Russia
Steiner binoculars
Not much of the content of our backpacks has been introduced yet (only the netbook), though we already learned a lot on this trip about what is needed and what isn’t. We tried to only pack the most essential things into our backpacks (with the help of the German world travel web site weltreise-info.de). There … Weiterlesen
More travel photos
We got some new equipment in Hong Kong (more later) and we caught up sorting through our photos, only keeping the better ones and uploading them to flickr. We’ve spent quite a couple of nights with the photos and thanks to the Internet connection of our lovely host Sisi in Hong Kong we got most … Weiterlesen
Stations #12-13
Naushki, Russia and 6 hours later the 20 km distant Sukhbaatar, Mongolia
Crossing borders
After almost a month in Russia and more than 5000km on the rails, from St. Petersburg to Irkutsk, it was time for us to leave Russia (just before our visa expired). So we took the train to Ulanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. But what sounds fairly straight-forward turned out to be a major act. In … Weiterlesen
Stations #11
Irkutsk, Eastern Siberia
Das Haus am See
Alles ging recht schnell nachdem wir in Irkutsk angekommen waren. Jemand rief uns den Namen der Insel im Baikalsee zu, die unser Ziel war, bot uns einen Preis der unter unseren Erwartungen lag, und schon wurden unsere Rucksäcke aufs Dach des Minibusses geschnürt und wir rauschten mit 12 anderen russischen Mitreisenden Richtung Baikalsee. Die Fahrtgeschwindigkeit … Weiterlesen
Tales from the (rail)road
Guess what: Across Siberia by train is a long journey. Our plan was to cover the 4265 km to the shores of Lake Baikal in 4 days and 5 nights, passing through Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains after 994 km, getting of the train for a day in Omsk (902 km further) and again in … Weiterlesen
Stations #9
Novosibirsk, Siberia
Stations #8
Omsk, Siberia
Capital of the Republic of Tatarstan
After 21 hours on the river, we saw four minarets on the horizon. While our boat cruised further down the Volga, the picture became more complete: impressive white Kremlin walls surrounding presidential palaces, an orthodox cathedral as well as a huge modern mosque. Kazan feels a bit like Istanbul, a bit like Moscow – with … Weiterlesen
Stations #7
Kazan, ‚river station‘ (рецной вокзал)
Auf der Wolga nach Tatarstan
Da Nizhny Novgorod und unser nächstes Etappenziel Kazan beide an der Wolga liegen, hatten wir uns in den Kopf gesetzt auf dieser Strecke den Zug gegen ein Schiff zu tauschen. Das war aber nicht so einfach… Regelmäßige Fährverbindungen gibt es nicht, und sowohl Anrufe von befreundeten Russen bei Schiffsgesellschaften sowie unser persönliches Nachfragen in Nizhny … Weiterlesen
Neulich im Hostel
Viel gabs in unserem Hostel in Nizhny Novgorod nicht, aber überall Rauchmelder. Das sind übrigens weder Pfannkuchen noch Crepes, sondern блины…
441km from Moscow
McDonalds has generously supported our travels so far, by providing free wifi internet, comfortable seating and clean toilets in every city – and you don’t even have to buy anything :-) Upon arrival in Nizhny Novgorod though, our first stop on the transsiberian journey 441km east of Moscow, we have to realize that this might … Weiterlesen
Moscow
We booked 3rd class for our first railway journey in Russia (though not part of the actual TransSib) to see if the so called ‚platzkartny‘ are bearable. They were pretty nice indeed and Julia only woke up in the suburbs of Moscow. Standing outside Leningradsky station you cannot miss one of the seven sisters, the … Weiterlesen
Stations #5
Moskovskaya Vokzal in St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg
Nach fünf Tagen St. Petersburg wissen wir kaum noch wo wir anfangen sollen euch zu berichten – was für eine Stadt! Angefangen bei der Metro, deren Stationen wie kleine Paläste scheinen, und den beeindruckenden endlosen Rolltreppen die einen in die Tiefe bringen, bis hin zu den echten Palästen, Gärten und Kirchen – irgendwie ist hier … Weiterlesen
Reaching Russia
The lights in the bus were switched on at about 2 am and the stewardess Tatjana made an announcement in Russian and Latvian. The only thing we did understand (with the help of a sign out the window) was that we had reached the Latvian-Russian border. We had an interesting break of about 70 minutes … Weiterlesen
