Russia
St.-Petersburg
Our trip started in St.-Petersburg, one of the most beautiful cities of Russia (according to us that is). It was a delight just to stroll through the city.
One of the first things we visited was ofcourse the "Hermitage", Russias largest art collection. We do think that there are more paintings of Rembrandt here than in the Netherlands.. 
. The Hermitage is so big, that you would walk 25 kilometers if you were to visit all the rooms and look at every painting. Needless to say, we skipped a few.. 
We also visited the Russian State Museum, which is an all Russian art museum. The history of the country can be seen through its art. And also a lot less kilometers..
We were amazed by the amount of Russians drinking beer early in the morning (8 am!), and the number of people that were employed to do nothing! Talk about hidden unemployment!
Moscow
We took the overnight train to Moscow on august 30th.
The highlight of Moscow is the Kremlin, which, unfortunately, we could only visit with a guide, since the bombing of a metrostation in the capital the day before. Our excellent bargaining skills got us into the Kremlin paying just a few roubles compared to the prices some guides were charging (over 25 euro per person). It was very interesting to see the churches that the ancient tsars used to get married, be crowned or buried.
Adapting to the Russian habits, we spend the rest of the day drinking beers in the park around the Kremlin... Hey, if you can't beat them, join them!!...
Right in the middle of The Red Square of Moscow lies St. Basils Cathedral. Ivan the Terrible ordered it to be built and thought it was the most beautiful cathedral ever built. He ordered to have the architect's eyes cut out, so that the poor man would never design another building more beautiful than this cathedral. All we can see is: now you know why he's called Ivan the Terrible...
Trans-Mongolian Train, part 1
September 3rd we got on the train to Siberia, which would take us 3 days and 4 nights. You would think you'd get bored staying on the train for so many days, but on the contrary, the days just flew by! We shared our compartment with two Russian ladies (mother and daughter). It's a Russian tradition to share your food and drink with your friends or guests. Since the mother thought of us as her guests, the first morning we woke up to find breakfast for four ready on the table! The following days all kinds of delicous food appeared from a bag underneath her bed. After a few days she finally accepted some of our food. We could communicate through the daughter, who spoke some English and had her dictonary and phrasebook with her.
After 3 days we got of the train in Irkutsk, leaving our to new friends behind, but full of good memories and ready to discover Siberia!
Irkutsk and Lake Baikal
After spending the day in Irkutsk (including taking a really long hot shower, since there was no shower on the train..), we decided to spend a few days near Lake Baikal, which is the largest lake in the world. Only an hour away from Irkutsk, but right in the middle of nature lies small village named Listvyanka.
In Russia, it is common to spend the night at orther people's home, a so called "homestay". We arranged for a homestay in Listvyanka. "A real wooden house", was what the lady said when we booked our homestay. Yep, a real wooden house, with no running water and a real wooden small house in the backyard (indeed a toilet-"hole in the ground"-style)! Again, no shower, but our lady of the house did have a traditional banya, which is a russian sauna. What a delight!
We spend the rest of our days hiking and relaxing around the lake before continuing our journey by train towards Mongolia.
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