Little is known about Boris and his allegedly nefarious activities.
When he is in residence in Brisbane, it is known by a few that he has a weekly sojourn with acquaintances at a competitive event. It is trivial. One of his associates is a fellow who resembles Tsar Alexander III. On occasion in Russia, Boris is known to take photos of Alexander III, to remind his colleague of the likeness.
In Irkutsk there are such opportunities. Boris found a photo of Alex aye-aye-aye (as Timofei calls him) in the city museum (note to travelers: don’t bother, not worth 120 rubles entry). On the second occasion, it was a much grander opportunity. There is a 5 metre statue to the fellow at the end of Karla Marxa street. Rather ironic.
The statue was erected to commemorate the original statue erected to commemorate the arrival of the railway, and the new statue was paid for by the railway company.
Boris took another photo for Allan!
Heading off on our last train ride from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk and Lake Baikal – another 18 hours and we should arrive at our destination….
We watched the view from the window change as we headed east, the forests giving way to less trees & large fields growing livestock feed & the harvested chaff dumped in small haystacks.
Headed off to dinner and were joined by some people from the carriage in front. Interestingly, there were Mongolians (who cooked their own meals in the carriage) plus English, Suisse/Deutsch and French/Deutsch.
We were in the Russian carriage (according to them) and they were not allowed through to our carriage but went and used our toilet to see what they were like whilst they had the chance at dinner. They obviously had a newer carriage with vacuum toilets but then we were mixing with Russians. We have an older carriage, the beds are bigger and we are probably less open to theft with not being a target nationality. Russians seem to be rather trusting and respect other people.
21 Sep 2014
For the 1st time we had to strip our bed in the morning & the conductresses came and collected the sheets and towel some 10 minutes later. I feel we had a good deal because Ian ordered the train in Russian directly from the Russian railway site.
Pea souper this morning as we arrived into Irkutsk probably brought about by the proximity of Lake Baikal, will see what the day brings…
Although the temperature was 0 at the station whilst waiting for the cab by early afternoon it had reached 22. The shops are open between 10 and 8 pm when it starts to get theand then everyone goes to bed late because they then don’t start work again until late.
Back to the hotel where we grabbed a little nanna nap – the sleep on the train is practically non-existent, one does drop off bit still stays conscious of the rocking of the train.
Headed out for a walk along the “green walk” which took us through the statues of Irkutsk, loe and behold, Vladimir Ilyich is still on site to great is yet again!!!!.
Tourism can do without the taxi mafia waiting at railway stations, ready to relieve passengers of their money. They are a nuisance, an irritation and a scourge. While our travelers have learned to avoid them, they are persistent pests. It is getting to the point where rudeness could be the only weapon in deterring them. Our travelers rang the Imperia hotel, and a real taxi eventually arrived. This was just in time as the temperature hovered around zero. After refreshments at the hotel, our intrepid duo set out to acquaint themselves with Irkutsk. They first saw a restaurant was firmly anchored to the pavement. It would be realised that the city is different in character from any other in Russia. The buildings have a different appearance. The back-streets resemble suburban Melbourne, and perhaps it is just the high fences. Boris and Timofei arrived at the [dis-]Information Centre. “How do we get to Lake Baikal?” – “Go to the Autovokzal and catch a bus with the destination, Listvyanka, and it leaves every 30 minutes (wrong)”. Why not explore more of Irkutsk? The marketplace was crowded with stalls. There were all manner of wares on offer, but none of interest. Setting off to see Alexander III brought them firstly to Vladimir Ilyich.
He had to do it!!!!
Boris really!! did have to mimic the pose.
Finally at the riverside they encountered Alex aye-aye-aye.
He and the pigeons looked well. At this spot, the Russian populace were holding the All Russia Running Day. Fellows in tracksuits were running everywhere.
After Kirov square, they again saw the restaurant was well anchored and that the anchor had well served its purpose.
The restaurant is still there – the anchor has done its job.
That evening they had a repast of soup, rye bread and beer.
