Back to Irkutsk. As I mentioned, this was a city of 600,000, the largest in Eastern Siberia. (The Urals are the boundary - at least the unofficial one - marking Siberia to the East and European Russia to the West.) It was founded by Kosaks in 1666, at the confluence of two rivers....
This, believe it or not, is the railway station...
......and the local monastery...
,,,,several of the old wooden houses have been preserved.....
The Decembrists - surely you remember the Decembrists - were exiled here. Many of their wives went with them, and we went to the Museum of the Decembrists. One of the wives had a piano and musical instruments sent, and became known as the Princess of Siberia...
Of course, a concert had been arranged for us, of things that might have been heard then, Chopin, Bellini, Russian folk songs, etc.....
...and, of course, a lovely meal...
A last few factoids. This was known as the Paris of Siberia. It was always a merchant city. The growing season is only 100 days, and only an average of 72 days are frost free. Finally, it is the sister city of, of all places, Eugene Oregon!
The next two days were train days., from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk. It included a talk on Soviet to Modern Russia, a talk on the culture of Russia, a Russian language lesson, lectures on populating Siberia and the Gulag, and, of course, a vodka tasting.
Thus passed several time zones....
....and I think I'll leave Novosibirsk for tomorrow.....
This, believe it or not, is the railway station...
......and the local monastery...
,,,,several of the old wooden houses have been preserved.....
The Decembrists - surely you remember the Decembrists - were exiled here. Many of their wives went with them, and we went to the Museum of the Decembrists. One of the wives had a piano and musical instruments sent, and became known as the Princess of Siberia...
Of course, a concert had been arranged for us, of things that might have been heard then, Chopin, Bellini, Russian folk songs, etc.....
....more of the wooden buildings....
....This one was known as the lace house...
A last few factoids. This was known as the Paris of Siberia. It was always a merchant city. The growing season is only 100 days, and only an average of 72 days are frost free. Finally, it is the sister city of, of all places, Eugene Oregon!
The next two days were train days., from Irkutsk to Novosibirsk. It included a talk on Soviet to Modern Russia, a talk on the culture of Russia, a Russian language lesson, lectures on populating Siberia and the Gulag, and, of course, a vodka tasting.
Thus passed several time zones....
....and I think I'll leave Novosibirsk for tomorrow.....
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