05.03.2018
My next train ride from Krasnoyarsk to Novosibirsk was a relatively short one. I was booked on train #57ИА at 06:37+4 and the trip took 13 hrs for 755 km.
I checked into my coach 4 upper bunk 26 and had still some time to take photos of the old steam train on the platform before departure.
In my cabin were only 2 men on the lower bunks this time. The trains on the Trans-Siberian are more modern than the once I took on the BAM. Here the toilets are already the modern vaccum toilets, for example, and the trains were not heated by coal anymore.
When the train left I soon went to the restaurant coach. I had my favourite Borschtsch and a Sibirskaya Corona for lunch and watched the world fly by.
The weather was beautiful, blue sky and sunshine as soon as we left the city limits. There was a lot of snow in Siberia! There were many dacha colonies along the train line and I even saw the one where we spent yesterday.
Most of the afternoon I relaxed on my bunk, reading, sleeping or writing. I was worried I would have muscle ache after all that skiing yesterday, but nothing! Happy!
In the late afternoon the 2 men in my cabin made picnic for dinner and asked again, if I want to come down and drink vodka. So I did. They spoke only Russian, but we got along very well.
Ivan was a train driver on the historic steam train Circumbaikal Railway. He was on the way to Samara and beyond to visit family. He had great stories to tell about the historic steam train and it made me regret again, that I had missed it this time. I guess, I will have to come back for it!
Yuri worked with a team of geologist beyond Severobaikalsk in the deep taiga forest looking for natural gas. He usually worked 3 months and then had one month vacation. It took him at least 3 days to go home which is near Ufa. So he had 3 weeks at home and then he took the train back to work again for 3 days. He showed me great photos of his work in the taiga! They work and live there under extreme conditions. It was very interesting.
I had to drink quite a few vodkas with them and we had lots of fun. They did not know each other before they boarded the train, but shared their picnic with each other and with me.
After all this vodka I had to take a quick nap before arrival in Novosibirsk. The train was on time arriving at 19:21+4. Ivan made sure I did not oversleep. And when we arrived he even helped me with my big suitcase and carried it all the way to the exit of the station. It was a long stop for the train and he was going to get cigarettes anyway.
I had booked myself into the Marins Park Hotel just opposite the station, so I did not have to walk far in the middle of the night. Check in was quick, RUB 6400 for 2 nights without breakfast and my huge room was on the 22nd floor with a great view over the train station and the Ob River.
My room had a bathtub! I was happy! I had joked this morning with my guide Anatoliy in Krasnoyask when we left the dacha, that he needed to build a hot tub or banya sauna in his dacha and that the first thing I would do on arrival in Novosibirsk, would be to jump in the bathtub …
The hot bath was fantastic and a lot of dirt was coming off!
06.03.2018
In the morning the weather looked unfomfortable – grey and wet. At the train station the display stated -3°C. But the sun did not want to come out. I slept late and then went out around 10:00. I wanted to visit the Seyatel Railway Locomotive Museum – Музей Железнодорожнй Техники Сеятель – which was located a little outside of Novosibirsk. Mr. Google was not so helpful to find a way to get there. But the hotel receptionist used the Russian Yandex and said there was a public bus just outside the train station. Good thing is that in Russia the public busses usually display all the stops on a sign in the window. I basically just studied all the signs until I found a bus where Klinika Meshalkina (bus stop near the museum) was written, asked again and got on. For RUB 19 it took a bit more than an hour to reach the museum. It opened at 11:00 and cost RUB 250 entrance fee plus RUB 50 for photos. The weather was miserable. It had started snowing and was even more grey and wet.
The open air museum had 4 or 5 train tracks full with old steam engines, coaches, cargo trains and special trains. Even with all this snow it was great to look at all those. Unfortunately it was not possible to go inside any of them. Some also were in desperate need of a new paint coat.
Besides the trains, there was a section where old Russian cars, like Volgas, Moskvichs and Saporozhets were displayed. Unfortunately, I could see those only from a far, because this section was still closed because of the snow. I think they had not gotten to clear the snow there, yet. But I could see the old Volga – I had learnt how to drive on a Volga just like that!
