Slept well for the best time in ages as the room was not too warm for a change.
Had breakfast of cheese, bread, sliced sausages and pancakes with sour cream and jam.
We were all picked up at 11am by our driver and guide, Helen. We first went to visit of wooden architecure. It consisted mainly of buildings that were saved from being flooded when a hydro-electric dam was to be built next to Lake Baikal. The museum followed the development of siberians towns and villages. I am especiially found fascinating the homes that people lived in.
We had lunch in the museum consisting of soup, chicken with cheese, mashed potato and finished as usual with pancakes. For a change it was served with honey and sour cream as usual. There was a group of school children in the restaurant who seemed fairly interested in our arrival and said to each other that they thought that we couldn't understand any Russian.
After lunch we had a city tour of Irkutsk. Helen told us that her grandfather had been forcibly removed from European Russis in the 1920's and had been sent to Irkutsk. He managed to get a job as a carpenter and then an engineer. Unfortunately at this time Stalin had taken against engineers and so he was put into prison. He then was sent off to war without any weapons and only got a gun when someone was killed in front of hm. He lived until he is was 75.
Martin and Charles were leaving that night to carry on their journey on the Trans-Mogolian railway to Beijing. Before they left we had a walk into the city and got lost on the way. Two ladies helped us find our way to where we wanted to go. One had spent time at University in Prague. She said that she didn't really enjoy her time there as the Czechs as sdtill not keen on the Russians.
We had food in a restaurant called the 'London Pub' another themed British restaurant. They couldn't manage to serve all our food at the same time as they said that they onloy had one cooker and there was too many people that needed to be served food. There was only us and another table eating!
I then bid Martin and Charles farewell onto their new adventure.
