Home sweet home!!!!

Finally we came home to Norway and Ølen. And a lot of snow, almost 1 meter of it!!!! We had a nice Christmas with family. Lars celebrated  his 4th birthday on Christmas day, the big boy is now looking forward to start daycare in January. And that is because as he says : in Norway there is no work only play in the day care. Tiril on the other hand is looking forward to school and homework.

Our last part of the journey we took the train from St. Petersburg at 7:17 am.  After 6 hours we stopped at Helsinki, Finland. Then we took a taxi to the boat terminal and Silja Symphony, Silja Line. Tiril and Lars was impressed by the big boat and loved the big playroom and the entertainment. Early next morning we arrived Stockholm, Sweden. We settled down at our hotel, Riddergaten Hotel, very close to “Gamla Stan”, an old part of Stockholm City. Here we spend the day walking around Gamla Stan, looking at all the nice Christmas ornaments in the stores and drinking cafe and eating gingerbread cookies.

View Full Album

Next day we went to the train station for the last time, and took the last train of our journey to Oslo and Norway. In Oslo we where meet by Ove’s sister and her boyfriend. It was nice to see some familiar faces. We spend the night at our friends house, Espen and Linda. On the 50th day of traveling we took the bus over the mountain to our home town Ølen. And because of almost 1 meter of snow that had come in just one day, no one was able to get their cars out and pick us up at the bus stop. Finally my brother in law came from the neighbor town to get us. We never dreamed that this last bit of the journey would be the most dramatic of our long journey. 

We have had a wonderful journey and a lot of great memories to look back on. We learned one thing on our travel that we want to share with you:

Take a train, it’s a great way to travel!!!!

Thanks to everyone who followed us!!!

Love from Tiril, Lars, Ove and Gyri.

St. Petersburg

The first thing you think when you come to this city is: “there is to much to see and we have to little time". The whole city is like a big museum with cathedral’s, palace’s, parks, bridges and much much more. No modern skyscrapers in sight….
The first railway in Russia, a 17 miles long track, was built between St. Petersburg and Starskoe Selo under Tsar Nicholas I in 1837 and by the end of his reign, Russia had 650 miles of railways.

We where picked up by a really nice taxi driver, he also spoke good English. Our hotel is called Northern lights, the smallest hotel we have ever stayed in with only 5 room. It is on the third floor of an old brick building and as we walked up the big, old and dark staircase, we where wondering if this was  really the right place??? But inside the hotel doors it was nice and cozy, we had a big nice room with chandlers hanging from the ceiling.

View Full Album

We had lunch just across the street, a cozy restaurant with a big playroom for kids. And the food was really good, if we could only take it with us……..
On our short stay here we saw St. Isaac’s Cathedral and the Hermitage Museum. Both very impressive. But Tiril and Lars was not of the same opinion so we had to find a toy store as a reward after. On the last evening we went to our cozy restaurant across the street, and had a good meal and a great time. The next day we left with the 7:17 am train for Helsinki and the boat to Stockholm.

Moscow

After the cold weather in Perm we where looking forward to some less cold days in Moscow. But unfortunately the freezing temperature followed us. The first day was not to bad but the second was – 20 and windy.

One our first day we went to the red square, there we rented ice skates and both Tiril and Lars had their first try at ice skating. They both loved it! In the evening we had tickets for Nikulin Circus, one of Russia’s oldest circus and named after the famous clown Nikulin. This was a great show with lots of acrobatics, clowns and animals. Lars had one of his greatest moments when he got to pet a tiger cub, his favorite animal.

The next day we took the Metro to Kremlin and walked around, but because of the cold weather it was not very pleasant and Tiril and Lars was eager to get inside. We had lunch at Gum shopping center next to Red Square.

View Full Album

Our train, Red arrow,  for St. Petersburg left at 11:55 pm. This is the absolute best train we have had on our trip, very clean and spacious. To bad this trip was only 8 hours!!

Perm

In Perm we stayed at Ural Hotel for tree nights. Here we had a round – 15 to – 20 degrees C, so very cold. We have done some shopping, both Tiril and Lars got new shoes and we also got some souvenirs. Other than that we have had a relaxing time, trying not to spend to much time outside.  Tiril and Lars liked the big bear statue outside the hotel and we also found a playground which was popular.

View Full Album

Our next stop is Moscow and the train takes about 21 hours. We heard that the higher the number on the train the older, and this was true. Now we took train number 109 and it was old and smelly, but since it was a short ride it was ok.

56

After having some trouble finding the right platform in Irkutsk we got on the train for our longest ride, 56 hours, crossing 3 time zones and 3749 km. Train number 9 also called Baikal going between Irkutsk and Moscow, we are getting of at Perm. This  is the nicest train we have taken so fare.

On the first evening we tried the restaurant, but again the menu is only in Russian, no pictures and the staff just go on and on in Russian, like we will understand in the end if they just keep talking. But it is a really nice restaurant and we got some very good Solyanka soup. Every carriage have a coal fired Samovar, so we get hot water for noodles and drinks. 

The next morning we woke up in winter wonder land and frost on the inside of our window. Threes where heavy with snow and small villages almost buried  under snow.In our compartment it is warm and cozy with Christmas carols in the background, despite the freezing cold Siberian winter outside. When the train stopped at Novosibirsk there was – 25 C. Ove got of to have a look at the biggest station in Siberia, a beautiful building that took 12 years to complete. There is a lot of nice scenery along the track to keep Ove and I occupied.

View Full Album

Tiril and Lars use every part of the compartment for play and climbing. They now have a small collection of Kinder Eggs and some other toys they have bought along the way. But they will use everything from shoes to dress hangers to keep them busy.

View Full Album

Irkutsk

This city with almost 600 000 people is one of the most popular stops long the Trans Siberian Railroad. Angara River run through the city and it is 70 km from the shores of Lake Baikal. The city has beautiful architecture and a cozy city center, and we can see why this is a popular stop. 

 

We are in the middle of the city center at Baikaler Hostel, with a very friendly staff. The temperature is around – 10 C and partly snowy. There is no wind so the threes are white with snow.

 

After only Russian food at Baikal we went for The London Pub. Here we got pizza and lasagna while watching Ole Einar Bjørndalen win the Biathlon sprint on TV….. the evening was perfect. Next day we walked around town and looked at the nice ice sculptures that they where making in the park. In the evening we went to a Sushi restaurant for the first time since Singapore, Tiril and Lars eat their favorite, Salmon maki!!!

View Full Album

Tomorrow we will go back on the train for Perm.

Baikalsk

This small town at the south end of Lake Baikalsk have a round 16 000 people and a ski resort, and knowing Ove he did every effort to get a few days on skis. We stayed at a small hotel only 500 m. from the slopes. I think we where the only foreign tourist there, only one person at the hotel could speak English (and she worked in the office). And at the restaurant the menu was only in Russian and no pictures, so Natalie had to come with us to the restaurant every time to help us with the ordering….. Think the waiters where a pit scared of us, because they ran to get Natalie every time we entered.

 Renting skis was another big challenge, luckily there was another customer  that could speak English and translate for us.   Tiril had her first ski lesson with Ludmila, a Russian ski instructor how know a little bit English. But they most have communicated somehow because Tiril learned to go down by herself and also how to turn. Lars also tried but his skis lived a life of their own and just would not go where they where suppose to. In the end he could go down hill….he just didn’t know how to stop.  Both Tiril and Lars loved the snow tubing, and probably could have done that all day.    

 

After skiing all day, we had a nice relaxing time in the hotel’s private sauna. 

View Full Album