Not much to add today – we spent Friday walking around Tomsk, enjoying the fabulous weather and great architecture. We’re loving this place, which certainly appears to be well off the beaten track; we’re not seeing any non-Russian tourists here.

I did take a break for a bit to lie in a park and read my biography of Stalin, which somehow just seems appropriate for Siberia. And we fantasized for a while about coming back for a month (sometime in the summer!) so Mark could brush up on his Russian more systematically. Absent anything interesting to say, here are some pictures from Tomsk.

More great wooden homes

And windows

Peacock house

A lot of churches in Tomsk

Birch forest surrounding a WWII monument

Finally, one of the highlights of the day was watching a guy seeming to play around with some parachute-like thing, and then watching him walk off a cliff in back of the WWI monument – and soar. What was weird is that he could fly wherever he liked, in any direction, at any elevation, back and forth and up and down. Given his ability to do that, why do we walk?

Preparing…

And flying

Greetings from beautiful Tomsk. And I mean beautiful. After a one-night stand in Novosibirsk, we caught a “mashrutka” (a minibus) about four hours north for our one stop off the railroad line into Siberia. A word about Novosibersk is in order, though.

First, Novosibirsk (“New Siberia”) is Russia’s third largest city.  Really? And no one’s ever heard of it? Even Mark, who majored in Russian, had never heard of it. And it’s the equivalent of Chicago. Who knew?

Our hotel, the Novosibirsk, is actually nicer than its outward Soviet-style appearance would suggest

And the hotel. Mark already posted this picture, but it’s worth seeing it again. Beyond the massive Soviet architecture, there were two notable things about the hotel. First, they do your laundry for free. For free! Hotels charge obscene prices to do laundry, which is a particular problem in Russia where we have been unable to find a single laundromat. Not one. And in the one hotel that we’re just staying overnight, they do laundry for free. Yet one more piece of evidence that there is no God.

Almost as bizarre is the strip club in the hotel. This was no seedy rat-trap we were staying in; it’s a nice hotel. But not only is there a strip club in it or attached to it, but they advertise it at the check-in desk and in the elevator along with the other amenities. You know, spa, restaurant, meeting spaces, strip club. I thought it was weird.

Our mashrutka

OK, time to leave Novosibirsk. We head off to the bus station, an adventure in itself; we took the subway to where we thought it would be easy to walk, and it wasn’t. We wandered pretty lost in somewhat industrial Novosibersk with our not-small luggage, but eventually got there. The mashrutka is nearly full. They pack us in – 12 people, one driver who looked like Rodney Dangerfield, but not so handsome – and off we go through stop-and-go traffic in stifling heat, packed like sardines with Russians. Apparently Siberians think fresh air is an unnecessary luxury, because that mashrutka was stifling. At one point a little kid opened the window next to him just a little. The old woman sitting behind him quickly reached forward and closed it – no fresh air coming in here, she seemed to say. And all with not an extra square inch to move in.

Mark & Chekov on the Tom River

At one point it starts raining, and the minibus apparently is not waterproof. It starts leaking on the guy sitting next to me. It wakes him up, he sees what’s happening … and closes his eyes to go back to sleep. Doesn’t budge an inch to try to get out of the dripping rain. I’m eager to get to the point in traveling like this when the little things – a leaking roof – just doesn’t bother me. What’s the worst that could happened? He got a little wet and it quit raining. A man at peace in his environment.

So the trip was hellish. But we did get off the beaten track, driving through some beautiful countryside with acres of beautiful yellow wild flowers. And we survived. At one point we stopped at a rest stop, a welcome change of pace. As we were reboarding, I saw the driver of a larger bus come out of the little cafeteria with a glass of beer. He boards his bus, puts the beer glass on the dashboard, and, when everyone is onboard, pulls away. You don’t see that in the U.S. every day!

Lenin is everywhere

Now we’re in this lovely Siberian college town, kind of a cross between Cambridge and Duluth. Lenin is still here. There are gorgeous old wooden buildings and beautiful stone buildings and great churches and parks and … it’s just really beautiful. In the evenings, which last hours and hours, the sunlight adds a great touch. It was just one evening so far – we have the whole day today to explore and relax – but it was really beautiful.

More wooden Siberian architecture

Beautiful windows

Russian church

View during the long sunset

And dinner! We went to a traditional Siberian restaurant and started with vodka shots, blini, and caviar. It’s just heaven, and honestly not that expensive. It’s not something just for special occasions or for the rich, but a typical starter. And you’ll notice a little red condiment dish in the photo. It was pretty much just tomato and garlic and it was heaven. Something so simple and amazing. Eating our way through Siberia…

Blini, caviar, and vodka, how every meal should start

Yesterday was another train day — a 13-hour run from Krasnoyarsk to Novosibirsk. Because it was another non-overnight stretch, we opted again for second-class and once again got lucky with a cabin to ourselves.

Now seems like a good time to mention the train ‘conductor,’ who plays a big role in your daily life aboard the Trans Siberian. Each car has its own conductor, a ‘provodnitsa’ in Russian, who keeps things moving along. She is typically a robust woman, past middle age, with a stern countenance. She opens and closes the doors at stops, checks your tickets, issues blankets and sheets, keeps the toilets (relatively) clean, and keeps her eye on everything. We are generally afraid of her.

You can also get a male ‘provodnets,’ but that s rare. Yesterday’s surprise was that most of the conductors on this train were surprisingly young women who did not fit the mold at all. They actually smiled a bit and seemed more approachable. Initially, I foolishly thought this seemed like a good thing.

Our last couple stops were off the beaten path a bit.  While most non-Russian tourists stop at Lake Baikal and a couple other places, not so many stop in Krasnoyarsk or Novosibirsk. On this train between those two stops, we in fact never encountered a single person who was discernibly not Russian. Our car was also very family-oriented. By that I mean there were a half dozen children who greatly enjoyed running up and down the hallway and making lots of noise. The only time I saw children start to get so rambunctious on a previous train, the provodnitsa materialized instantly and shut it down fast. I missed her today.

From Novosibirsk we are going to take a side trip to Tomsk, traveling there today by minibus. Meanwhile, here are a couple quick shots from Novosibirsk in Western Siberia, Russia’s third largest city.

Interesting architecture mix in Novosibirsk

Lilacs are just coming into full bloom in mid June

Nobody does Big Sculpture like the Communists did

Our hotel, the Novosibirsk, is actually nicer than its outward Soviet-style appearance would suggest