Irkutsk, Russia

What reaction does the word "Irkutsk" provoke in you? Perhaps nothing, perhaps disdain, or even perhaps delight. Well, what about the word "platzcart" aka 3rd class? Anything yet? Ok, well what if I put those two words together and tell you that is how I am taking a holiday? I already performed this experiment and the first reaction was: Why? and then What? Oh, perhaps I traveled there just for the pure joy of seeing people's utter astonishment! Every person had the same reaction when I told them about my upcoming adventure.


Well what ensued was a very pleasant journey by train by 3 days, with a few interesting stories. Then a visit to the deepest lake in the world, where the only fresh water seals in the world live. Finally, a great time in one of the nicest Russian cities I have been to.


When Ruth and I sat down in our carriage and gave each other excited grins, we noticed a noise that was getting closer and closer. When we turned our heads we notice it was 20 eleven year old boys getting on the train. We prayed they would pass through out carriage to the next, but alas, they didn't. All the Russian conversation we had planned was slipping through our fingers. What we got instead was constant entertainment. They were a rugby team that had won their championship game and were victoriously heading home. They wrestled, fought, covered each other in ketchup, ran, jumped, climbed, patched their seats with band aids, and ate, ate, ate. Any desire to have kids vanished. We survived somehow and we ended up drinking and speaking with their coaches.


We had beautiful weather in Irkutsk for the first two days. Then we it rained for two days. Irkutsk was a simple city to figure out and also surprising in a lot of ways. First, the people were really friendly. In a book store a young security guard (kinda cute) talked to us for like a half hour trying to help us find some books to read. It was great. We also saw a film at the coolest theatre I had ever been to. It had huge reclining chairs and phones to order food as you watched. Fantastic! Also, there were many more traditional style houses in Irkutsk. Some of the frames around the windows were quite impressive.


Oh and the Lake, I shouldn't forget about that. It was big! Really big! I was surprised. The best part of it, I must say, was seeing the seals in their tiny and pathetic museum of Lake Baikal. They were super cute. There needs to be more work done to promote tourism around the lake. We had trouble finding trails to explore the expansive forest. It could be much more interesting if someone would just invest in it.


I don't know if I would recommend this trip to your average traveler but it was just right for Ruth and I.