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Riding on the Trans-Siberian Railway

Louie has always liked trains, she even had a railroad spike collection. She refuses to be called a train buff, and after meeting some on our trip, I agree. However, she has always had a desire to travel the world's longest railroad, so, in the fall of 2007, off we went.
The railroad is over 9,000 kilometers long and passes through 8 time zones, from Vladivostok to Moscow. The tracks now run all the way to Saint Petersburg, but the traditional line stopped at Moscow. And believe me, that's enough. My early visions of the train itself were happily wrong. I envisioned shabby cars with dirty windows and criminal types touring the cars looking for victims. On the contrary, the cars were exceptionally clean, the windows sparkling and the other passengers, although not speaking English, very friendly. The reason for most of this was the provodnitsa. Each of the 12 cars had two of these stern looking women, they were in charge of the train. You first encounter them as you try to board. They stop everyone at the stairway to the coach and meticulously check your papers. It seems everyone has a problem, but eventually is let onboard. Ours rattled off a string of Russian at us and seemed upset when we didn't respond. But eventually she reluctantly allowed us to proceed. In time we learned that the two women, they worked 12 on 12 off, took extremely good care of both the coach and the passengers, constantly cleaning the car when not involved in other activities (like hot showers! for a fee).

For larger images click on the photos. Use your browser BACK button to return here.	Each car had 12 compartments containing 4 berths. That means that unless you paid for four bunks, you shared. We had several different roommates on the three legs of our journey. They were all male and not until the last section of the journey into Moscow did any of them speak English. Also, they all were very friendly. Our Russian-English dictionary got a real workout, thank goodness Louie understands the Cyrillic alphabet. Everyone on the train packs their own food and it is customary to share it with your traveling companions. Among the things we shared were pine nuts right off the cone, sausages, meat pies and of course beer. Your supplies are replenished as you go, from small kiosks or vendors selling homemade goodies on the platforms of the various train stations. The stops are few and far between and not very long. It was always a rush to find what you wanted and, in limited Russian, order it. It seemed like just moments, then the provodnitsas were calling us back to the train. The most important parts of the coaches were the restrooms, which were located at each end of the car, and the samovar (hot water machine). There was always boiling water available for making tea, coffee, soup and other instant meals. The restrooms posed a small problem, the flush went directly onto the tracks, so they were closed 15 minutes before until 15 minutes after each stop or even for an hour before major cities. You needed to time your visits. On the first leg from Vladivostok to Irkutsk we had the two bottom bunks. We thought this was a good deal until we realized that the bunks were the seats. So if one or more of our roommates wanted to sit down, it was on one of our bunks and we couldn't go to bed until they did. The last two parts of the ride we had a top and a bottom on the same side, which worked out better. So for most of the time we looked out the windows at fairly monotonous scenery. If you like tamarack (larch) trees you're in heaven. The trees started out green and then became golden as we headed further north. And at the end of the trip they were covered with snow.	For larger images click on the photos. Use your browser BACK button to return here.
	So much for the train itself. Our origin was Vladivostok, much to our delight it is a charming seaside resort. The weather on our arrival was still pleasant and we enjoyed walking along the promenade observing the locals and surprisingly a group of American sailors, two U.S. ships were in port enjoying Russian hospitality. Vladivostok was a major naval base responsible for protecting Russia's eastern flank. One of our tourist stops was the fortress where we watched and heard (ouch) the noonday salute. The other highlight was Yul Brenner's birth place. After three days of the above mentioned activities we arrived in Irkutsk, the largest city in Siberia. Once again, except for a screw up with our reservations, we were surprised to find ourselves in a modern city, with sophisticated shopping centers teeming with well-dressed young women. Before we left home Louie gave me a book about a guy wandering around Siberia, most of it depressed me and I wondered what her purpose was in giving it to me. Was she trying to talk me out of going? The one thing I got out of it was a guy told the traveler that Siberia had the best looking women in Russia. Why? Because Stalin had sent all the prostitutes there. I don't know about the last part, but the first part is absolutely true. Being a confirmed girl-watcher I can attest to his claim. There was a never ending parade of tall, slender well-dressed women. In order to encounter the typical babushkas one had to go to the central market where they held fort behind their vegetable stands selling a narrow assortment of root crops. It was autumn so most of the summer crops were finished. Irkutsk has a large collection of wooden buildings, which were home to the Decembrists, a group of political dissidents sent there by Nicholas I. Irkutsk is also a major crossroads for the train. Many people get off the Trans-Siberian and switch to trains for Mongolia and China. Having enough of the train for awhile we flew to Mongolia. For more on that click on this link, it's a lot more interesting.
	On returning from Mongolia we still had time to visit Lake Baikal, the world's deepest lake, reportedly a mile deep and home to 30,000 freshwater seals (also referred to as the Fifth Ocean). We took a bus from Irkutsk to Listvyanka, a resort town on the edge of the lake. Several walks took us along the coast and finally up a trail snaking under a ski lift that took us to a promontory with great views of the lake. Our return trip was more exciting than we expected. The bus didn't return to our starting point and we needed to do a little scurrying to finally find our way home. The next day we went to an aquarium that housed two freshwater seals. The seals were cute, but the area they were kept in was rather small. The seals could dance and actually whistle on command. Back on the train to Ekaterinburg, only two days on the train this segment. If you want to know what we did reread the previous section. Yekaterinburg (you can spell it both ways and the spellchecker doesn't like either), is infamous as the city where the last Czar and his family were slaughtered in 1917. The Communists kind of forgot about it, but since they went out, a small monument has been erected. It has been getting colder the further we go (it actually snowed back in Irkutsk), but we bundled up and did a walking tour of Ekaterinburg: many military monuments and some beautiful onion-spire churches. We did see the small wooden chapel marking the spot where the massacre took place. Louie was disappointed that the railroad museum was closed.
	Last leg of the journey. We finally had cabin-mates that spoke English, so many hours were spent chatting. One of the guys, Evgeny, was a newlywed and had hundreds of pictures from his wedding and honeymoon, even the toilet. We were relieved when his battery went low. However, he turned out to be our savior. When we finally arrived in Moscow we entered the subway system and were startled to see hundreds of people milling around or pushing to get tickets at the several ticket windows. Eugene (his anglicized name) eventually let us use his multi-trip ticket to enter the turnstile and then took us on one train and showed us the next train to transfer to. If it hadn't been for him, I still would have visions of being trapped like "Charlie on the MTA." (If you don't get that, you're too young, a song by the Kinston Trio.) We had great directions to the Godzilla Guesthouse, which was swarming with English soccer fans (more on that in a separate addendum). We had one free day in Moscow and did all the usual things: Red Square, Victory Park, the Kremlin, Saint Basil's and walked by Lenin's tomb. We spent a lot of time searching for Lubyanka Prison, where the KGB held prisoners. It was on the map, but we never found it. The end of our journey resulted in us sleeping in the airport, which is part of the addendum. Don't miss reading about Mongolia, it was great.