Day 13 - Wednesday, Sept 25 - On the train and arriving in Novosibirsk

Yet another beautiful morning, lightly overcast and in the 50s. The train stopped at 8:30 to change engines for some reason and we were able to take a walk outside. Most people were bundled up in heavy jackets but I thought it was comfortable to walk to the end of the train in just a t-shirt. It is such a nuisance to open and close all the doors between the cars that it was much more convenient to walk outside down to the dining car for another lecture at 9am.

Tamara gave a talk on various aspects of Russian society, in particular the strong role that women have played, especially after WWII when so many men were killed in the war.

Andrei gave a short talk on the Russian language and gave us an exercise to write our name in Cyrillic.

There was a PA system talk about the history of Siberia as a place for exile and punishment. Starting with the Cossack opening of Siberia to Russians in the 1660s, it was actually a positive development as many of the exiles were educated intellectuals who were instrumental in the growth of the cities to which they were sent. This continued into the 1800s. It was a different story with the Stalinist purge when millions of people were sent for any disagreement into harsh labor camps. 25% of the people who were sent died in the camps.

This afternoon we got off the train in Novosibirsk. There was a performance by a group of Russian folk singers and dancers in front of the train station. It is now feeling chilly with cloudy skies and wind and the temperature didn’t get much above 50. Still no rain.

Folk singers and dancers

Novosibirsk was originally named after one of the czars but when the communist congress met here in 1925 they renamed the city “New Siberia”, to remove references to Russian history.

The bridge connecting the western and middle sections of the Trans-Siberian railroad was completed in 1895. There was a big celebration in the middle of winter on the ice underneath the bridge with a train on the tracks above them – this was to prove their confidence in the bridge.

From there we went to the opera house which was completed in 1945 which is still the largest in Russia, even the Bolshoi opera house in Moscow. In front is a huge statue of Lenin with smaller statues to the revolution on the side.

Lenin statue in front of opera house

We then went to the historical museum which had a section of exhibits of the history prior to the modern Russia in the 17^th century and another section on the development of Siberia from the 17^th century onwards. It was quite interesting.

From there we went to the large central market which had a large building with stalls for vendors selling just about everything, meat, fish, vegetables, fruit. Honey, spices and more. I bought some dried fruit, a nut mix and some pistachio halvah from a middle-eastern vendor.

Spices in central market

Honey vendors

We then made a short trip into one of the subway stations to see the beautiful murals on the wall depicting scenes related to the history of Siberia. The murals are made with local marble and semi-precious stones.

Novosibirsk subway station mural

Tonight we need to set our watches back 2 hours and then another 2 hours tomorrow.