We arrived without problems to Novosibirsk and got picked up by Tanya’s cousin Natasha who lives there. After sleeping a few hours, Natasha showed us the city. We walked in the old parts of the city and along river Ob. I had heard before that there is not too much to see in Novosibirsk but of course such a big city as Novosibirsk, third biggest in Russia, has its highlights. The area around Ob is very accessible and people were sitting along the shoreline and could walk easily there from the park in front of the theater for example.
On Sunday morning we packed Natasha’s Golf, the trunk seemed to be made to fit our luggage exactly, and went to Tomskaya Pisanitsa 30 km outside of Kemerovo. Tanya’s parents, Liubov and Alexander, met us there and we stayed there during the afternoon. At Tomskaya Pisanitsa there are old paintings of elks etcetera on the mountains along river Tom. We did not succeed to actually see the paintings since the path there was blocked for some reason, but we enjoyed the area anyway. There was a very nice view over river Tom and in the park, there were bears, a wolf, foxes, etcetera. After a tasty picnic, we went with Tanya’s parents to Novokuznetsk via sightseeing in Kemerovo. Alexander and Liubov have bought a new car, a Volkswagen Golf of the same model, year and colour as Natasha, so we already knew how to pack the luggage.
At the moment, we are at the dentist and Tanya is getting her treatment. I am next in line and writing this while waiting for my turn.
For the upcoming days, we have quite a few practical errands to take care of, but I think there will also be some opportunities to relax on the countryside before we go back to Novosibirsk on Saturday.