On the shore of the lake Baikal.We had the day to ourselves for looking around. We needed to shop for our journey on the train to Irkutsk. We had quite a lazy day. We booked out of our room and loaded all our luggage into Laziz’s room. In the evening we returned to the restaurant that we had visited on our first evening. It started snowing whilst we were there and we walked back to the hotel in a blizzard.
Fortunately it had stopped snowing for our walk to the railway station. Our train was due to leave at 11.15 p.m. so as soon as we boarded we stowed away our luggage and went to bed. It was to be a long journey of three nights and 2 ½ days. We had all put our journey luggage in small bags so that we were able to put our large baggage under the seats. The compartments are fairly compact but if you are careful they can work quite well.
We were in the carriage that was provided with complimentary meals so the food that we had bought will have to be saved until another time. We had never travelled for so long on a train, but we had plenty of books and Sudoku quizzes. Laziz had also brought a pack of cards and taught us a new game, President and Donkey. The time passed quite quickly and we arrived in Irkutsk at 10.45a.m. on Wednesday 6th May.
Our guide and Mini bus driver met us and took us to a hotel where Laziz could use the internet café to read his emails. This was to see if any of our arrangements had altered.
A couple of our companions needed some more money so we stopped at a bank and then we were on our way to Lake Baikal.
This journey to Listvyanka took about an hour. Our driver was Anatole and our guide was Yelena. The sun was shining and the reflection on the lake is beautiful. We are staying in a two storey house and our hosts are Rita and Alexander (Sasha). Lunch was ready for us and then we were all able to have a shower, the first since Sunday morning. After a rest we went for a stroll through the village in sunny warm weather. Back to our homestay for a substantial meal and a game of President and Donkey.
