Sunday, August 19. Cooler.
Today we visited the city of Ekaterinburg, infamous for the site of the murders of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, July 17, 1918 during WW I.
I have come to the conclusion by asking, listening and observing, that the Russian people as whole view the deaths as a tragedy performed by a bunch of idealistic jailers looking after the Royal Family, who feared that the family would be released by White Russians approaching the site.
The Royal Family were held as prisoners after the revolution in St. Petersburg. They were later moved to Ekaterinburg, where we are today. The house they were staying in was demolished in 1979, in the Stalin Era, for a road, right through the house coincidentally. [?] One night they were told that they were being transported so they prepared and were assembled in a room where seven assassins entered the room and shot them all, along with their aides.
Their bodies were attempted to be destroyed by acid and burning, then buried. It was not until decades later bones were discovered after years of searching and identified with DNA. The remains are buried along with their relatives at the appropriate place.
The city itself is remarkably unimpressive in its Soviet style buildings and use of concrete instead of design features.
During WW II the Russian factories nearer to Germany were dismantled moved to this area, which was a further 1600 Kms from Moscow, making it hard for the enemy to bomb the factories. Many of the apartment building here were built, in a hurry at that time, [1941 and 1942] to house the workers. No time for design, built the workers housing, that was the goal. Some apartments still exist.
I think that is why we have seen so many abandoned and crumbling buildings the last few days. Even a farm house that has outlived its life is not demolished, it is left standing and something else is put up nearby. It gives an air of decay and despair but I think that is the norm here.
We visited a department store today as part of a 'Toilet Tour' as one person coined a phrase today. It was not a busy day, nor particularly exciting, but it filled our needs at least. We are looking forward to a decent sleep tonight, advancing the clock forward another two hours tonight! How is that possible??? The only blessing is that we do not go on tour tomorrow until 2:37 tomorrow afternoon. [Note the preciseness of the schedule!]
One bright spot today was the visit to the monument that is erected on the high point of the Ural Mountains that traditionally define Europe on the west side of the Urals and Asia on the east side. There was a very large Chinese tour group of young people being entertained by local dancers in traditional costume and musical instruments all being dutifully recorded for CDs for each tour participant I assume.
The Urals are amongst the oldest continental mountains in the world and as a result, also the lowest, worn down by erosion. The railway was relatively easy to construct, unlike the Rockies that presented construction challenges like tunnels etc.
We celebrated with champagne and having our pictures taken astride this hypothetical border.
Life is getting better on the train as we become used to the movement and become adjusted to a living area smaller then our shower at home. Also we don't feel like we are strangers anymore as this group of 10 English speakers hangs together in an ocean of foreigners.
More pictures to follow at some time, as yet unknown.
Our motley group of old timers. Europe on the left, Asia on the right. At the summit of the Ural Mountains!
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Technically we are now in Asia, as we are on the east side of the Ural Mountains .
Siberia tomorrow, Novosibirsk.
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