Wandering Fractal

Fountain in front of the Bolshoi theater. My last two stops in Russia: Moscow and Saint Petersburg. They are the two biggest city of the country. Both have many historical places to see, but one of the funniest thing I have done was to visit Moscow's subway. Most of the station are decorated and you don't feel like you're in a subway. They each have a theme and a unique look. We bought a 36 ruble ticket and spent 2 hours touring the various stations. (With a single entry ticket you can stay as long as you want in the subway.) In St. Petersburg, friends from Switzerland joined me to visit the city. The nightlife there is definitely something to try. St. Basil's cathedral in Moscow. Moscow metro. Moscow metro. Moscow metro. One of the longest escalator in the world at the Parl Pobedy station. It took me 3 minutes to go down. Saint Petersburg. Churche Savior on the spilled blood.

Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land. Yes that's the official name. It was built were the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II was executed. Yekaterinburg, the fourth largest city of Russia. I spent a day visiting the city and it's many churches. It's a lovely place, but I didn't spend too much time there. It was more to take a break in the long train ride from Asia to Europe. Pigeon It took 35 hours to go from Krasnoyarsk to Yekaterinburg with the train. It is the longest time I have ever been in a train. While most of the Russians doesn't like their train, I found them very comfortable. You can drink tea in the traditional glass while admiring the view and trying to chat with  your Russian neighbor.

The vast forest of the Stolby nature reserve. After seventeen hours of train I arrived at Krasnoyarsk. The city is pleasantly build along the huge Yenisei river. But the main reason I stopped here was to go see the Stolby nature reserve. It's only 10 km from the city and can be reached with a city bus. I went there with Louis and his dad, Malcolm from London. I met them in Ulan-Ude and by coincidence we were in the same train/hostel in Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk. That's one of the crazy thing about the trans-Siberian, you always meet the same people again and again on your journey. In the bus, we met Aptem, a local guy who was also heading to Stolby to hike. He became our guide for the day. He showed us the best spots. We also met three Ukrainian tourists and they came with us. They all shared their food with us poor westerner who didn't bring anything. It was a wonderful day and more than the beauty of Stolby, I will always remember the hospitality and generosity of ...

Sunset over the Baikal. View from Listvyanka. My first stop on my trans-siberian journey was around the lake Baikal. I first went to Ulan-Ude and hiked the east shore of the lake. Then I went to Irkutsk and hiked the west side of the lake. The Baikal is impressive. It's so huge that when you look at the longest side you can't see the end. My first impression when seeing it, was that it looked like an ocean. It's a beautiful place with nice hikes. The east side is more flat and sandy whereas the west side is more steep and has a Mediterranean vibe. If you are there don't miss the Omul. It's a fish found only in the Baikal and it's delicious. You can eat it smoked, baked or fried, but my favorite dish was the Omul Sugudai. Raw fish with onions and lemon (it's similar to ceviche). The water of the Baikal is so pure you can drink it without filtering. Snowy mountains on the east side of the lake. Autumn colors were starting to pai...