After breakfast we traveled by bus for the 90 minute to Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage site as well as the world’s oldest and deepest lake.   Our first stop in the quaint lakeside village of Listvyankawas was the Ecology Museum, which highlights the astonishing diversity of wildlife in the lake.  We got some cool photo’s of the fish in the aquariums there.  Next we toured St.Nicolas Church. Unfortunately, there was a baptism being held so we could only poke our heads in the door to take a look at the interior of the church.  We took a walk through an open-air market.  The market was quite busy since it’s Saturday morning.  There are lots of fish for sale as well as souvenir gifts.  Then we boarded large boats and took a relaxing cruise across the lake’s deep blue waters while doing vodka shots!  Our boat was filled with a very lively crowd and we ran out of vodka!  We are loving the Russian vodka’s.  After our cruise of the lake, we stopped for lunch at a local restaurant,  ________________ with a blessing by a local shaman. Afterward, we headed back to Irkutsk.
This evening we visited Irkutsk’s historic 130th District.  When we got off the buses, we all decided to pose for a group photo in front of the large statue,   _____________.  Then we had a lovely dinner at Love Story cafe.
Overnight: Courtyard by Marriott, Irkutsk City Center  (B, L, D daily)

Visit the Church of Our Saviour, the oldest stone structure in Irkutsk,     the Znamenskaya cathedral.

LAKE BAIKAL
Because large bodies of water retain heat longer than land, the climate around Lake Baikal is much milder than in the rest of southern Siberia. Even in the depths of winter the average air temperature is -6°F (-21°C), compared with minimum temperatures of -68°F (-90°C) elsewhere in Siberia. In August, the average air temperature is 52°F (11°C). The lake freezes over from January until May or June, but its surface temperature in August is between 50 and 54°F (10–12°C). Lake Baikal’s water is very clear because it contains very few mineral salts.From the surface it is possible to see objects 130 feet (40 meters) below. This clarity is maintained by large numbers of planktonic animals eating floating debris. In spite of its great depth the water in the lake is well mixed, and oxygen is plentiful even in the bottom waters.

ST. NICOLAS CHURCH

The Church of St. Nicholas was built by Russian merchant, Ksenofont Serebryakov. A legend says that he had nearly drowned during a heavy storm on Lake Baikal and decided to build a church in honour of St. Nicholas, the patron and defender of sailors and fishermen. The construction of the church started in 1846 in Nikola village on the bank of the Angara and was finished after Serebryakov’s death by his wife Natalya. The church was taken from one place to another twice: at first to the lakeside of the Baikal – to the village of Listvyanka, and then, in 1957, to Krestovaya Valley, 500 m (1600 ft) from the shore. It was moved away from the shore because of the construction of the dam in Irkutsk that resulted in a 1m raise in the water level of the lake.