I bet you thought it was always cold in Siberia. Yep, so did I. And, a tiny confession here, I thought it was always snowy. But we’ve just spent the day wandering around Irkutsk wearing shorts, singlets and sandals, and the forecast for the next few days is Fine, with top temps of 27 – 29C. It’s late summer here, even though it’s only the middle of August. Trees are starting to change colour, flowers are going to seed and the local produce market is full of vegetables I associate with autumn at home – tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini. It’s a short summer, and a very, very long, hard winter. Food preserving is a big thing here. The market had quite a few little stalls that were selling jar lids, setting agent and other bits ‘n’ pieces.

So, we’ve spent 2 nights in Irkutsk, staying in an apartment attached to the Irkutsk Hostel. We’re going to Lake Baikal today and will spend a couple of nights in a cabin at the Derevenka Family Hotel at Listvyanka, then on Thursday we’re going on the Circum-Baikal Railway, which is a day trip that goes around part of the shoreline of the lake, along the old Trans-Siberian route. We’ll be back in Irkutsk on Thursday night, at the Irkutsk Hostel again, and get back on the Trans-Siberian train on Saturday night.

See you in a few days!

Judy coping with the Siberian weather at the market in Irkutsk