow Nizhniy Novgorod  Yekaterinburg  Omsk  Novosibirsk Krasnoyarsk  Irkutsk and  Vladivostok.

I am travelling with a big and a small bag:

Small bag:

• computer 
• camera
• Tickets/passport/money
• maps/guidebook 
• Hat, gloves, scarf

Big bag:

• warm coat
• warm boots 
• trousers 
• woolly jumper
• T-shirts 
• underwear
• Socks 
• pyjamas
• washbag                                                                                                          

I need to take lots of worm clothes because in some parts of Russia it gets very cold down to -24°C. I am sitting in a little café and the view is just magnificent. This is a picture of what I can see from the window:

 

The Russian political system is one of the more recent to adopt democracy but remains problems in terms of its democratic principles.  The system is influenced by corruption, and by the power and personality of one man, Vladimir Putin, the president.

The Russian Federation was the largest nation to emerge from the end of the Soviet Union in December 1991. Following the constitutional crisis of 1993, Russia adopted a new constitution in a referendum of December 1993. Essentially the country is described as a federal presidential republic.

There are economical inequalities in Russia for example the growing income is not being evenly distributed. The social inequality has risen sharply during the 1990s. Russia's income disparities are now nearly as large as Brazil, which has long been among the world leader in inequality, and the regional disparities in the level of poverty are still growing sharper.

It is  6h00 am, I need to get going or I will miss my train which leaves at 8h00 am. I can not wait!!! Off I go !!!!!!

I am on the train and about to leave Moscow...  Moscow is very flat compared to where I live where there are hills everywhere. Oh Oh, the train has left !!!

                                                                                      

I am in Novosibirsk this morning and I am very excited because for the first time in my life I am going to do cross country skiing. I have hired myself a guide and I am on my way to go and get all the equipment. The shop assistant equipped me with a pair of skis who were my height and a pair of poles. Then there was the boots with bindings.

We then went to this park of 2 km long of clean crisp forest around us. I then got on the skis, which was a challenge. And guess what the first thing I did was to fall. Once I was standing back up right we started. It was a bit like walking at first, there was the front part of your foot that was attached on the ski and the ankle was free. You would use the poles to help yourself be stable and to also go faster. Not for my case though. After 20min I was getting good at it.

The shining white snow
Glowing in the sun
Decorating the trees 
It's all a present from heven

 My guide was telling me all sorts of things about Novosibirsk. He said that it was 4199.09km from Moscow, I was quite  impressed because it did not seem that far to me. He also told that there were never the same time in the whole country,  here we are at +6h and in Moscow at +3h so when it is 2pm here it is 11am there. He also said that there were 1 409 137 habitants in Novosibirsk which meant that it was the largest city in Siberia. There is a population of 477.2 square kilometres.  Isn’t that interesting? Oh here we go we have arrived. I am going to go and eat in Ulitsa Karla Marksa and have typical food. I started with vodka and winter sweets and for my main, I had shredded meat and a soup which had meat, potato and pickled vegetable cooled solyanka. It was all very nice.  Once I had finished I went back to my hotel.

Day 2 in Novosibirsk           

I woke up this morning and thought why not go and have my breakfast in a restaurant. So I went and it was smoky with – 30°C . Well that was what the pharmacist temperature said it was. I could not bear to look at it, it made me feel even colder. When I eventually got to the restaurant, I ate Kasha which is some sort of porridge, hot cereal which you pour sour cream on it, it was just what I needed after my walk here. As I was having my breakfast  I met a man and we talked , he knew lots about his town. I asked him if the snow would do any damage, he said yes in the spring when the snow melts, it turned streets into a muddy brown slush.

I am going to carry on my tour by train.

                                                                                                   

Irkutsk,

Today I am going to go and see the Lake Baikal, it is recognized as the oldest freshwater lake  water still existing on the planet it is also measured as the deepest continental body of water at 1,620 m and of with 96m with and 326m in length. I had to travel through the mountains to get there because there is mountains on either side of the lake. I rented a pair of racket and walked around the lake. It was a fascinating experience the views were just amazing, here are a few pictures that I took.

It was very pleasant, the sky was clear and even though it was – 24°C you could not feel the cold that much. When I finished doing my walk all that I wanted to do was eat something nice and HOT to worm me up. So I went to eat in a restaurant an ordered  soup, Borcsh,  the famous Russian soup made of beet and meat, usually served with sour cream. As the waiter served me he told me that they would not just eat hot food.The five most current ingredients are potatoes, bread, eggs, meat (especially beef) and butter. As I was sitting eating my soup this man came up to me knowing that I was not Russian and told me all sorts of interesting things about Irkutsk. He said that it was 4199.09km from Moscow, that there we were five hours ahead from Moscow, that the town was a hilly one, that there were 586695 people in  Irkutsk. Near Irkutsk there are a  promising deposits of gas and oil have been found . The deposits of rock and potassium salt, ore, and rare metals have been explored and their extraction is in progress. 

Lake Baikal, the largest reservoir of fresh water in the world is located on the south-eastern border of the Oblast. He also said that there was an increase in deaths during temperature heat and cold waves. Alcohol-related deaths are also very high. There are now roughly one and half times as many deaths as births per year in Russia. It was all very interesting !!!

Then I came back to my hotel.

                                                                                      

Day 2,

This morning I woke up and had a lovely breakfast (brunch for me ), I had pancakes, an omelette and sandwiches consisting of salted meats. I can not eat a another thing before tonight, I’m full !!! Then I packed my bag and got back on my train.

                                                                                       

Vladivostok,

Here we go arrived at my final destination!!!! I am going to cry now I have just had the most amazing holiday I have never done anything like this and I have really enjoyed telling you all about it I hope that I will be able to do a other trip like this. I will never ever forget this it is just... no words to describe it . Ok I just have to go now. Bye!!!!!

Vladivostok

The railway station

My adventure in Russia