considering the length of time we were on the train and before we knew it we were arriving in Irkurst and then we whisked away to our homestay with Rita in Lake Baikal.

Hel.



Irkutsk

Well after such a fabulous time at lake Baikal it was with heavy hearts that we left the countryside to return to the city. It seemed like we had only just scratched the surface of Siberia after spending so long travelling through it on the train. Especially as we had to spend two days there. Virtually everyone in the group agreed that an extra day by the lake would have been preferred.

Still, on we went, and the journey back through the forest took about an hour, and we arrived in a dirty, smelly Russian City once again!

After showering and washing our socks we headed into the city to see what it had to offer - which was not an awful lot! We used the local internet caf?and then met up with our group to go out for dinner, not one of the best - no veggie main courses and dreadful almost Karaoke like live music! One of the highlights was after dinner when we headed down to the river where there is a statue to honour the builders of the Trans-Siberian railway. We watched a pretty damn nice sunset before heading home to play some pool in the hotel basement!

Some interesting History was to be had the next day, with a visit to one of the Decembrists houses. They were some