I wanted to return to Novosibirsk by local train. However there was no train for another 2 hours and not much to see in the suburb other that the museum I just visited. Therefore I went back to the bus stop and caught the public bus back to the city.
I got off in the center of the city. Novosibirsk is the largest city in Russia after Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is the most populous city in Asian Russia, with a population of approx. 1.6 Mio. It is the administrative center of the Siberian Federal District and is therefore often referred to as the Capital of Siberia. Its rapid growth and industrialization in recent years led also to the nickname “Chicago of Siberia”. The city is located on the banks of the great Siberian river of Ob and was founded in 1893 at the future site of a Trans-Siberian Railway bridge crossing the river.
I decided to have lunch in one of the restaurants of the Shashlikoff chain. It felt a bit like in a Hard Rock Cafe or such in there. I got a nice table and ordered a Glintwine (mulled wine) for a start. The waiter did not speak English, but the menu was great with photos of all dishes and drinks. Of course I ordered a shashlik (pork on a skewer) with salad. It was very good. I washed it all down with a dark beer.
After Lunch I walked past some of the old wooden houses, which are still hiding between Soviet era residential blocks and modern high rises, to the USSR Museum. It is located in one of those old houses and only opened in the afternoon.
Not many visitors come in winter, so I had to ring the bell. A friendly babushka opened the door and was happy to see a tourist. I paid RUB 250 entrance fee and she turned the lights on in the different rooms as I went on. In the first room there were all sorts of paraphernalia of the youth organisations of the USSR and before I could object she had put a pioneer’s bandana around my neck, a cap on my head and pushed the drum in my hands for a photo. No chance to get out of it! She would not take No! for an answer. You are here, you need a photo as Pioneer! – she said.
There were many rooms with a great assortment of all kinds Soviet and old things starting from household machines – all still functioning! – to soldier uniforms, badges, books, flags, vodka bottles, kids’ toys and old samovars. There were no restrictions on touching and trying out anything, no glass cases around the exhibits.
They even had a separate philately, where stamps from USSR and all other East Block countries were neatly sorted in stamp albums and all for sale.
After a fun couple of hours in the museum I walked back to the hotel. I stopped at a supermarket to stock up on provisions for the train ride. Then I made a quick pit stop in the hotel and talked to the hotel reception about my departure time tomorrow. Since my train is only at 20:00 I wanted to get a late check out. No problem, but I had to pay RUB 800 for 4 extra hours until 18:00. That is OK. The train ride will be 42 hrs and the longest on this great adventure voyage and in this weather I rather spend a little longer in the hotel.
The weather had cleared up in the afternoon and the sun had come out. I decided to take another bus to Lenin Square to take my traditional photo of the Lenin Statue.
Back near the hotel I found another Shashlikoff branch and went for traditional Siberian tea. I had seen on the menu at lunch, they offer tea in a samovar with all the trimmings and I really wanted to try it. The restaurant was packed for dinner, but they had a table for me. The waitress spoke English and when I ordered the tea arrangement her eyes went wide and she said – But it is very big! – Yes, I know, it is like 4 l of water in the samovar and usually people order it when they come in a group! But I am my own group and this will be my dinner! I want to try it! – Chorosho! If you want!
Soon enough the tea got served in a beautiful coloured samovar. The samovar is the central symbol of a Russian tea ceremony. As combination teapot & brewing device, it is a truly unique creation. It is a metal container traditionally used to heat and boil water. It has a ring-shaped attachment around the top to hold and heat a small teapot filled with tea concentrate. Besides different cookies all sorts of jams and honey are served with the tea. True tea connoisseurs would take a spoonful of jam in the mouth and then let the tea run over it. Tourists like me put the jam into the tea cup, of course.
The Russian expression “сидеть у самовара” – “to have a sit by the samovar” – means to have a leisurely talk while drinking tea from a samovar. This somewhat compares with the German Kaffeeklatsch. This evening I had my own Kaffeeklatsch …. Taking to myself is not yet a problem, it only gets serious if somebody takes back….
I truly enjoyed the tea and drank probably 2 or 3 litres of it – I did order red fruit tea, though – and ate all the jam and honey while reading and studying the guide book for a couple hours. Most of the bread rings I took with me to eat on the train. The entire thing was not even expensive with RUB 438 all in all….
