Thursday, August 23. Cooler, but warm still.
Breakfast and on the bus at 8.30. A rather convoluted drive to Lake Baikal with a few pleasant stops along the way. The most memorial stop was at a 'village' where the government has relocated wooden houses and log houses and reconstructed them in a sort of Open Air Museum atmosphere. It was interesting to Fellette and I as we built and lived in a similar environment at 100 Mile House a few years ago.
We then visited a hotel built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics for a Toilet Tour. Sad to see such building slowly fall into disrepair.
Next was ferry ride to join our train which was waiting for us across the lower part of the lake, that was about a 1/2 hour pleasant journey.
As soon as we were on the train lunch was served. Now 2:30 PM. The train left at 4.10 for slow sightseeing journey long the lakeshore.
Lake Baikal is a very much esteemed place in Russia. It is indeed, very, very big: over 600 Km long and 60 Km across at the widest spot; slightly over 1.6 Km, [one mile] deep. It holds twice as much fresh water as Lake Superior. [That is a fact, I checked].
The journey along the lakeshore was very nice, however we are spoiled as the ride on the Sea-to-Sky highway out of Horseshoe Bay has superior scenery.
The view from the train over the lake was spoiled by smoke haze that turned the sky white, a bit disappointing. Rain started soon after we started the scenic run along the lake.
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Doug's observations…
This country, Russia, is certainly a country in transition. Transition from a tightly controlled communist country to a more open society. I suppose you could call it a democracy because they vote. Russia is a wonderful place, to visit. Regarding living here, I don't think anybody in their right mind would decide to live here unless you have some idealistic notions about living a Bohemian life and have a dislike of our capitalistic society. Canada and the US have problems, absolutely, but they are insignificant compared to common folks here.
Regarding Russian and huge engineering projects: Russia likes to build BIG things, dams, bridges, tunnels, stadiums, opera houses and all that good stuff. I certainly hope that the engineering on these projects are better than their 'finishing standards'.
The Marriott Hotel we stayed in last night was built in 2011 I think. Yet, the shower upright grab bar was about to fall off; the swinging shower door allowed water to slide down onto the floor; the security swing bolt was hanging on by a thread; the casing on the entry door had shrunk by 1/4 inch and finally the toilet seat twisted and slid to the point of making it a hazard. I reported the later but the girl just said, 'We will take care of it', no note made of it. The pavers in front of the hotel have broken and present a tripping hazard. Russians seem to accept this sub-standard work as 'normal' and do not even see it.
My thoughts at least.
A log home about two hundred years old, moved here in the 1960s.
Who knows what this was, I did not hear.
Well built, in and out. Quite cozy in there, as log home life can be.
This girl looked very sad when we came in.
She did muster bit of a smile when I motioned to do so.
A wood shed and tractor house, just like we built last month!
On the Lakeshore.
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