Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
08.30 The sounds from the railway station are back out there. I do not think that they were gone at all. I simply have not heard them during the night's sleep. It is our first morning here in Omsk. We live a stone's throw away from the rails on the Russian railway´s own Hotel Zheleznodorozhnaya.
08.50 The dust from the dreams and other things are now washed away. We are waiting for a visit in our room. 09.20 It starts to become a habit to get a breakfast tray carried into the room. The advantage is the good service. The disadvantage is that it is a bit tricky to eat breakfast sitting on a hotel bed. We have been nourished and have laid the foundation for new escapades. Today we'll take a long walk here in Omsk. We live far from the centre so it becomes a bit to walk. The city has no direct sights so we have enough time in a day. 10.16 It is already said that it is far to the city's more central parts. We gave priority to staying close to the railway station. It is probably best to walk long along the main avenue Karla Marksa Prospekt in order to get where we want. 10.37 Karl Marx Street is left next to and under our feet. When they do things here in Russia, they are everything but small and short. The street is approximately 7 kilometres long, it then changes name and bend even further.
Beautiful lamp in our room.
The state circus in Omsk.
Christer takes another step towards central Omsk.
Christer is having a coffee break at Koala Time.
We made a short stop by the fountain in front of Omsk musical theatre.
The river Om which gave Omsk its name.
11.06 It is hot today, far to go and I now see a several meters high orange elephant. It does not depend on the heat. It is exhibited at the city's state circus.
11.48 Today's first stop is made at the café Koala Time. We were told that the guy who works here is also an English teacher. In other words, we had no problems communicating. Wonder what is his best income?, this or the teaching? Maybe he doubles. He has some happy students if he as good a teacher as he is to fix coffee. 12.06 The curious teacher/coffee man wanted to talk more with us. He talked about Omsk and also asked if it was true that people in Europe hate the Russians. What do you answer to that? 12.29 The coffee was tasty, hot and above all cheap. We paid 80 rubles, US$1,30 each for a large mug of the black beverage. Now we take a bench break by a fountain on the Theatre Square, Teatralnaya Ploshchad. Here is the Omsk state music theatre. A short distance away a bridge extends over the river. 13.01 We have crossed the river Om on two occasions on two different bridges. On the walkway down by the river are some clapping people. A bit away, Om flows out in the larger river Irtysh, which in turn, together with the Ob is one of Siberia's largest river systems. 13.12 Once again we look up at Vladimir Lenin. We are in the park/square, Ploshchad Lenina. Now we just have to take us across the street to a commemorative monument for the Second World War that we would like to see. 13.42 Well, things are seldom easy. It was hard to find a good way to cross any of the streets around the park where we are. We are, after much thinking and detours, finally at the monument. An eternal flame burns here. 14.08 Today's lunch will be at the Czech restaurant U Shveyka (http://shveikomsk.business.site). We don't know exactly what food and beer we ordered. The menu was quite difficult to understand.
Something starts here.
Lenin is waiting after these stairs.
The prophet Eliah´s chapel.
A monument of a policeman on Ulitsa Lenina.
Om river reaches Irtysh.
14.15 The waitress was just here and announced that our ordered beer, which we don't know what kind it is, does not exist. Instead we ordered something else which we do not have a clue about.
14.40 Lunch, both solid and liquid has landed on our table. We are not completely in the blue about what we ordered but there is always some uncertainty when you don't understand the menu. The restaurant has a Czech theme and then it is usually a guarantee for good food. 15.34 We have been eating good and enjoying nice music during the meal. It is time to embark on the long walk and we hope to avoid the rain. Rain has fallen outside the restaurant but the worst seems to have passed by now. 15.50 You can hope but it is not always as you want, the rain came back. We jump to avoid the puddles. Right now we have, coincidentally, a roof over our heads. We stand along the street Leningradskaya, which leads out to a bridge over the Irtysh River. 16.31 The journey home always seems faster. It may be that there are few new views to stop at, we know how far it is, and that we want to avoid getting soaked and therefore walk faster. 16.58 We are at home, just in time before it really started to rain. Now a bit of rest waits before making future purchases. 17.40 Our rest and the worst of the rain are now over. Now we can go out to shop. 18.15 The purchase at a nearby supermarket was good. Now we have enough for a little while. We may need to fill up with travel beverage.
An eternal flame is burning in the park outside the city museum.
A czech lunch at У Швейка (U Shveyka).
After the rain.
We are looking at Leningradskiy Most, a bridge across Irtysh.
20.05 The trains come and the trains go on. We keep on noticing the activities at the rail station at this hotel. We shall shortly return to a table for dinner. We'll see where it will be, the same as yesterday or something new? There is not much to choose from in this part of Omsk.
