On Thursday morning, the 8^thof August, we arrived at Irkutsk. It was raining, what didn't approve our mood. Luckily we found our hostel pretty easy. We took a 'quick' shower and went into Irkutsk for breakfast, in a small, very local restaurant. The breakfast wasn't a success, because we had bread filled with potato and dill. Which they put in and on top of everything you order, but it doesn't improve the taste. We had to go and pick up our next train tickets at an agency. We knew we had to take a bus and Anniek wrote the bus station down in Russian letters. Apparently the Russians found it readably, because they helped us find it. It was an very long drive with the bus, also because we didn't know where to get out, so every few stops we asked someone else if we were there yet. Eventually we got to our stop and the agent wasn't that hard to find.

Back in the centre we walked around a bit. Irkutsk is a nice city with lots and lots of beautiful buildings and churches. The weird thing is that next to every beautiful and/or maintained building there stands a dilapidated building. Most of the houses look poor, but the people are well-fed and their clothing is western and neatly.

For dinner we got some Italian food, not so adventurous but we were craving for something known. Back in the hostel we wanted to go to bed early, but it wasn't a success. There was a big group of Germans in the hostel that stayed partially in our room. They decided that they had to pack their backs around the time we wanted to go to bed. Pretty annoying, especially because we already told them we would make it an early night.

The next day, Friday, we went to Lystvyanka at the lake Baikal. The way to get is in a minivan, and the ride takes about an hour. The Russian traffic is really bad and scary (even crossing a road is dangerous), but we survived. The lake Baikal was really beautiful and touristic. Unfortunately the view was limited, because of the many clouds above the water. We enjoyed the fresh air after all the days in the train and smoggy cities.

We went back to the hostel pretty early, because Marit got a cold and we both were pretty tired from the night before with the loud Germans.

Today, Saturday, we had a slow start. We had breakfast at a weird hotel bar, but the food was okay and the smoothies were delicious. But apparently the Russians don't eat bread with their eggs... Again we explored Irkutsk, the part we hadn't seen on the first day. Also we collected a nice set of pictures of holes (already started that at Thursday). We bought Kwas at a street market, because that was the only thing we still needed to do in Russia. Marit liked it, but Anniek wasn't a big fan.

Around four o'clock we went back to the hostel for a last shower (yes, we think the showers before and after train rides are worth mentioning).

Tonight we are going on the train and tomorrow we will have the visa checks of Russia and Mongolia. This we find really exciting and scary, so we will keep you posted!