Russia and Beyond ORL090617
Trip Start
Unknown
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3
6
Trip End
Ongoing
Moscow, Central Russia, Russian Federation
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Here at last are the photos from our trip, along with some highlights...
St. Petersburg...white nights...bridge openings with bottles of shampanski and talking to high schoolers...Moscow Kremlin...Lenin's mausoleum...dinner and drinks on Old Arbat street...Trans-Siberian railway...mead and honey cake party to start off...vodka parties later on...fitting fourteen people into one compartment...card games in the dining car...chatting with the providnitsas...chess lessons from a drunk Russian man...talking to the German teacher in Kazakhstan...lots and lots of platform food...Decembrists museum in Irkutsk...central market...getting word of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett on the way to Turka...our wonderful host Valera...watching the sunset from the deck...roasting fresh omul fish over an open fire...seeing the Mir Submarines...banya and the slide into the lake...lunch at the Old Believers village...traditional Siberian singing...a second wedding for Lance and Shar...homemade vodka poured by handsome Vladimir...Ulan Ude and the giant Lenin head...border crossing to Ulaan Baator...Lotus hostel...river crossing...lunch with a shamanist...sampling local cheese and yogurt...staying with Bold and his family at the ger camp...watching the hot stone method of cooking...trying archery...milking cows...singing songs around the fire...Gandan monastery in Ulaan Baator...cultural show...train to Beijing...bogie changing...flag ceremony in Beijing..."do you know what your shirt says?"...final dinner of Beijing duck...final breakfast...sad goodbyes...
Thank you all for making it such a wonderful trip!
Laura