20.44 Before going out we checked how far we had walked today. It is 5,8 km from the station to the bridge over the river Om. It is of course equal distance back. In addition, a little extra walk. In short, it has been several miles today. At the reception we arranged with breakfast at 08.00 tomorrow and asked about registrations for our visas. After some tapping on the mobiles for translation, and a phone call came the news. They will not register the visa here, despite the fact that there is a law about it. Now we have ordered dinner at Zhili Byli (http://www.zhili-byli.vidgroup.ru). We have returned to yesterday's dinner restaurant. 22.02 The dinner ended with coffee. We received total pay 1100 rubles, just less than 10 dollars per capita. Now we are back again after the purchase of a travel beverage each in a kiosk at the railway station.
07.42 We are waking up again here in Omsk. During the night, Östersund football club (ÖFK) knocked out Galatasaray in the Europe League qualifiers. We are preparing for breakfast.
08.01 There is a knock at the door. Another prepared breakfast tray is on the way. Will I really be able to make my own breakfast when I get home in a couple of weeks? 08.49 It was a slightly smaller breakfast option this morning, but now you can't eat all the time. Now we're preparing for a short morning walk to the adjacent railway station. The idea is to get there just in time so that we can just go on board when the train comes in. We continue to use our pre-paid internet tickets, very easy! 09.26 That's it. We are in the turquoise coloured station building. Now we just have to wait for the information about the track and the platform. It's nice to cool off and unwind before boarding the next train. Today it will be the ninth Russian train trip this summer. 09.44 Information appeared on the monitor. Nicely and obediently people started to move. Before us in the queue to our carriage, there was a man from Turkmenistan. Will we ever pay a visit to his home country? That is written in the stars. Now we are waiting for the train to start.
The beautiful railway station in Omsk.
Christer took a few photos while waiting for the train.
Peter is ready for the next train trip.
10.17 Our locomotive has begun to get up a good speed. It actually feels good with a new travel day. Omsk was quite nice but dull, regarding attractions, and other things that break the pattern. Our hotel was also so far from the centre, not much there was to do in the immediate area in addition to watching trains, of course.
11.22 The world is flat as a pancake outside our train window. In addition, it is quite green. That isn't that common as it come to pancakes. 12.45 Studying the relatively familiar and monotony landscape is soothing. Maybe I will take a look in what dreams have to offer? 13.48 My sleep is over for a while and that is good in many ways. My snoring must have disturbed and concerned not only the ones in the cabin and the wagon. Even the train driver might have wondered if it was some serious engine problems. 15.32 The views outside feels familiar, as if everything is set in repeat. 16.26 We have just talked a little bit with the two Russian guys we shared the compartment with. They are going to Novokuznetsk, and thought that we would also go there. We had replied "to Novosibirsk", but our Russian pronunciation is not quite perfect. One of the guys claimed he recently had been in Sweden for several months.
We are traveling through a flat landscape.
Our train passed the river Ob just before we arrived.
In our room at Azimut Hotel Siberia.
17.20 It seems as we are about to reach today's journey goal, Novosibirsk. It feels as if it is an hour too early according to the times we have in our schedule but our travelling companions and the carriage attendant seems confident about this.
CHANGING TIME ZONE 19.10 We have come to the realization that we, in spite of the information the guidebook provides to the contrary, have changed the time zone. We have once again set our watches for a new time zone. Another insight is that we are in Novosibirsk and in room 505 at Azimut Hotel Siberia (https://azimuthotels.com/Russia/azimut-hotel-siberia). Azimut is a Russian hotel chain. It was a fairly short walk here from the railway station but it had been even shorter if we first hadn't started to walk on the wrong street. 20.47 We have settled in our temporary home. The shower has been tested and received high marks. Now we wonder how we do with dinner. Will it be simple or stylish? 21.07 We took the elevator down to the 2nd floor. We stood right next to the door we walked in through. The elevator reached the 2nd floor but the door didn't open. The lady who went with us informed us that the doors behind us were open. Now we are waiting for dinner. It becomes the hotel's dinner offering. 21.43 Today's dinner was salad, a chicken dish and finally tea and pastries. Simple, tasty and filling. Tomorrow we will go elsewhere where there is more than one dish to choose from. 22.55 It is properly good to just be, to relax and take it easy. We got a good hotel room to enjoy. 23.46 We are watching TV which shows the women's European football championship. Sweden leads Russia 1-0 after the first half.
View from our hotel room.
Christer found a balcony.
Our home street is Ulitsa Lenina. We have walked on several streets with that name so far.
08.35 There is nothing wrong in sleeping here at the Azimut Hotel. My bed has taken good care of me. Now the day and the weekend slowly start up.
