Made it to Beijing! Lots to add, hope to find wifi soon to fully update.

Check out Google Earth, I heard that they have the entire rail trip on video (I wish I knew this before!) and you can check out some the places we’re at.

Vyatka (Kirov) & Perm 2 today,

Omsk, Novosibirsk, and Tayga tomorrow.

We’re about 1000k from Moscow. Left last night. Can’t escape the coal smoke from the boilers that heat the carriage…I think I’m getting the black lung. Train is kinda empty…a bunch of Aussies, Germans, Dutch, and Scandinavians on the train…not too many Russians.

The Moscow to Beijing line is run by the Chinese, unlike the Moscow to vladivostok line, which is Russian maintained. Our porters are all from china.

More to come!

Big day at St. Basil’s and the Kremlin. A couple of hours from boarding the train w/bags full of instant coffee and ramen. Not sure about Internet for the next 6 days, so be patient. Check the twitter feed, tweets may be more possible with weak cell connection.

So, the salmon (left) may not be very exotic, but frozen, dried, salted reindeer with field onions was something.

In the video, on the next post, I call the reindeer some type of fish…I was wrong. These menus take some getting used to.

Stay tuned…I’m working on some responses to your questions. Looking for some Siberian food right now!

Just a shot outside the Kremlin.

The cathedral on Red Square is actually the Kazan Cathedral…not the big Annunciation Cathedral.

We went into the dark, incense filled Kazan during Sunday service. Very ornate, a haunting choir, and tons of people kissing Madonna and Child icons. Really interesting, so heavy and dreary with incense.