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2016 September through
October. Fly from Beijing to Vladivostok and onto
the Tran-Siberian Railway experience. 14 nights
on and off the
train stopping at cities along the way. Second class sharing
the
4 bed sleeper with us and two other people. Mostly Russians
on
the train how hard can that be? Great time great people sign
language if nothing else no problem.
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First stop Irkutsk and a
car
ride to Lake Baikal. The deepest
inland lake in the world, most
interesting was the museum and history.
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Another car ride back to
Irkutsk. Lots of great history and a
line to follow the historic
places to see here. Back on the train for a couple of nights
or
so.
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Then arrive at
Krasnoyarsk.
A few hours walk around with a
great guide. Interesting history as a weapons and industrial
manufacturing city. Home of the steamship above that transported Tsar
Nicholas and Vladamir Lenin as passengers. Another day with
our
guide and driver.
Visiting the local snowfields resort and T-Bars etc. then
onto an
historic village with photo oportunities along the way and then a visit
to one of two enormous dams with Hydro-Electric Power, fantastic.
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Back on the train for a
few more nights and then Ekatarinburg.
City of the last Tsar and his family's assassination.
This
included a visit to an historic village with a driver and guide and
then a half day with a guide around the historic parts
of Ekatarinburg including the church that was built on the
site of
the assassination.
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Back on the train for a
few more nights and
then Moscow. Just so totally different to what we
have seen so
far. We are here for four nights but not really enough.
A
very good guide for the first day for about 3 hours or so. A
very
good introduction to the sometimes mixed history of this city both
ancient and not so ancient. We spent the other days visiting
as
much as possible of the Kremlin and Red Square. The GUM store
here is now an upmarket shopping centre unlike the Soviet era. Lots
more places to see and many historic sites and also did a river cruise
on the Moskva River fantastic. Beautiful city worth more
visits.
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Now on the fast train to
St. Petersburg. This place is just
something else either a palace or stately home on every corner.
Awe inspiring you might say. Four nights again not
enough.
First day escorted around by a very good guide shown some
great
historic places. The next day we visited the Hermitage (Winter
Palace) Museum, just incredible one of the largest and most extensive
museums in the world. Needs a lot of time. Next day
a
driver and the same guide to the Summer Palace (Peterhof Palace) a few
klms. out of St. Petersburg. Again quite an incredible
experience
seeing the wealth and history of this city and the survival of these
places from the Soviet era. The last day we had a boat trip
through the canals and into Lake Ladoga. Not to be missed as
the
views are so totally different from the water.
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On to another
train to Minsk capital of Belarus.
We can't recommend this place.
A bit like a timewarp of Soviet times. Difficult in a big
hotel
to find someone who speaks enough English to help you find a train out.
If you don't speak Russian government business don't want to
know
you. Some interesting history but not worth going back to.
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Onto
another train to Warsaw Poland. Because of
language difficulties in Minsk we ended
up on a sleeper at 6.00am in top bunks with a young family and baby.
Nowhere to sit. Luckily they were accommodating if half asleep.
No food no breakfast but arrived in the beautiful city of
Warsaw
Poland. Just wonderful people and a great country to visit.
So much history in Warsaw old history and not so old.
Warsaw suffered devastating damage and lost a lot of its
population during WW11. A lot of Central Warsaw was flattened
by
the Nazis. In the Old City there are lots of historic
buildings
and monuments. Quite a number of these have been
re-constructed
from old drawings and sometimes plans. You think you're
looking
at or visiting an historic site or building but they look like the
originals because of the strength, knowledge and character of the
Polish people. Quite humbling.
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Onto another train this
time
to Krakow. Unlike Warsaw being the capital Krakow
is the cultural
capital. Another beautiful city with wonderful people.
Everything
is very cheap. A visit to the Wieliczka Salt Mine is a must.
It was operated for a number of centuries and was one of the
major incomes of Poland in those times. An absolute
masterpiece
on numerous levels deep in the ground. Statues and Frescoes
all
done in salt sometimes by the miners and sometimes professional
artists. Either book for the mini bus from your hotel or with
the
tourist information centre. Also a visit to the Wawel Castle
for
centuries the residence of the Kings of Poland. Definitely
worth
a look. Schindler's factory is also a place to visit. Very
confronting as it is mainly the story of the plight of the Jews during
WW11. We spent quite a few hours there and came out feeling
very
humbled.
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Onto another train this
time to Wroclaw another
beautiful city. We spent some time walking around
this city with
again a lot of beautiful historic buildings. Also the home of
the miniature dwarves or gnomes. Originally created
as a
protest against the Soviet regime. We think there may be
around
300 or so of them throughout the city we found about 35. All
different subjects and all delightful. If you're visiting
Wroclaw
do a search for Wroclaw Gnomes to find out more. We also had
a
day trip with a small group and not very good driver to a famous wooden
Lutheran church also one of Hitler's underground tunnels built with
slave labour and also Hitler's Polish Castle Ksiaz built in the late
13th century I think. Unfortunately our so called guide who
was
only a driver didn't give us enough time anywhere to supply more
information.
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Onto a bus this time to
Dresden Germany. Not a
lot of time here. We spent only one day walking around
Dresden
Castle or Royal Palace. Originally buildings date to around
1200
and then additional parts built on over the centuries. It was
the
main seat of power for around 400 years. Severely damaged
during
bombing in WW11 reconstruction started in 1991 and was mostly completed
in 2013. Great place to visit.
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End
of trip and a bus to Frankfurt Germany and then home to Australia.