The photos that might have been

In late June of 2004, we took a trip to visit a friend who was working in Irkutsk at the time. It was a whirlwind long weekend, involving a day trip to and a dip in Baikal on the hydrofoil, strolling in downtown Irkutsk, a night of karaoke at a tent bar named "Simba," and a dive or two into the Angara where it flows through the city. Lots of fun.

Sadly, this was before we had our own digital camera. We borrowed one from a friend, but all of the pictures we took with it are tourist-type pictures of us grinning delightedly at various points on the itinerary mentioned above. We took a disposable camera along, but it was tragically lost in the shuffle at Simba. The best photos lost with that camera would have been the ones taken from the hydrofoil.

We had arrived on the redeye from Moscow and got the first boat of the day, so the mist was still on the water. I did have the good fortune to snap one photo (this one) during the later part of the boat ride with my cell phone camera - no mist on the water, but in its place a mirror-like reflection of the sky. You can see the boat's wake in the lower right-hand corner.