Where the wind goes right through you it's no place for the old.

Irkutsk is known as the Paris of Siberia. I am not sure why and the only evidence we saw was a pink plastic effigy of the Eiffel Tower dangling  at a jaunty angle from the ceiling of the shopping mall in the town centre. Anyway it matters not because we like Irkutsk. It's got character and not too many fumes . 

It's a university town and tourism is something they are very keen to encourage. They have a green painted line around town that tourists can follow which takes you to all the historic buildings and places of interest without having to get your guide book out. Lazy tourism some might say but a great idea nonetheless. 

No snow here yet but the thing about Siberia is the wind. It's cold. Very very cold. it laughs at your base layers and Uniqlo down-filled jackets and when you breathe in it freezes your lungs. Even when the sun is out as it was for most of the time we were here.

This time we are staying in a hotel (2 star) in the town with mod cons such as your own toilet/shower, two chairs - one each - and slippers. We even had towel swans on the bed when we arrived. You know you are in a great place when that sight greets you. 
For the first few days we decided to kick back, get the travel washing line out and do a 'big wash'. We read and watched some films (YouTube). We ventured out on Sunday to visit the obligatory Lenin Statue and visit an area called District 130th which is a collection of wooden buildings they have either preserved or recreated to house shops and restaurants. We found some great bars - one called the Library that did excellent DIY gin and tonics and a few beer cellars some with more character than others.

We decided it was time to get out of town so we booked a trip to Lake Baikal. I know from things friends had told us that it was a fabulous place to visit and they weren't wrong. We were joined on our tour by the first English speaking people we have met in 3 weeks - Cynthia and Tony from San Francisco.  In their mid seventies but extremely well travelled and great company. Our guide Jack was great too (sorry - spending time with Amercians makes me over enthusiastic).

 Our tour started on the outskirts of Irkustsk where we visited a monastery and church that has been beautifully restored and then onto the lake. We hiked up a trail for about 30 mins where we had a great view of the lake and then later after we had eaten lunch at a local restaurant we walked along another trail at the side of the Lake itself.

 It was at this point I wondered if Jack's mission was to dispense with us, as on several occasions I came near to death. The trail was at points as wide as the balance beam with a sharp drop down to the sea and took us to a viewing point - a jutting out piece of rock balanced precariously above the sea. It was a good  view. A very good view. However Jack wanted us to see an even better one 'just up the hill' a bit further. The 'hill'  was an almost sheer rock face. Mr L says I'm exaggerating here but it was very steep and rocky. The only thing that kept me from bottling it was the fact that there were two seventy something's wearing inappropriate footwear not far behind me. Thankfully we all made it up to the next level and Jack was right it was an amazing view.  Jack told us that the Lake freezes every year and the ice gets to approx 80cm thick. Then they open up an ice road to the island and in March they hold a Marathon event when the temperature is still around -20. Anyone interested?

We got down from the trail in one piece & back to Irskutsk to pack. Tomorrow we are back on the train.