Ekaterinburg and Moscow Russia, Pictures

July 18, 2010 and back on the train. This leg of the journey is from Ekaterinburg (Yekaterinburg) to Moscow, 24 hours. The train only gets better. I am very happy I chose to do from Beijing to St Petersburg and not vice versa. The trains have only improved and our timing has been impeccable with festivals and anniversaries along the route.
This time the train is modern and clean with automatic doors between carriages and attendants with disinfect wiping things down, the toilets are spot on clean and there is air conditioning. Not feeling so grubby and if anything feeling a little under dressed.
Yekaterinburg was excellent. It is an interesting well organized town of 1.4 million people. There was something about the place that gave you that inviting feel even though there were very few foreigners there, or any at all that we saw. It was only opened to foreigners in 1992, as there were and still are a lot of secret agencies there. There are a mix of rocket scientists and weapons of war producers around and brides and grooms on every corner and monument having their wedding photos taken.
We visited the site where the Romanov’s were murdered. It is now an Orthodox church, called the Church of the Blood. The Romanov’s were murdered on July 16 1918. We happened to be there on the anniversary and witnessed pilgrims at the church and a church bell ceremony.
Nicholas Romanov was a Tsar that was brutally murdered with his wife and children by the Bolsheviks. They have been canonized as martyrs by the Orthodox Church. They were shot and killed at close range in the basement of an engineer’s home. The women didn’t die right away as their metal corsets saved them. The family was transported to a rural area burned, covered in poison and thrown down a mine shaft in Ganina Yama (16 km’s from Yekaterinburg.) Four of us got a driver and went to the site, it was fantastic. There are seven wooden churches there now and again the pilgrims were there. There were all kinds of black and white photos around the perimeter showing the Romanov family. There was a calming presence that came over us there as we walked around and took it all in.
In Yekaterinburg we also visited the boarder between Europe and Asia. Our local guide had an interesting quote for us yesterday. She said that she read that spending just one day in a foreign city you can receive more information that you could get from reading about a place for 10 years, interesting thought.
The food in Russia has been excellent. They love to use dill and use it in everything. Even just minced up dill and olive oil on pasta or a salad was tasty. Let alone the meat. They love their meat. Our salad of cucumbers, tomato and peppers last night came with two strips of bacon on top of it. I know some boys that would say that is their kind of salad!
July 19, 2010 we are now in Moscow and staying at a huge hotel/apartment complex that housed Olympic athletes during the 1980 Olympics. Moscow is a beautiful city. We visited the Basilica, Red Square and Kremlin. The panoramic views are breath taking, you just don’t know where to look or what to take a picture of.
July 21, 2010 checked out the Military museum and Gulag Museum’s today in Moscow. Wow did I ever get an education. The Gulag museum was about work camps in Russia during the Soviet, Communist time. There were over 25 000 camps across Siberia and the torture these people were put through.
It is over 40 degrees in Moscow and Russia is not equipped for this type of heat. Our hotel is huge. We are on the 20th floor and there is no air conditioning. Needless to say we are a little warm.
Every day I seem to learn more and more and yet realize how little I really know. Man I know I am fortunate and appreciate the life I’ve been given.

Check out the Yekaterinburg pictures at the following link

Pictures of Yekaterinburg Russia

and the Moscow pictures at the following link

Pictures of Moscow Russia

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