Topaz Russia Blog  Sunday 16th October

We arrived in Saratov after a rather restless night on the train.  While trying to settle our luggage under the seats the lights kept going out, then it was making up beds and back to the climb up to the top bunk for some!!

In the late evening Vasily, a young boy of 11 came to visit us.  He was a superb English speaker and was really keen to show off his skills.  He told us about his fishing trip with his dad and his plans to study English for a year at a school in Brighton.  He was a delightful young man and shared some chocolate with us before going back down the carriage to his dad with a promise to return in the morning. 

We rose early to prepare to disembark and watched the sun rise and a shower of snow as well as some interesting countryside, we sorted our luggage in our tiny cabins before our young friend returned to continue our conversation.  We heard about his school life and when he left us on the platform was delighted to tell us that his very smart coat and hat made him look like Sherlock Holmes, and he was right!!

We unloaded the cases with lots of help, met up with Marina’s friend Kate and struggled up the ramp on the steep station stairs.  We think Russia needs to think about a conveyor belt or some lifts in their stations!!!

A walk to the hotel and we found ourselves sorting the the entry system before a few more stairs to reception.  The conveyer belt is beginning to sound a really good idea!!

Sucha and Dasha, local University students and girl scouts  now joined us and we were whisked off by cars, driven by Boris and Sucha’s dad as well as a taxi as we now numbered 12. Arriving at  Victory Park where the lanes were lined by trees interspersed by WW2 Military Guns and vehicles and a giant hospital train was on display.  The focus point of the park was the eternal flame and a tall monument to the fallen.  this was situated at the top of the hill where we could see across all sides of the city and the Volga river with Longest bridge spanning 2.8 kilometres.

We now can really feel the cold and are ready for the thermals, in fact we had two short snow showers today.  

Our next stop was to a Lemonarium!!! A new concept for us all.  It was a large hot house which grew an interesting assortment of many species of lemons and other citrus fruit as well as some other unusual tropical fruits.  Our guide was very knowledgable and enthusiastic, he also introduced us to an impressive iguana,  some scary tarantulas and the occasional rabbit which ran past our feet.   

It seemed appropriate and timely that we got another fix of our TOPAZ zest and we brought some home to our hotel for an evening drink.  We arrived back at the hotel and were allocated our rooms before getting together to do some work on our plans for the next sessions in Saratov and Rovnoe.

We are using our resources but the bags don’t feel much lighter!!

A stay-in meal this evening as we were all needing an early night ready for a busy day tomorrow.    Elizabeth and the team