Heading away from the safety of a major tourist pull is the moment when travelling alone turns into an adventure. 700 people on a train and only one person speaks English, me! Well two actually. The train attendant for my carriage introduced me to an english speaking attendant (Silvina?). She worked the Ural Express in Summer and taught Russian Literature and Language at university in a city East of Kazakstahn. The attendants invited me in for tea and a tricky but enthusiastic conversation.
The passing landscape : forests, rolling hills, the flatest widest plains I've ever seen, post soviet industrial wasteland, meadows and villages of classic Siberian wooden houses . Few roads. Loads of coal and gas fuel heading west on trains 100 bogeys long.Is bogey the right word for that?
I arrived in Yekaterinburg, Western Siberia in the evening and stayed in a huge post soviet era hotel undergoing renovation.
REALLY INTERESTING WARNING!
Yekaterinburg has some pretty majestic buildings and cathedrals arranged around a huge lake.They reflect an impressive past as a notable Russian city. In the west the city's famous as the location of the asassination of the Tsar and his family and also produced the former president Boris Yeltsin.
I wanted to stop here to see a working Russian city, away from the tourist masses. I found one. The Russian alphabet , the lack of english speakers and good old fashioned Russian hospitality all made me appreciate the joy of travel in Russia.
Loving it!!
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