I was kinda keen on the idea of visiting Pripyat for the photography opportunities so started planning a trip coupled with Russia; but found at the time the border was closed... so instead swapped Pripyat with Mongolia for a Trans-Siberian trip #TravelTuesday

The first stop was in Saint Petersburg. From the hotel room I could see St. Isaac's Cathedral. The surrounding area did look very European - not what I expected from the way you see Russia in film and TV

Saint Petersburg also has a surprising number of waterways. The following morning I went for a long run to explore the city in the early hours, and lost count of how many bridges I'd crossed

I later found out that one of the buildings I'd passed was the State Hermitage Museum, as we went to look around it after breakfast.

It wasn't this cold utilitarian view of Russia we'd been taught, it was a glimpse at their Imperial past

Some of the rooms of The Winter Palace, which forms part of the museum, were so extravagant and unexpected

From there we went to the (more than) 300 year old cabin of Peter the Great, the founder of the city. It's in such good condition because after he'd built the Peter and Paul Fortress, he ordered that the cabin be preserved for posterity

The Peter and Paul Fortress has several different exhibitions inside which aren't all ticketed the same way. I was eager to see the cosmonaut museum first; but was a little lacking. The cathedral there is where the Tsars from Peter I up until Alexander III are buried

We left over an old wooden bridge, and somewhere for an evening meal. The cheesecake there is one of the best I've ever had.

The next morning I started off with photographing the Admiralty building, and then went inside St. Isaac's Cathedral and up onto the dome.

Along Nevsky Prospekt we saw the Kazan cathedral, and some other cool architecture.

The Saviour of the Spilled Blood church was quite cool too, with spires that are reminiscent of the famous Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed

Then it was a trip to the Tsar’s village, aka Pushkin, to see the Summer Palace. As it was burnt out during World War 2, what we see now is a reconstruction based on very detailed plans.

There was one mirrored room which made me think of the ballroom scene from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, even though really they're not alike

The following day, after another 5km run, we headed off to the Summer Palace of Peterhof by hyrdofoil. At exactly 11:00 all the fountains turned on to the sound of some music

No photography was allowed inside, so didn't take many pictures until back in Saint Petersburg when I visited some more cathedrals, and the Faberge museum

I then took the sleeper train to Moscow. The carriage was so old fashioned I could easily have been going to Hogwarts. I wasn't though. Shame.

It was a sleepless night; but arrived to rain in Moscow the following morning. Vlad our guide for this leg of the trip was at the train station waiting. He took us to drop off luggage at the Metropol, and started our tour with Teatralnaya Square and Revolution Square

Red Square had some cool looking buildings. Some more recognisable than others.

GUM, the shopping mall with an entrance on Red Square is the only one I've been in that required security checks when entering. Not a fan of shopping so didn't spend much time there, but did photograph some blossom

We then travelled between quite a few different metro stations to see the décor

We took the metro to a church and went up onto the roof of that one for the view. It was built by a business and leased out for worship - they don't allow photography indoors

From there we couldn't use the metro any further so got driven to Bolshoy Novodevichy Prud, which we were told was the inspiration for Swan Lake (have never found any literature to corroborate the guide's claim though), and then to a viewpoint at Moscow State University

It was then time to enter the Moscow Kremlin. It's famous red walls were once white limestone, and before that they had been oak

There are quite a few buildings inside, and inside most of them we couldn't take photographs

When we left we couldn't get to our camera bags we'd left at the bag drop, and this resulted in being surrounded by guards. The guide sorted everything out though!

Once done in Moscow, I moved on to Irkutsk, a city in Siberia that the Decemberists were exiled to after a failed revolution.

One of the things we saw were young people practicing marching around a memorial that honoured their ancestors

There's also a Moscow Gate nearby that is dedicated to Russian Cossacks, and a few churches we were shown around.

We were also shown around Trubetskoy Manor, the home of one of the Decembrist exiles

That first day there it was evident how much colder Siberia is. I actually needed to wear a coat whilst there! The only other thing of note on that first day was the chocolate cake they did... it was gooood

The following day we were met with relentless heavy rain for the drive to the Taltsy Museum of Wooden Architecture and Ethnography. The buildings they have there represent the historic wooden architecture of the region.

It was still raining when we reached Lake Baikal after that, and the small town of Listvyanka. The wind and rain made it difficult to photograph the lake sadly.

This was our lunch stop - over the road was a covered market where they sold a fish called omul. There was also a nearby church we looked around

The museum there isn't the most interesting of ones; but they do keep Baikal seals... although they are sadly in a very small enclosure

When we left the museum the rain had stopped and the clouds parted (briefly) so we could finally see the lake proper.

That evening I tried Russian honey cake, then went for a 5km run at sunset. I was stopped by some sort of plain clothes policeman fairly early on; but when he realised I only spoke English he just waved me on

At 07:00 the next morning we were boarding the Trans-Siberian railway for the next leg of our journey; but that's a story I'll continue with next #TravelTuesday