Greetings from Irkutsk, Russia

It sort of feels strange writing Russia rather than USSR, but there you go, USSR is consigned to history. Anyway, I feel like I am really in Russia now, Listvyanka was a nice little place, very pretty and quiet (apart from the gunshots I heard late last night nearby). I caught a leisurely bus into Irkutsk this morning and after a bit of wandering about, I found my way to the Hostel. It seems ok, better on the inside than outside, but many places are like that.

After arriving and dumping my bags, I headed back into town to the markets to mostly find another pair of shorts, no where in China or Mongolia had my size, so I was hoping for better luck (size wise) in Russia. However, not to be, everything either too small or so bad I would not wear it. I even found a big guys shops and they had nothing I liked either.

I did manage to by a world traveller power kit from an apple shop which will be more handy than my power adapters. There was a statue of lenin outside one dept store, (see Pics). I walked around a fair bit today, maybe reducing the sizing problem a bit. I noticed on the map I had that the Museum of Geology, a place I had identified as wanting to visit was a mere 100 mtrs from where I was staying. The downside is that I noticed this at 6pm, after the museum has closed, and it is the only museum in Irkutsk that does not open on weekends. I went back to heck for sure it was not open tomorrow or Sunday (I leave Sunday night) and discovered a nice cafe next door, where I had a great meal of potatoes and sausage and chicken and hence gave back all the benefits of walking around all day.

On my travels I did notice a "Lucky Bar" but did not go in. Maybe I should have and the museum would be open weekends.

The first pic is the guest house in Listvyanka, the last pic is the hostel in Irkutsk.

No idea what to do tomorrow.

 Listvyanka guest house

It rained in Irkutsk today.

 Lenin and soviet art mural

 The lucky bar I should have one into

My hostel In Irkutsk