St Transfiguration Cathedral, Khabarovsk

This cathedral which can be seen from every point in Khabarovsk is the tallest (83m) in the Russian Far East and the third largest Orthodox Church in Russia. It can seat 3000. It is typical of the many beautiful onion domed churches which can be seen all over Russia. Surprisingly it was only built in 2003. I am not sure about this one, but on our last visit we saw many cathedrals which had been destroyed during the soviet era and have since been immaculately rebuilt in the old style.

It was another cold, sunny day. -25C this morning but by this afternoon was a balmy -10. A veritable heat wave. We asked our taxi driver what the view on global warming is here and he laughed. I think it would be welcome. This morning we walked back down to the river and Wally did a re-enactment of his father's crossing (just the first 100m). This afternoon we hired a taxi and asked to be taken to some interesting places. We drove across the impressive bridge over the Amur River, went to some roadside markets where we purchased supplies for the train trip and I bought some mittens (true they are warmer than gloves) and then visited a wildlife park. Saw the biggest tiger I think I've seen, snow leopard, polar bear, black bear and various other cold climate animals. They were in smaller enclosures than one would like to see but at least they appeared well cared for and in good condition. This evening we treated ourselves at the hotel restaurant. The next couple of days will be train picnics. There was a fabulous saxophonist playing, later joined by a couple of other musicians so we ended up staying longer than expected, as was the bill. We were entertained by watching the 3 ladies at the next table polish off a bottle of vodka. There were 3 army chaps at another table, one of whom was obviously having some success with one of the women who had several dances with him. We overheard her confide to her friends after the first dance "he's almost a general". Obviously a good line.

On that note I will retire. We leave on the morning train and arrive in Irkutsk on Saturday evening, which will be the next opportunity to blip. Thank you for all your comments and interest in our trip. I had no idea people would be so interested and it is great to be able to share with you all.