Trans Siberian Railroad with Elderhostel
29 June 2008- Sunday
St Peter and Paul's day
My 77th birthday !
I first heard about the Trans-Siberian railroad in 1973 when a pediatrician and his wife I was stationed with in the Philippines decided to take their discharge from the military in the Philippines and go back to the States and by going to Vladivostok and crossing Russia on a Trans-Siberian railroad. That of course was in the middle of the cold war and I don't kknow if they succeeded or not but it sowed the seed of a great adventure. I then saw advertisements for the trip in the Elderhostel news magazine and because they didn’t run it annually, I signed up a year in advance to do the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. About two weeks before the trip departure, they wrote and said they had added exxtra cars on to the train and I could be upgraded from Heritage class (which had a narrow bed and the toilets were at each end of the car and you could bathe in a separate shower car)to Silver class which would include a bed that was about the size of a full-sized bed plus a shower and bathroom within the compartment. That was the best 1100USD upgrade I ever made.
I had read some reviews on a new foreign film that was just released Called "Mongol" made by a Russian in Kazakstan with Mongolian dialogue and was part one of a trilogy on the life of Genghis Khan. Because it was English subtitled it would never come to Dayton, so I decided to drive up to Columbus with friends to see it. Since the route of the Trans-Siberian railroad I was taking included a side trip to Ulan Bator, Mongolia to see the Nadam festival, I decided that seeing this movie would be a good introduction for the trip and I was right. Turned out to be a good movie with great photography and incredible vistas.
St Peter and Paul's day
My 77th birthday !
I first heard about the Trans-Siberian railroad in 1973 when a pediatrician and his wife I was stationed with in the Philippines decided to take their discharge from the military in the Philippines and go back to the States and by going to Vladivostok and crossing Russia on a Trans-Siberian railroad. That of course was in the middle of the cold war and I don't kknow if they succeeded or not but it sowed the seed of a great adventure. I then saw advertisements for the trip in the Elderhostel news magazine and because they didn’t run it annually, I signed up a year in advance to do the Trans-Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok. About two weeks before the trip departure, they wrote and said they had added exxtra cars on to the train and I could be upgraded from Heritage class (which had a narrow bed and the toilets were at each end of the car and you could bathe in a separate shower car)to Silver class which would include a bed that was about the size of a full-sized bed plus a shower and bathroom within the compartment. That was the best 1100USD upgrade I ever made.
I had read some reviews on a new foreign film that was just released Called "Mongol" made by a Russian in Kazakstan with Mongolian dialogue and was part one of a trilogy on the life of Genghis Khan. Because it was English subtitled it would never come to Dayton, so I decided to drive up to Columbus with friends to see it. Since the route of the Trans-Siberian railroad I was taking included a side trip to Ulan Bator, Mongolia to see the Nadam festival, I decided that seeing this movie would be a good introduction for the trip and I was right. Turned out to be a good movie with great photography and incredible vistas.
Labels: Trans Siberian RR
posted by DT at 8:44 PM
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