MIR Corporation's Travel Log:
Trans-Siberian Railway trip aboard the Tsar's Gold
Private Train between Irkutsk and Moscow

In the fall of 2008, MIR Sales Specialist Charity Shaller took a ride on a portion of our Trans-Siberian Express Between Beijing & Moscow aboard the Tsar's Gold private train. Follow along as she describes her adventurous journey from Irkutsk, Siberia, to Moscow.

• Days 1-2: Moscow
• Day 3: Moscow
• Day 4: Irkutsk, Listvyanka
• Day 5: Aboard train
• Day 6: Novosibirsk, Aboard train
• Day 7: Ekaterinburg, Aboard train
• Day 8: Kazan, Aboard train
• Days 9-10: Moscow

October 1, 2008

Wake up at 7 AM. 10 AM departure for train station. We settled into our cabins and had an 11:15 AM lecture about Siberia and its colonization. Very interesting!

Lunch at 1 PM - very simple Russian cuisine, but very good! Cabin attendant brought in black caviar and champagne a couple hours after lunch, which was a special treat for those traveling in Bolshoi cabins. Shortly thereafter we had a vodka and caviar tasting in the restaurant car.

Because we were all very full from the tasting we ate very late this evening, at 8:30 PM. After dinner we set our clocks back by two hours. Following dinner, when we got back to our cabins our beds were nicely made up. I was very tired, so even though it was only 8 PM with the time difference I fell fast asleep.

Thoughts on cabins:

1. Boshoi Class: The bottom bed was much larger than I had imagined and the shower much more manageable that I had envisioned. There were some nice extras in the cabin like a bowl of fruit, vodka and full bottles of shampoo, body wash & hand soap. There were two towels (bath & hand), a bathrobe and slippers provided. There also was an English menu for the restaurant. The cabin attendant was available for tea or coffee service, which was a very nice treat. The other cabin classes on train have to pay for tea & coffee. The wardrobe contained a safe and there was more than enough space for two mid-sized pieces of luggage (plus 4-5 articles on hangers).
   
   The shower and sink only turn on if you have flipped up a lever next to the sink. The water temperature was a little hard to regulate at first, but seemed to stay hot once it warmed up. The water would run for about two minutes and then stop and then at that point you would have to push the lever again. I feel that the Bolshoi class is well worth the extra expense for the private bathroom and also for the extra room.
2. Nostalgic Comfort Class: I stayed in this type of cabin for one night. It has an upper & lower birth configuration with a chair and a small table in the cabin. There is a shower & wash basin that is shared with the adjoining cabin. There is a lever that you pull down when you are using that shower that makes it so the people in the other cabin cannot access the shower. There was also a bowl of fruit, vodka and a menu waiting for me in the cabin. Overall I really liked the look of this cabin. It had a gorgeous rich red interior with mahogany wood paneling. I think it will be an attractive cabin when it's redone for next year.
3. Standard Plus Class: I think this cabin will be a great offering for people who don't want to pay Golden Eagle Trans-Siberia Express prices. It is a simple cabin with a twin side-by-side berth configuration. All of the cabins I saw had a light teal blue interior. There seemed to be plenty of storage under the beds and over the door. The WC is at either end of the cabin and the shower is in every other wagon. The bathrooms were clean and the showers were large with a single shower stall. There was a sign-up sheet for the shower; I talked to a few of the people staying in standard class and they said that they never had to wait to take a shower. These cabins may be a tad bit less well-turned out, but I think they are well worth their price.
4. Standard Plus New Class: There was only 1 car of this category on the train. I thought it was almost as nice as the Bolshoi Class except for the fact that it did not have the private en-suite bathroom. It was the same configuration as the Standard class only that it had completely new interiors. The shower at the end of the hall was just gorgeous! It was spacious with brand new fittings. There was not much storage in this compartment and there was no storage under the beds.

Photos from this leg of the tour:

Tsars Gold train		My Nostalgic Comfort Class cabin
Caviar on blini		Caviar and vodka tasting
View from the platform during a quick stop on the way to Novosibirsk		Doesn't that little cart look like fun?