Russia

For many, spending days aboard a cramped train with minimal electricity and plumbing would be extremely unappealing. But for as long as I could remember, I had dreamed of taking the Trans-Siberian through Russia, one of those grand, Theroux-inspired adventures. Within a few days of boarding the train that would take me over 6000 kilometres and eight time zones across Eurasia, I realised that this journey would be much more arduous than I could have ever imagined, and yet much more rewarding than I could have ever hoped.

When I was a little girl, I used to love watching the Olympics. My favourite sports to watch in the winter games were figure skating, speed skating, ski jumping, hockey, and luge. It was a pretty big event in my household; for both the summer and winter games, my whole family would crowd around and watch the events on TV. One of my biggest regrets in life is not being in Canada when we won the gold medal for hockey in the Vancouver 2010 games.

I rarely get political on this blog; I’ve always maintained it’s not a place for that. I felt a need to write about what’s going on in Russia, though, because it absolutely breaks my heart.

Irkutsk, Russia   Listvyanka, Russia   Near Yekaterinburg, Russia   Near Yekaterinburg, Russia   Yekaterinburg, Russia   St. Petersburg, Russia   St. Petersburg, Russia   St. Petersburg, Russia   Ulan Ude, Russia…

Ulan Ude, RussiaI was in Ulan Ude nearly eleven months ago; how much has happened in those eleven months, how much has changed. Since travelling on the Trans-Siberian last year, I visited…

The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, RussiaI seem to be following the rain in Canada. There’s not much to do tonight in Toronto save open a bottle of wine and read up on Cambodia.

Ulan Ude, Russia Listvyanka, Russia Irkutsk, Russia On the train, Russia Yekaterinburg, Russia Red Square, Moscow, Russia I miss it.