Lake Baikal

9 July 2008- Wednesday

Breakfast at 8. The train arrived Irkutsk. Again, we transitioned from the train to the bus. This was going to be a day-long trip through Irkutsk and we started out by doing a quick bus tour of the city including a look at the retired ice breaker, Angara and a visit to the outdoor museum of wooden architecture. After a great lunch and short talk on the December movement which was led by a bunch of Russian officers who had fought against Napoleon and decided the government needed reform. Their plot was overthrown and they were sent to Siberia. The interesting thing was that some of the wives, who were all aristocratic, decided to accompany their husbands. We visited one of the houses which was built by Princess Volkonasky. The house was surprisingly well constructed with authentic furniture, including a peramital piano which I had never seen before. The big surprise was that the living room was set up with enough chairs to accommodate everyone who was on the train – which was almost 150 people – and a concert was performed, including piano pieces by Chopin and Tchaikovsky, a couple of Russian songs by a female singer and Italian arias by Verdi. Essentially, this was a program similar to what the princess would put on for her guests, and, even though they were political outcasts, apparently everybody enjoyed her parties. This turned into one of the more memorable moments of the trip. So it was back on the train for dinner and I think everybody was pretty mellowed out.