Lake Baikal

We traveled to Lake Baikal yesterday and had a great day. On the way we stopped at a small "zoo". A hotel owner who has a number of animals on their grounds...we saw a bear, a fox, a yak, deer etc. We then traveled on to a restored villiage from the late 18th century. It was very interesting to see how people lived. We rode on a carriage pulled by a horse and Tatiana was thrilled. She is an animal lover...cant' wait to introduce her to Emma and Meka ( our dogs). We then drove to the Lake. It was a beautiful drive with birch tree forests everywhere. When we arrived at the lake I couldn't help but think of Lake Michigan , where we love to spend time. A huge difference is that at Lake Baikal you we could see the mountains on the other side of the lake! Beautiful. We ate lunch and spent a wonderful day with our guide, Olga. She was great with Tatiana and I have asked her to come back and do some translating for Tatiana and I. I hope to get document some of Tatiana's thoughts about the orphange and about our time together here in Irkutsk. I would also like to have the opportunity to explain more clearly to Tatiana what will be happening over the next few weeks as we travel to Moscow and then home. Another note: Taiana spoke with Caleb and Jared on the phone today and said "Hello Caleb" and "Hello Jared" and "Bye Bye" I think that they were pretty excited. If you see Caleb and Jared ask them about it!---Melanie