The Rest of Ekaterinburg

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Once I had woken up, I cleaned up a bit and then started to walk around the town. I had my trusty map and my sixth sense on high, so I was not getting lost today. And what a journey I had, a marvelous little city, some nice parks, a great city lake with a path that took you all around. And the heat, beautiful. This lasted most of the day, then the clouds came in. I thought to myself, good time to find the museums, and I thought this, and then I kept walking, and it was about that time the hail came, and then the buckets of rain. I found a cafe and drank fanta orange for an hour or so and planned my next few days. The next few days were great fun, dominated by a great desire to watch people, listen to them speak, and read my books. I also found time to do a walking city tour, hire a taxi to take me to the gulag memeorial and also find the marker for the change from Asia to Europe. Ekat is a city full of history, it is the place that the final Tsar found himself and his family very dead, and I got to see where it happend. They have many bodies of water in the city, as well as parks. There is a metro that was pretty funky to use, as well as a few pedestrian walking areas. I think people are really much happier when there is sunshine, you can just feel it in a city. I walked a ton of miles in this place, met the odd person, and kept my streak alive of being asked directions for the city. Some tourist I am, I am blending in a little too well. I also found out on the train that I am much younger then I appear. The few I have spoke to about this have me anywhere from 25 to 30... I really do like this place! As they say, no vodka and no smoking, no wonder you look young. So, it is off to a short stay in moscow, then it is St. Pete.

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