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Ekaterinburg
After surviving yet another train journey that lasted 28 hours we arrived into Ekaterinburg safe and sound and were transferred directly to our Hotel. It was getting pretty late so we dived into a little themed restaurant cross from the hotel for some grub. As we approached we were greeted by a Russian boy with a broomstick who showed us to the door. We were shown to a table and it turned out that the restaurant had a live singer on too and was pretty lively!
We ordered a traditional dish called Shchee which is a cabbage soup which was served with sour cream and little pasty filled with onion and curds which was really nice. The place was now in full swing with people dancing (one guy in particular was so bad we thought he was taking the mick until we noticed he danced to every song the same!) we had a few drinks and decided to get some sleep before our city tour the next morning as we had gained another 2 hours!
Our walking tour was with a Russian girl called Alena who had bright orange dyed hair! Unfortunately it was raining cats and
dogs and we got soaked through. We visited the site of the murder of the last Tsar of Russia and his family. The old house in which the deed took place had been demolised by the Soviets, but now an ornate Church has been built. It include s a momument to the Tsar and his family. The momument has 13 steps, which is a replica of the basement staircase that the family were led down before they were murdered. When leaving the Church it possible to 'walk down'. The Tsar and his family have all been made Saints by the Orthodox Church and icons to them are all arund the Church. We visited the war momument, every town seems to have their own big momument. This was more unique as it has sections of wall dedicated to more recent wars including Chechnya and Afganistan. More chilling is the fact that the monument has space for a few more conflicts to be added.
Ekaterinburg is a major industrial centre for Russia - it was closed to foreigners until the 90's We wandered down past the museum of the first iron works and to the river dam which was used to
control the water through those first factories. The resulting lake is something which the locals called “The Pond”. We were shown a statue to two of the citys original founders - who were apparently the worse of enemies during their lifetimes. After their deaths it was decided to make a monument to them. Whoever comissioned it didnt know about their life long feud and the statues both stand there holding hands. This is a bit of a joke to the locals who refer to the monument as Bevis and Butthead!
We were picked up by our driver and taken to the Romanov family monuments whch are in the middle of the forest just outside the main part of Ekaterinburg and is near the location where the romanov family were actually hidden after they had been murdered. The monument is a collection of wooden churches and each one is made without any nails and named in honour of a different saint. A bit ironic that one of the monasteries is dedicated to the saint of the protection of the Tsar and his family!!
We then went for lunch where we tried some russian dumplings filled with meat and served
with sour cream which are lovely but very filling. We then set back off in the car and headed off to see the Asia-Europe border which Ekaterinburg sits on. It is traditional for newly wed russian couples to visit five monuments and be photographed at each of them so of course the Asia-Europe border monument is a very popular choice! We waited our turn to have our pictures taken and juped back into our car where our driver, who had taken a bit of a shine to Dave after him saying he would support russia in Euro 2008, produced a bottle of Russian Champagne and some glasses and we sipped it in the car before heading back to the hotel. He wouldnt let us leave a drop out of the bottle and even insisted that we take his chocolate bar aswell! So much for the Russians being rude to foreigners which is what we read in our guide books!
We would be catching another train that evening bound for Barnul and silly me didnt read the itiniary correctly and instead of us being on the train for 3 hours as i thought, we would actually be on there for
36 hours! Oops! It was during the wait for our transfer to the station that we met Trent and Maggie who are a mother and son from New Zealand and were actually on the same trip as us and also in the same cabin. It was nice to meet some English speakers and we got aquainted with a few beers.
The next day we spent lounging in the cabin and watching the scenery from the train. In the evening we past by the Siberian city of Omsk where the trans-siberian line oficially starts.. No turning back now!!
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