Days 3-4: Moscow to Kazan

Helge and Karen's train has reached Kazan, and they've sent two more blog updates from their journey!

Karen describes her encounter with a birch branch in a traditional Russian banya before she and Helge head to Novodevechy Monastery and Cemetery where they visit the graves of Stalin's wife, Boris Yeltsin and other famous Russians.

After boarding the train, Karen learns about the history of the Tatars as they approach Kazan, and why "Ivan the Terrible was a big baby."

Like a petulant child throwing a tantrum over a toy, he stomped his way to Kazan, a beautiful city perched on the banks of the Volga River. When Ivan arrived with his troops in 1552, he set to work destroying all the gorgeous mosques that dotted the landscape, conquering the city and forcing the local Tatar population into swampy, disease-infested areas of Kazan.

But the Tatars were a hardy bunch. Sprouted from tough Mongolian and Bulgarian roots, the Tatars resisted the Russian conquest, and continued to pray in their homes. And just to make double sure that cranky Ivan didn't seize any more than he already had, they tossed all their treasures and jewels into Lake Kaban for good measure. Take their mosques AND their money? No way.

After many years of suffering under the sledgehammer of Russian rule and during the rein of Catherine the Great, religious tolerance once again flourished and mosques were rebuilt. Today we visited one such jewel and newest construction, the Qol Sharif mosque.

For pictures of the Qol Sharif Mosque, slideshows of Karen and Helge's travels and information about the legendary Trans-Siberian Express, visit MIR's website.