Exploring Ekaterinburg

Around the city

We woke on the sofa bed around 0730 and arranged breakfast for 0900.  Our hostess prepared a very nice breakfast of jam-filled blinis, cheese pastry, bread and yoghurt washed down with tea.  The blinis were the best I’ve had; crispy on the edges, soft and warm, and filled with jam before being folded into a rectangle.

It was a nice warm day as we trammed to Ploschad 1905 square.  We walked back a little to see Lenin statues, buildings of different eras and also the pond/river.

We continued by turning left at a roundabout to the Military Museum.  There were three floors of displays captioned in Russian.  There wasn’t adequate hardware to sustain Kim’s interest.

We walked across the road to the Afghan memorial at Ploschad Sovetskoi Armii for the ten years of war there.

After a wrong turn, we entered a pretty park that was ruined by its pond littered with beer and plastic bottles.

Kim was getting grumpy.  He said he was sick of walking.  But I was walking too, and navigating and carrying the bag.  It was a hot day though.  He’s had moments like this on our travels; perhaps it’s the walking, the isolation from his friends and not being able to communicate with anyone but me.  And feeling helpless because I do most things as I’m the multi-lingual one.

Churches and the Tsar’s end

We go to the blue Ascension Church next to a rundown mansion.  The interior was filled with many wondrous icons.  We saw two churchy buildings across the road and Kim correctly identified that we should head there.

The bigger church built from stone was the Church on the Blood (Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land).  It was quite new, rather clinical despite the rich decor and iconography.  There was a very expensive-looking golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  The other smaller church didn’t appear open.

The place where the Romanovs were killed on 16 July 1918 was commemorated by two crosses.  The house where Tsar Nicholas II, his wife and five children were killed, is now gone.  The cross now standing is from 1998 when the family’s remains were taken to St Petersburg to be kept in the family vault.

A wooden chapel beside is the Chapel of Revered Martyr Grand Princess Yelsand a Fyodorovna, great aunt of the royal family, who was also killed.

Rest of the day

We took lunch of pizza, dumplings, fried potato and two beers.  That came to NZD7 only!  Beer is as cheap or cheaper than soft drinks.  Everyone seems to be drinking it everywhere, even first thing in the morning.

After two failed attempts to get Kim’s work roster at internet cafes, we failed again.  He was eager to find out what awaits him with international flying.

It was time for us to get more Russian Rubles for our last leg of our journey.  We went to a proper place to change our USD but the guard to the place struck a deal with us before we actually entered.  He ushered us into his little broom closet of a room to do the deal.

Around town we observed that fashion here is a little different from the western world. Handbags or manbags are very popular, as are pointy shoes. The latter went out of fashion in other places a few years back.

We returned to our homestay by tram.  After some relaxing, we enjoyed a home-cooked dinner by our hostess.  Tonight, it was thick vegetable soup with spicy croutons, followed by chicken stir-fry on pasta.

Both her and her husband are mechanical engineers.  Their oldest daughter who is 25 years old is married to a former guest in Epsom, London and they have a grandson.  Their second daughter is 15 years old and still home.

We went to the supermarket to stock up for provisions for tomorrow morning’s final leg on the train.  We met a man who spoke English and had visited Australia.  While European-looking, he did have Chinese eyes.  His mother is from Kazan and he claims to be Tartar.