Back in the hotel I took another dunk in the bathtub! I guess, if I have the chance I have to take it!
07.03.2018
This morning I took my time since I had all day until my train was leaving. Again the weather was funny – cloudy and wet and +1°C. Way to warm for me after all this Siberian cold.
I started out at around 11:00 and first searched for a post office and found one eventually to send some postcards again. Walking around the city center I visited the Monument to the Heroes of the Revolution which had been one of the chief historic sites – probably every child had to visit the monument on school field trips during the Soviet years. Neglect in the 1990s while other areas were redeveloped, helped preserve it in the post-Soviet era. Today it was totally covered in snow and I almost did not find it.
It started to snow-rain while I was walking around looking for more wooden house. Therefore I decided to have a cocktail for lunch at the Double Tree by Hilton which I happened to pass. Unfortunately the lobby bar was closed. Imagine that… No problem, I bring my money elsewhere …
A bit later it kind of stopped snow-raining I walked past many modern buildings and ended up in a park with a glass globe. There was a café inside it and I had lunch there, instead. They offered business lunch which usually is very reasonably priced weekday lunch offer and consists of a choice of 2 or 3 courses. I found a table with a view on the top floor and for RUB 199 took soup and main course which came also with a mors drink (homemade cranberry juice). I choose cheese soup and Siberian filled blini. It was all very yummy.
With the warm weather – still it was + 3 °C and the sun was coming out eventually – is it April already and I missed a month? – snow and ice were thawing and around the city center workers started to remove packed snow from the sidewalks as well as ice and icicles from the roofs. I guess, spring is coming in Siberia! Nevertheless it was a bit uncomfortable and I was feeling cold. Give me -30°C in the Russian Far East anytime over this wet spring weather in Siberia!
Tomorrow is March 8, International Women’s Day, and it is a public holiday Russia. Everywhere in the city people were selling flowers today, mostly tulips and roses.
Almost every person walked home with a bunch of flowers for the wife, mother, grandmother, friend or colleague. This spring holiday is most often celebrated in the family with a festive meal and champagne or by visiting friends. Men and women give flowers, postcards with poetry, chocolate, and other pleasant gifts to their mothers, wives, grandmothers, sisters and daughters. Some Russian men like to undertake all household duties on this day—starting with washing dishes and ending with cooking dinner and looking after children, so that women can enjoy a full day of rest. Since the International Women’s Day is a non-working day in Russia, office workers celebrate it just the day before the holiday. In companies and organizations, all women receive flowers and small memorable gifts from their male co-workers and, sometimes, from employers themselves. During the lunch break, it is common to have a small office party with cake and a glass of champagne.
I also walked to the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, which is the Orthodox Cathedral in Novosibirsk, named in honor of Saint Alexander Nevsky. It was one of the first stone constructions in Novosibirsk. The church was built the end of the 19th century and the design was influenced by the Church of Our Lady the Merciful in St. Petersburg. The cathedral was a specific monument to Tsar Alexander III who initiated construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway which resulted in foundation of Novosibirsk as a new railway station.
Me being a train buff, I of course had to visit the Glory Memorial of the home front workers of 1941-1945 – a monument locomotive, which was established in honor of the people who worked in the city of Novosibirsk during WW II. It is recognized as great cultural heritage of the city and an important historical monument. The memorial was established in 1980 and is a former freight locomotive, which was built in 1940. Of course, the locomotive serves as an interesting attraction for tourists, because it is a very nice old steam engine.
Back in the hotel I lounged around the rest of the afternoon. I had splurged in a bottle of Russkiy Shampanskoje to celebrate International Women’s Day, caught up on writing my journal and prepared for the next long train ride.
I had to check out at 18:00 and dragged my luggage through all the slush and mud across the square to the train station. Novosibirsk station is one of the largest on the Trans-Siberian Railway and has a grand interior. It is said, it is a real temple of the Trans-Siberian. I parked myself and my luggage in the café and had a butterbrot – Yes, even in Russian they call it butterbrot! – for dinner.
Off I am – Moscow, here I come!
