Russia 2005 I spent the first several days alone walking the streets of Moscow, and visiting the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg(Cats!). In Moscow I stayed at the Famous Metropol Hotel. (the centerpiece of Amor Towles wonderful book A Gentleman In Moscow) The feeling in these big cities was tense and the language barrier difficult. I met some cool people in St Petersburg though. One guy, who’s name I forget, at McDonalds took me out to a club that night. Then another group of rockabilly folks who I photographed on the street. These guys and gals delivered me, barely on time, to catch the Trans-Siberian Railway. A three-day ride from Moscow to Irkutsk to spend time with a friend at Lake Baikal. It was a bleak landscape but most compartments were filled with vodka and revelry. I luckily or Unluckily ended up in a cabin with Italian tourists who were more interested in reading. I also noticed the meal portions seemed to shrink in size as the three day journey progressed. Dinner on the last night felt like a light snack. Holding nearly a quarter of the earth’s freshwater, Lake Baikal is the largest lake in the world and is truly magnificent. It’s so remote and untouched by development, there are species there that exist nowhere else on earth. This trip had some lonely moments and a few harrowing late night walks back to the hotel but the kind people I met really stood out. Many thanks to Elena Arkagova and all her friends at the Great Baikal Trail project for looking out for me. I’m so glad I got to see this place when I did. Here are some pictures from that time. @eabaikal @artdeptagency