09.28 It is soon time for us to get to the breakfast instead of the other way around. Here at our hotel there will be no breakfast tray in the room. There will be buffet breakfast. 10.35 Buffet breakfast is powerful in several forms. For some reason, we become full very quickly nowadays. But enough about food now, it is time to make ourselves ready to see Novosibirsk. 11.15 We left the hotel and walk along a very long street, Ulitsa Narymskaya. The car traffic is heavy. There are lots of people in this city. The pavement is sometimes as wide as a country road home in Sweden. Novosibirsk has a record. It is the city in the world that reached a million inhabitants in the shortest time after its founding. It took a little less than 70 years. Today it has a population of 1,6 million inhabitants and it is Siberia's largest city. It is also Russia's third largest city. 11.49 A part of the city's people live in the house we are looking at now. It is at least 15 stories high. On every floor there seems to be around 25-30 apartments. This can probably inhabit the whole of my hometown's population. We send a thought to the postman who works in this house. Our walk will take us to the Novosibirsk Zoo, today's first excursion.
Azimut Hotel Siberia in Novosibirsk.
Lenin´s head once again.
Ulitsa Narymskaya, Novosibirsk.
It´s time to enter Novosibirsk Zoo.
This zoo also has a dinosaur park.
We are not on our own at the zoo today.
12.09 We have reached the city zoo, Novosibirskiy Zoopark (http://zoonovosib.ru). Now it's time to queue at the entrance to buy tickets.
12.19 The queue system to the ticket cashiers seems to be organized by him with cloven hoof and tail. There are several different cashiers, people who whirl around and/or cut in. We will have a bench break in anticipation of the easing. It is no panic here. 12.24 We were thinking about going to a cafe to wait for calmer times at the cashiers but it seems instead to be that it will be filled with even more people. Is everyone in Novosibirsk going to the zoo today? 12.41 Now it is time for a re-try queue. It seems slightly more structure now. 12.59 Things went better with the queue. We bought the tickets and stepped into the area. Now we are walking around among the excited children and various caged animals. It would be more fun the other way around. There is also a theme park with dinosaurs here. 13.21 We have walked around and seen many interesting animals. After seeing the polar bear, we sit down and make a comprehensive plan of our daily plans. 14.09 We have made a stop at a cage with a deer on the inside. We have also filled up with the necessary fluids. Here in the park are not just animals. There are also some other attractions, such as a house where everything is upside down. This also applies to the house itself.
It´s a beautiful atmosphere at Novosibirsk Zoo.
You can travel around in style.
A birdhouse can have many different designs.
Peter writes down a few notes in the journal before meeting the next animal.
Caracal is one name used for this animal.
The very popular polar bear.
14.58 More caged animals were seen before we left the city zoo. It is so late that it has become a bit of a "now or never" regarding today's planned lunch stop. Now we will obtain the force before we move on towards the waiting food.
15.14 Now it will be game meat lunch on the Siberian restaurant Ekspeditsiya on Ulitsa Zheleznodorozhnaya 12. We have ordered deer and elk dishes. We are almost completely alone here in the restaurant. 15.28 This restaurant is famous and is often visited. It says it serves "northern kitchen". Films from the north of Siberia, and the various expeditions are shown on a screen and in a corner a helicopter is parked. On the different tables there are signs indicating the distance in kilometres to various cities in Russia. 17.20 It was a good lunch, really good lunch. I have, during my entire childhood eaten elk but this was as far as I know the first time I had it at a restaurant. Now we have returned home for some long awaited rest. Before the return we were looking for a while for a suitable shop for the purchase of drinks and other things. 19.17 I don't know if it is the visit to the zoo and today's long walk, or simply the fact that it is over a month since we left their home areas. Whatever it may be, we are tired.
The upside down house at Novosibirsk Zoo.
An excellent Altajskoe beer has been ordered together with the lunch.
Inside the restaurant Ekspeditsiya.
Christer outside the lunch restaurant with the sign "Severnaja kuchnya" (Northern kitchen).
The railway station in Novosibirsk.
Christer´s excellent dinner.
20.58 Now we are done with resting. Soon it is time to walk down to eat dinner.
21.22 We are seated behind yet another table. Food called dinner is ordered. We are in the restaurant Sibir Sibir (http://sibirsibir.ru) that is adjacent to our hotel. The restaurant is founded by a famous Russian restaurant entrepreneur, Denis Ivanov. Here there are exciting details in the interior, including a pair of cross-country skis from Estonia. 22.26 It is very tasty food in this city. I have been enjoying pelmeni/dumplings/dough bundles with roe deer meat. Even this animal makes its premiere as a meal, in our travels. Christer ordered a skewer and was equally satisfied. 23.59 Our culinary day ends with evening beer in the room. Now tomorrow is planned. We will probably start with counting backwards. What do we do before we board the train in the evening? We will count backwards from there until we reach breakfast. Cyril Despres won this year's Silk Way Rally, the rally we saw start in Moscow. We must follow up such things we have written about.
You can see 43 photos from July 20 in this photoalbum.
You can see 14 photos from July 21 in this photoalbum.
You can see 67 photos from July 22 in this photoalbum.