Ramada Inn Yekaterinburg

... straight to bed when we arrived as had zero sleep last night. Woke at 2pm, scrubbed up and went out to try to salvage some of the day before it got too dark. So far we like the city. Walked around the old town, saw the city hall and (frozen over) city pond before giving in to the cold a stopping off at a bar for a mulled wine. Sooo nice. Resisted the strong temptation to stay for another, instead opting to pick up some ingredients for dinner and a ...

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My cabin mates were just as friendly. Larissa and her 12 year-old daughter Polina were a gentle pair. They spoke English well enough to converse with me and even invited me to have breakfast with them the next morning. And later on, Larissa taught me how to play a Russian song as she sang the verses. My luck started to change in Russia and I could sense a more open-minded attitude in me. It was what I needed.

Even our ...

... monarchists, Yeltsin ordered its destruction in the 1970s. However, parts of it, such as bits of stair posts and wallpaper, were saved, and in 2000-2003, a church was built on the site of the house. In 2000, the entire family were made saints. Today, when you approach the church, you see a large cross with a statue wrapping around it. It is the family, making their way down the stairs one last time, Alexei wrapped in a blanket and ...

... We got into Yekaterinburg pretty late in the evening and in the process lost two hours after crossing 2 time zones on the journey. The hostel was pretty easy to find and it was located in a ground floor of an old communist flat block,,, Possibly looked like a quite dodgy part of town but all good. We were the only two staying in the hostel and starving so it was off out for some food and a drink. The centre of the city was pretty easy to navigate and didn't take long to get around ...

... SIBERIA as well!! We headed back into town with Anton, to head to a couple of museums...well that was the plan!! First stop the Regional History Museum.....closed on Tuesdays. So on to the Military History Museum, where we saw various tanks outside...but the inside was closed for refurbishment......as lots of Russia seems to be! We then went to see the view of the city from the 19th floor roof terrace of one of Ekaterinburg's tallest office ...

... the entire contents of a medim sized household's entire fridge on the table wihtin minutes. Well, this was not all. A few minutes before departure an elderly tatar gentleman (papush) got on the train. His family (almost the entire household) helped him taking all his belongings on board. This straight away reminded me of how my grandparents used to travel and it put a big smile on my face. He had a big sack of potatoes, a big bag filled wiht goodies and a plastic bag of food with ...

... l'ungherese al bagno: ogni volta che andava alla toilette leggeva il dizionario e imparava dieci parole al colpo. Mi sembra un buon metodo, penso che lo faro' anch'io! Dopo un po' la ragazza si sveglia dal torpore e salta fuori che parla anche un discreto inglese; attacco bottone anche con lei e finiamo a parlare per ore: dopo un po' mi aveva gia' raccontato la storia della sua vita, insegnato qualche altra parola in russo, nonche' dato ottimi consigli per non cacciarmi ...

... flat Polish landscape. At around 10 o'clock we arrived in Warsaw, were we had about a 1,5 hour stop. Warszawa Wschodnia train station is not a very exiting place and we did a little shopping for food (changed 5 euro into zlotys). After Warsaw we moved on (in the same train) towards Belarus. Also the Belarussian border went pretty smooth. Near Brest, the first big city in Belarus the train had to change its wheels because in Belarus (and also in Russia and Mongolia) they have another ...

Strange really, when you have 4 tourist and 3 guides turn up! so off we went on our merry Russia Experience way.. Joe and Mel, and Alex and myself with special individual attention! bearded men need that apparently in russia! T34 tanks and rockets that shot down U2 spy planes (there's even a muriel with Mr Powers fallin' so ungracefully from the sky with his plane in flames around him in the main train station, very odd - and if you don't know what i'm ...

... next 6 days, so all went for pit-stop. They were all squat toilets, with toilet seats on them (???). Pants round ankles, holding on to door handle in order to position myself over the drop zone, then hear John (the Aussie) shout from the next cubical «Jees these guys have got short legs»! Nearly fell down hole laughing so much! Squat Toilets - Rule 1: Your bum isn't where ...