Yekaterinburg

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Been quite busy today, but have a little to add from where the kazan entry finished.

I had gone to sleep in my hotel room (did i tell you it was 15 pounds? jeez louise as charles would say) anyway i was asleep, which is an activity i excel in, when i was rudly awoken by the telephone ringing- the conversation went something like this;

Me: (picking up reciever) Huh? what? hello?

W: (woman speaking in russian)

Me: Im afraid i dont understand,

W: Ah, English.. mabye sex?

Me: Mabye, probably not; and certainly not with someone who rings up and says "mabye sex?". (that is the retort i would have been pleased to deliver, however what i actually said was probably : " what?! no bugger off " )

WHORE: ok thanking you sorry very much.

Me: (puts reciever down)

As you can imagine my civilised sensibilities were affronted most terribly and i felt awfully cross that someone should let 'ladies of the night' call through the hotel.

Anyway, i got on the train to Yekaterinburg at lunchtime and arrived at 5am this morning. A swift 4 boiled eggs and cheese on bread later i was ready to see all Yekaterinburg had to offer- however after stepping out into the -9 of outside my indomitable spirit of adventure was somewhat supressed, as the 2km walk to the town center in the wind and cold took its toll. (no one told me that there was a handy metro from the station to the center of town.) Once the sun had come up and the wind died down it was ok though and i did a walking tour from lonely planet (their website is handy if your interested in reading, briefly, about the area.) and then wondered the streets to see the many churches and statues that are about the place.

Took alot of photos, as you can see- and bought an onward ticket to Krasnoyarsk, which is a very long trip but i didnt fancy stopping at any of the places in between.

The train leaves at 5 today moscow time (all the trains run on moscow time and eveything else runs on local time, it can be confusing.) and arrives in Krasnoyarsk at 03:59 the day after tomorrow. Why 4am? why would they do that to me?!

right i shall upload the photos and go check out a museum till departure time, cheerio- and remember if the question is "mabye sex?" just say no.

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Photos

Church of the Blood
Built recently this church is to comemorate the Romanovs who were shot here in 1918 (?) who are now saints.

Tiny church
This church was in between two roads and in front of a fountain. Of course i was far too cold to find it even remotly quaint.

Aleksandr the ice fisherman and his ice fishing hole.
This friendly chap (dispite how he may look in the photo) spoke very good english and had been sitting on the ice fishing all day, i took the photo at about noon and hed caught one tiny fish, but he was very happy with himself. he just cuts a hole in the ice and scoops up the fish when they come up. patience of a saint.

Statue
Yakov Sverdlov the guy who was instrumental in the execution of the Romanovs, Yekaterinburg used to be called Sverdlovsk between 1924 and 1991 in his honour. ya see you learn stuff reading this!

War memorial
memorial to the Afghanistan conflict 1979-1989. hes massive, about 12 feet high.

War memorial
another shot of the memorial.

Momument
this (communist) statue is to the power of youth, in the background you can see a tower where a guy stands at 12 noon and hits lots of different bells. hes quite good.

Hut and church.
Hut infront of the church that is next door to the church of the blood.

Hut
dont know what it is or what its for but its a nice hut.

Romanov memorial
Outside the church of the blood this comemorates the Romanovs, the woman is Tsarina Alexandra protecting her children- there are two crosses on the spot where they were shot but i felt, as in Auschwitz, taking photos was not the thing to do.

Ice Fishing
on the frozen river, i was very, very scared going out on it.

Comments

[PaulJohn]

Nice photographs
Where else in the world would you find a statue and church of saints (the murdered Romanovs at the Church Of The Blood) in the same city with a public statue in honour of their murderers (represented by Yakov Sverdlov)? Amazing! The 'Thanking you sorry very much' story was A1.