Blogs from Yekaterinburg, Urals, Russia, Europe - page 4

In retrospect, I kinda forget what attracted me to Ekat, A city famous for the brutal murder of the Romanov family, the last Tsar and co, and a gang war in the early 1990's. And rocks if you're into that sort of thing. On arrival at the Meeting Point (or place, I forget) Hostel, an excellent little place run my Katya, possible the nicest and most helpful hostel owner of all time I was amazed to find real Tea - none of this Russian Churney Chai much, proper British tasting tea, with Milk and everything! Milk tasted a little funky, but I guess some things will never be the same as at home! Initially I hit the town for a find my bearings acclimatisation walk, which included my first and only attempt at Museum going in ... read more

Waiting at Yaroslavski station I inadvertently discovered the best tactic for avoiding hawkers and beggars all after your cash - Be French. Someone came up to me trying to sell me some tat, and when I didn’t respond asked me “speak English” “No. err…Little.” “What Language?” Didn’t really think this one through did I… for want of anything better to say, “ Je parle Francais” “Oh! Francsikiii!? Ah…” And promptly walked off leaving me in peace. Jackpot! Confusingly Ekaterinburg is still called Sverdlosk on the rail network, the towns old Soviet name. After 20 years you’d have thought they get round to changing the timetable but anyway… Anyway, I managed to board the right train, starting my first real train trip, 53 hours to Ekat. My first sighting of the train showed this really was a ... read more

The train from Irkutsk to Yekaterinburg took 48 hours and at 4pm on Wednesday we arrived. We met our guide, Yadia, and she took us for a tour around the city. She firstly took us to a gem museum which displayed one man's lifetime collection of precious stones and gems. There were so many of them and it was really impressive. There were also lots of really detailed little ornaments in bright colours which looked painted but were made solely using the stones with no additional materials. After the museum we were taken to the centre of the city where Yadia showed us a bridge where newly married couples padlock engraved locks to the bridge and throw the key into the river to demonstrate their commitment to each other. The tradition is that if any of ... read more

15.10.08 Today is time to see what Yekaterinenburg has to show, and we have plenty of time. The start of the day is amazing. When Anatolij knocks on the door saying “breakfast is ready” we can hardly believe it! You would never expect it in a hostel, imagine there! Wonderful. Coffee, juice and plate with omelette, cheese and toast are waiting for us on the table. He sits with us an is a good opportunity to have a chat. He's learning English so we can communicate and we find out he's been running the hostel only for a few months and despite the fact we're currently the only guests, it seems like is going pretty well. With big bellies and big satisfaction we set ourselves ready to go. The weather is not too bad and just ... read more

14.10.08 Km travelled 6464 The night has been absolutely horrible like every one that precedes an early departure. We arranged for a taxi the night before to pick us up, so few minutes after 6.00 am a young lady was waiting for us outside the hotel door. The sun comes out late here and it was still completely dark. It started raining as we arrived to the station. For some reason unknown to us, we had first class tickets. It was good actually, we had table, room for all our bags, comfortable seats, and TV! Still, it's been very tiring. Michael managed to sleep leaning on the window, at least for a while. We had some breakfast bought the night before at the supermarket. On the screen they showed first a Steve Martin movie, but not ... read more