We have reached Siberia!

We left Mongolia by train on Saturday, and crossed the Russian border very early Sunday morning, meaning we are now officially on the Trans-Siberian Express leg of our journey.

We have stopped off in a smallish town called Listvyanka, on the shore of Lake Baikal, which is beautiful.  It’s big (80 km across at the widest point), and deep (contains significantly more water than Lake Superior, even though the surface area is smaller), so that might give you an idea, but the really remarkable thing is the clarity of the water, it is unbelievable.

This morning we visited a market, and sampled the local smoked fish (which was delicious), but also Geoff tried a Baikal oilfish, which was apparently NOT so delicious!  We also bought a snack for the next leg of our train journey tomorrow — walnuts threaded onto a string and the whole  thing dipped in fruit leather.  Not sure what it tastes like, but can’t wait to try it.

This afternoon we went to a banya (Russian sauna).  It was a bit hot for me, and I found the super-hot steam room followed by big ladles of cold water to be a bit jarring.  But everyone else loved the experience, including being gently smacked with big bunches of wet birch twigs.  Very authentic… ?

And hey, I have another exciting thing to report.  Our little group (15) turns out to be full of opera fans — who knew? — and last night we booked 11 tickets to see Carmen at the Mariinsky Theatre when we arrive in St Petersburg. Exciting!