In September/October 2015, I traveled to Russia where I boarded a train thru Siberia, Mongolia, and ending in Beijing.
Technically the route I took is the Trans-Mongolian but it shares the majority of the route with the Trans-Siberian.
Here is some of what I saw.
Russia
Russia was a very pleasant country to travel through, albeit with huge hurdles to get a Visa. I sorta expected a drab cityscape and dour people. I found St. Petersburg and Moscow to be among the most clean and elegant cities I've seen in Europe. People (esp. younger ones) were eager to learn English and curious about the outside world. I highly recommend people make their way to see these 2 cities. And Russian women are of course...how should I say, highly sought after
This is the view outside my hostel in St. Petersburg
Here's a rock concert taking place inside a huge 18th Century square
Kazan Cathedral
In Russia, they haz opulence
A church in the town of Veliky Novgorod
Moscow coming off an overnight train at 5am
St. Basil's Cathedral
Moscow has the most elaborate and opulent subway you have ever seen. This is one of the stations:
Red Square at dusk:
As you might have heard, Putin is kinda a big thing here:
much more to come...