It’s been a while since we left Moscow on our built to last slow train, its red Soviet era locomotive, on our way to our first stop : Irkutsk.

3 days and nights watching birch tree forests, reading, meeting people of all ages and origins, sharing food, making friends, hating snorers sometimes… a glimpse of real life set on a seemingly endless rolling room:), in fact, just taking time to do things which we have generally forgotten about nowadays. Welcome to slow!

 

On the way you’ll see interesting cities such as Kazan and Ekaterinburg, which I will write about later (that was a stop on the way back). The train stops for about an hour in large cities, which gives enough time to venture out of the station, breathe the local air, take a few pictures, and, most interestingly, search for some kind of “real” food!

One word of advice though, make sure you are back on the train 10 minutes before it departs, it won’t wait for you… one thing that can slow you down when going back in the station is luggage control through the X ray machine!

So, here are a few pictures of our first stop in Ekaterinburg, where we managed to grab a morning chicken shwarma bathed in mayonnaise, which seemed very tasty after dried noodles. On the subject of noodles, one of the train’s best features is the “samovar” (picture below), available 24 hours a day, so don’t forget your supply of teabags and instant coffee and noodles Конечно (of course in Russian).

 

 

After changing to a blue locomotive in Kazan, at 4am, back on the rails for a couple of days until Irkutsk, a medium sized, quiet and welcoming South Siberian city.

 

 

Next post I will share a few good spots for accomodation, food & beverages, sightseeing, and of course our encounters with Sergueï, Olga and many others..

 

Stay tuned for more stories, and have a good Sunday wherever you are!