The Ural Mountains

Well my rafting trip never happened. Apparently there were too many ticks in the forest where the rafting was to take place. Mmmmm, I think it was more that I was the only one going. Anyway, I went on a hike in the Ural Mountains with David, Kath, Jack and Barbara from North Yorkshire who are also on the train. Before we started the walk we stopped at a mass grave. In the late 1930's and early 1940 when Stalin was in power, there were a lot of people in prisons in Russia. About 25,000 of them disappeared and no one knew what had happened to them. It wasn't until the early 1990s that someone came across the mass grave. It's now a garden with memorial stones to all those who died. We met 2 veterans who were covering up a new memorial which the mayor was coming that day to unveil. It was for all the other poor people who died in Russian prisons. It was very interesting talking to them.

Husky Friends

We had a good walk through the forest with a bit of climbing at the end, before a lovely BBQ lunch. We also visited the Europe/Asia border and stood with a foot on each side. There was a wedding party at the border, it's apparently tradition for the bride and groom to be photographed in both Asia and Europe. They invited us to join them and gave us champagne and chocolates. We then had our picture taken with them, that's going to be a nice one for the family album.

Me at the top of the Wall

We also visited the Mafia Graveyard which was quite interesting. Huge big marble memorials to all these villians.

It was an early night (I didn't go to the nightclub) as I was getting up at 3.00am to catch the train.

One foot in Asia, one foot in Europe

The Climbing Wall