Trans Siberian through Yekaterinburg and Tobolsk

It was with both excitement and trepidation that I left my hostel in Moscow to board my first Trans Siberian train. 29hours travelling pleskart (3rd class like a big dorm) to my first town of Yekaterinburg! I managed to get the metro ok but got a bit confused finding 4 train stations all in the same area. Luckily my Cyrillic has improved enough for me to know the second station was right (knowing my appalling time keeping record I had allowed lots of time!)
On the train I quickly settled into my bunk rapidly learning train etiquette of removing shoes and wearing flip flops and having your toiletries and food unpacked so you don't have to go into your locker (under your bunk). My area was shared with a big fat hairy slob of a man opposite me and 2 very sweet women on the top bunks. Unfortunately none of them spoke a word of English!
Once we had left the ugly built up area of Moscow it was into the countryside and millions of trees! We passed some beautiful towns with wooden houses and stunning churches in the distance me snapping away at whatever I could see. The train made several stops and it took me a while to work out the timetable to know how long we were stopping in each place (I didn't say my Cyrillic is perfect LOL.) The delight at each of the stations was the little old ladies pushing their prams full of some of the strangest things I have ever seen. All kinds of foods, very welcome ice cream (temp prob bout 32 at this point) and some of the yummiest boiled potatoes I have ever had! After all the horror stories I had heard about the toilets in pleskart I think our provodnitsa's (carriage attendants) did a sterling job. Probably the worst thing was the lingering smell of feet!!
After what felt like a very long and quiet journey I was excited to be arriving in Yekaterinburg. Armed with my directions from the hostel I confidently boarded bus number 1 told them my stop and then promptly got kicked off at the next stop and told to get number 13. Half hour waiting later I was fed up and decided to walk (the directions said 20-40mins) 55 minutes later I arrived exhausted cursing my backpack and trying to work out what I could throw out!! Ekaterina the hostel manager was very sweet but soon left and I was on my own no one else staying that night. I would have to say it was the strangest hostel ever resembling a little old ladies flat including knicknacks that someone just randomly decided to stick bunks in!
Being very tired, sore and upset about being on my own again (by this point I had barely spoken to anyone since my first night in St Petersburg) I reached an all time low and started looking for flights home! Also knowing it was now unlikely I would speak to anyone properly for at least another 6days luckily Lloyd and Mum made me see sense and as Kate would say "suck it up princess!"
The next day I explored the town, it's full of history being where Tsar Nicholas and his family were murdered in 1918 (the story of Anastasia his daughter who reputedly survived has always fascinated me and was a big attraction to the town.) Its definitely a beautiful place but 3 hours covered all that I wanted to do and see!! I did see at least 6 weddings it would appear to be the norm for the parties to drive all over town being photographed in beautiful and important places. I also saw 2 of the couples placing padlocks on the iron railings over the dam at the city pond. There were dozens of other padlocks and I had also seen these in Moscow and St Petersburg so I am guessing it's a tradition. Perhaps the strangest thing I saw was a set of false teeth on the pavement walking back to the hostel!
That night it was back on a train (a mere 11hours in an almost empty carriage) to Tobolsk. This is a town that again fascinated me (because of it's wooden Kremlin until researching this trip I always assumed Moscow was the only Kremlin in fact I believe there are 5 and it literally translates as a towns fortified stronghold).
Arriving with nowhere to sleep and despite extensive Internet research no possibilities it was a welcome site to see the komnaty otdykha (resting rooms) at the station. Safely booked in there (with a surprisingly comfortable bed) it was into town to explore. Town being 13km away on a bus that felt like an oven (it was 38degrees!) I made it to the Kremlin and wandered round. Definitely worth seeing it was almost nice not to see tourists. I did run into a French couple and after a brief chat we decided we were the only foreigners there! The Kremlin stood at the top of a hill with (a lot of) wooden steps down to the old town which was made of quaint if somewhat delapidated wooden houses. Unfortunately the new town was probably one of the ugliest places I have seen dozens of square soviet style tower blocks all having seen better days, burnt out cars and rubbish strewn everywhere.
A couple of hours later I was back at the station wondering what to do the only options really being read etc. I decided to sunbathe a bit to see if I could get rid of the delightful lines carrying my day pack has caused (think strap marks from hell)!! I managed to chill out didn't get rid of the lines though before my next adventure!!

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