Songs in the Streets of Siberia

From Yekaterinburg, we had our longest train leg yet—about 36 hours, including 2 nights.  We boarded the train about 6:30 PM, and we were pleased to find that our assigned compartment was quite comfortable and the car itself was a bit newer, as well.  This is what our compartment looked like for this leg…

 One of the essentials of long distance travel is a pack of cards.  There’s always a time and place for old-fashioned card games, even when traveling with modern electronic devices.  We had kept forgetting to pick up a pack of cards, but I finally remembered at the Yekaterinburg train station and quickly grabbed a deck, only to find out…….Russian card packs have only 36 cards???

In the end, it was good practice for us all in “making do with what you have”.  We played quite a few games with our half-deck, and found at least one game that we preferred with the smaller deck (War, which takes FOREVER with a full deck).

We spent our first night on the train, slept in the next morning, and continued to watch the sights along the way.  Russia has quite a few turquoise train stations, which is not exactly the color I'd expected to see.  Here's a typical example:

At one point, we also saw a lot of Russian soldiers gathered around tanks loaded on train cars...

The landscapes along the train route have changed quite a lot from St. Petersburg until now.  In the beginning, we saw a lot of birch tree forests.  After Yekaterinburg we started to see fields and marshlands.  As we moved into Siberia, we saw pine trees and hills.  Here's some more shots we took from the train:

The Trans-Siberian Handbook includes information about history, towns, and sights, based on kilometer markers beside the track.  This video shows a bit of what the countryside looked like, and after the red house goes by you can see a white number flash quickly.  That is one of the kilometer markers that would allow us to figure out where we were in the route and match it to what our book said was nearby. 

The numbers don’t always correspond, thanks to repaintings and adjustments to the markers over the years, but it was generally close enough.  We could also consult this posted listing of stops to know how long each stop would be.  Stops varied from only a minute to sometimes 30 minutes, depending on how bit the city was.  At the longer stops, it was possible to get off the train for some fresh air, or to buy something at one of the vendors or kiosks on the platform.

The day passed quite quickly between eating in the restaurant car, reading, listening to music (Colin’s channeling his inner Russian man, since some of them take their shirts off on the train…usually the old hairy ones…

trying different Russian beers (us), watching The Americans on the iPad after the boys went to bed (also us)……

After our second night on the train, we arrived in Krasnoyarsk early (before 8 AM). We had a bit of time to kill before we could head to our hostel, so we found a park bench and a coffee truck and ended up explaining Punnett squares to the boys.  I’m not exactly sure how a genetics lesson came up, but it was a good teaching moment.

After that, we headed to our hostel.  As I’ve written before, we’re staying at a variety of accommodations during this trip.  SibTourGuide Hostel was highly recommended both in our Trans-Siberian Handbook and online as a great place to stay in Krasnoyarsk.  We were able to book a 4-bed room, which meant we had privacy but also access to a kitchen, a common room, and other travelers to interact with.  It was a clean, comfortable, and friendly hostel, and we were extremely pleased with our stay there.

We relaxed for a bit and then headed out to explore Krasnoyarsk.  The city has about a million residents but after spending time in St. Petersburg (almost 5 million), Moscow (approximately 12 million), and Yekaterinburg (over 1 million), Krasnoyarsk felt almost like a small town.

We visited the main sections of town, including the riverfront and Krasnoyarsk’s Regional Museum.  Not everything was in English, but we were able to see displays of the animals from the region, a full-size replica of a Cossack wooden boat, and other displays about the history and culture of the area.

The next day, we went on a half-day hike in Stolby Nature Reserve, just outside Krasnoyarsk.  The name is derived from the more than 100 “stolby” (rock pillars) that are located throughout the 42,000+ acres of the reserve.  Only 3% of this vast area is open to the public, but it’s still vast enough that we had Aleksander, one of the owners of the hostel, as our very own guide for the day.

One of our favorite parts was when we climbed to the top of a really high rock...

The boys were quite proud and excited to be able to get up there.  It was quite high but the view was great (albeit a bit hazy because of wildfires burning in the region).

After our hike, we returned to the hostel and relaxed for the afternoon.  From our hostel and all throughout town, we’d hear music playing from speakers on the street.  The music varied from classical to opera…….it felt kind of like a soundtrack to our very own movie.  (My video from Krasnoyarsk didn’t turn out well, but this video clip taken in Irkutsk, where they also play music, gives you an idea of the setup.)

Aleksander said locals are not entirely fond of the music, and after hearing Por Ti Volare 3 times in 2 days, we could understand why.  Apparently the man who controls the music convinced the KGB to put in the system with the understanding that he can play music (and advertisements) and the KGB can use it in case of emergency.  And since it’s not illegal and he makes good money off the system…….the music plays.  And plays.

Our stop in Krasnoyarsk was short—only 2 nights.  Just enough time to get off the train, explore a bit, do some laundry, and get ready to head to our next destination...