Author archive
28 June 2005
We arrived in Auckland early in the morning. We checked at the lost luggage counter for an update on whether our luggage had been found. We were expecting them to arrive in the next day or two, and were expecting to sign forms that would allow them to be cleared by customs in our absence […]
26 May 2005
Mini sightseeing I woke around 0600 and managed to get ourselves downstairs for breakfast at 0700. Kim organised a rental car by phone with Lucky Cars located at the Howard Johnson Hotel. They have some very beaten up cars that wouldn’t be legal in some countries. Kim s is a regular customer of theirs on […]
25 May 2005
Kazan to Samara to Frankfurt to London We have a big day today, flying from Kazan to Samara and then Frankfurt on the same flight, then connecting to London Heathrow, and then self-connecting to Los Angeles. We woke at 0400 and were out of the hotel into a pre-ordered taxi at 0450. It was a […]
24 May 2005
We woke early again. it was a combination of our body clock (train lag), noise and light. We dozed and took it easy until breakfast around 0800. Today’s kinda our spare day in case things don’t go smoothly. So we didn’t have any big plans. Perhaps just repeat some sightseeing and explore a bit more. […]
23 May 2005
With a two hour time difference from Ekaterinburg, we woke early. Around 0500 local time, or 0700 where we were yesterday. The breakfast downstairs was quite nice; it was tasty stew of potato and meat, but I went off it when I realised it was kidney and liver. The cabbage stew was tasty with a tinge […]
22 May 2005
Departing Ekaterinburg We were woken by our alarm at 0645. Today we take the final leg of our train journey from Ekaterinburg to Kazan. It’s a relatively short ride today, in fact, just a day-trip. But it is a significant day as we cross from Asia to Europe today. We fuelled up on a breakfast of […]
21 May 2005
Around the city We woke on the sofa bed around 0730 and arranged breakfast for 0900. Our hostess prepared a very nice breakfast of jam-filled blinis, cheese pastry, bread and yoghurt washed down with tea. The blinis were the best I’ve had; crispy on the edges, soft and warm, and filled with jam before being […]
20 May 2005
Above: Our lovely homestay was located in this humble Soviet-style apartment block. Onboard We woke around 1030 Irkutsk time or 0730 Ekaterinburg time after more than 10h sleep! We must be adjusting to the local time. The countryside appeared quite green. Even the birch trees are green. We had breakfast with the Japanese boys. It […]
19 May 2005
Scenery en route We woke around 0830 to a little country mountain town. There was more evergreen conifers her in between the white bald trees. We didn’t quite repeat last night’s dinner and supper for breakfast, but it was closed. We substituted ham for lime-flavoured canned tuna. As we approached Krasnoyarsk, we had a green […]
18 May 2005
Sightseeing We have an afternoon departure from Irkutsk to Ekaterinburg, so it was a leisurely morning beginning with a hotel breakfast, Russian style. It was a filling spread of eggs, cheese, salad, porridge and lentils. We rested and checked out around 1100 having failed to secure a late check-out beyond the normal time of 1200. […]