Russia 2004

TS-04 - Trans-Siberian Railway (RUSSIA) Date of travel: May 15 - May 29, 2004 ITINERARY: On May 15, 2004 at noon I fly on a CSA plane from Prague, Czech Republic to Moscow, RUSSIA, where on the Sheremetyevo airport in midafternoon. A driver with a car and my name is taking me to “Baltschug Kempinski Hotel” near Kremlin in the center of Moscow. I go for a walk to the Red Square and its vicinity. Then our whole group visits the St. Basil’s Cathedral. It is followed by a great dinner in a restaurant. Next morning there is a sightseeing tour of Moscow. During it we visit the impressive “Cathedral of Christ the Savior” destroyed by Stalin and newly reconstructed. Then we photograph a gigantic statue of Peter the Great at Moscow River and drive to “Novodevichy Convent.” From there to a lookout at Lomonosov University with a view of the city. After lunch, we visit “Kremlin.” It is followed by a free time on the Red Square. I use it to go in the department store GUM. In the evening, we board our train. Soon it starts moving in direction of St. Petersburg. Our train reaches St. Petersburg in midmorning on May 17. First, we visit the “Catherine Palace” outside the city. Here we see the famous newly rebuilt Amber Room. After lunch, there is a visit of “Petrodvorce Palace” on the shore of Gulf of Finland called the Russian Versailles. Dinner is on a ship taking us throughout the city on River Neva and its estuary. The following day we see St. Petersburg itself. With exception of few stops our coaches just pass various famous places with explanation from our guide. The final stop is at “Hermitage” museum that we see in person. In the afternoon, we are back in our train which starts its journey to Vladivostok. The following day our train continuous run to the east. Countryside is flat. Here and there a village with very poor houses. In Russia, there is a great difference in living standard between cities and villages. We were told that our train belongs to the Russian president and that the same uniformed staff, which takes care of us, would be on this train if the president was on board. That enables us to do sightseeing stops along the way. On a regular train from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok, we might wait a week for the next train. There are 57 tourists on our train. The tour director is British. Everybody else is Russian. On May 20, our second morning on the train, we make a stop in Yekaterinburg. This city is the industrial center of Russia. Though it is behind the Ural Mountains in Asia, its inhabitants protest if one tells them they live in Siberia. The city is in consciousness of people because Russian Tsar Nicolas II. and his family were murdered by Bolsheviks here. Our first stop is at the “Church of Blood.” It stands on the spot, where the Tsar and his family were shot. The room where it happened was reconstructed inside the church. Later we visit “Museum of WWII.” There are also some pieces of the Gerry Powers’ U2 plane exhibited here. His plane was shot down at Yekaterinburg. During our stop at a monument to fallen soldiers from this city in various wars there is a tablet saying that in 1968 in Czechoslovakia 8 soldiers from Yekaterinburg lost their lives. In the afternoon, our train continues its journey east. In the evening, there is a short stop in Tyumen which is a gate to Siberia. Some 24 hours later, late in the afternoon, our train stops in Novosibirsk. There is a sightseeing tour visiting a cathedral, market, Lenin square with his gigantic statue and a stop at Ob River. Novosibirsk is a typical grey Soviet city. With 1.45 mil. inhabitants it is after Moscow and St. Petersburg the third largest city of Russia. The Ob River is the third largest river in Russia. After 9 PM our train gets moving again. After a day on the train on May 23 we reach the capital of Siberia, Irkutsk. The city lies on the bank of Angara River. We stop at Church of Savior (now museum), then Kirov Square with government buildings and through several streets with old wooden houses. It is followed by a Church of the Holy Sign built 1762. There is a mass at this moment. As in other Russian Orthodox Churches, they are full of believers including young people. Then we drive on the Lenin Street with a Lenin statue. A stop at Central Market. After lunch, a visit to Volkonsky House Museum. There is a concert for us there. May 24 is devoted to Lake Baikal. Some of us can take a ride on the outside of the locomotive, something which would not be allowed in other countries. At noon is a picnic with BBQ on the shore of the lake. There is a boat ride on Lake Baikal in the afternoon. Then we board buses and visit “Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture,” showing the Siberian buildings set in a riverside forest. That is followed by a museum and an orthodox church from 1864 in another place. At night, our train makes the distance from Irkutsk to Ulan Ude, the capital of the Buryat Republic (part of Russian Federation). There we board buses and drive to Soviet Square with a gigantic black head of Lenin. Outside Ulan Ude we visit a Buddhist monastery which is the center of Siberian Buddhism. Then we see a Buryat show with dances and music with the cast in their national costumes. The Buryats are Mongols. Our lunch is in a village of “Old Believers.” Old Believers are Russians who split from the Russian Orthodox Church in mid-17th century. Next 3 days (May 26 – May 28) we spend on the train. There are some interesting lectures. The Siberian countryside is often grassy and among the higher vegetation we see birches and larches. The rails are laid on a bank above the landscape. The train makes short stops in some stations. There is a statue of Lenin in every station. In the evening on May 28 after almost 10,000 km from St. Petersburg our train reaches Vladivostok. It is still light when we board buses for a 1-hour sightseeing tour of the city. There is a large statue of Lenin near the railway station, then a Monument to Red Army followed by Memorial WWII with a submarine from that war. We see “Golden Horn Bay” named after the one in Istanbul. The channel between it and the Amursky Gulf is called Bospor Strait. The “Triumphal Arch” commemorates the visit of Nicolas II to this city in 1902. Vladivostok looks like an European city. Last stop is a lookout with view of the city. From here to Hotel Versailles for dinner. In our “Hyundai Hotel” before midnight. In the morning on May 29 I take a walk with one tourist from our group through the city. We go from our hotel down to the Golden Horn Bay and visit the WWII submarine which is a museum. It is completely out of water. We return past the Triumphal Arch to our hotel. In reception, they can’t find my passport. It looks like a big problem. Even without the passport I still go to the airport. Along the way another tourist finds my passport in his passport. Later in the afternoon I leave on a Korean Airlines for Seoul, South Korea. The flight takes 2 hrs. There I switch the plane for another Korean plane to Los Angeles. After 10.5 hrs. flight, our plane lands on LAX in midafternoon still on May 29 thanks to the Date Line. I pick up a car at Budget and drive home to Vista where in the evening. Travel office: MIR Corporation (Seattle, Washington) Who took part: 57 passengers from North America and Europe, British Tour Director and Russian train crew, local guides