It now seems that Google has once more stricken. On a partnership with the Russian Railways, Google’s Virtual Train spans the entire 150 hour journey and users can pass the time listening to audio books of Russian classics – such as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls.

Few years ago I had the chance to travel on the Tran-Siberian train from Moscow to Irkutsk, and onto the Baikal Lake. At over 5,600 miles it is the world’s longest railway, crossing seven time zones, 12 regions and passing through 87 towns and cities before arriving in distant Vladivostok.

Over 80 hours of train, this was a truly memorable train journey! At the time, I was advised to travel to east Siberia by train, as this allowed discovering the country and slowly get accounted with the jet lag.

Every few hours the train was stopping, a chance to stretch legs on the platform and taste some of the local delicacies (pancakes, smoked fishes, etc.).

Here are few pictures from that trip along the Baikal lake and Irkutsk.