The Murder Site and How to Speak Russian

Tuesday 1 August

Although we didn’t have to be at breakfast too early this morning, putting the clocks forward by two hours, made it seem like the middle of the night.

We only had one short tour today – to Ekaterinburg (town of Catherine - the Great in this case). As usual there is much rebuilding going on to introduce western standards and make it appealing to tourists. It has a population of 1.5 million, but most seem quite poor. The buses and trams look like they were pre-War. At present there is little here on offer – a visit to a Cathedral, opened in 2003, built over the site of the house where Nicholas II and his family were murdered. There is a special room on the first floor in the cathedral, supposedly marking the exact spot where the Bolsheviks shot and bayoneted the family – which is known as “Calvary”. On the second floor is a very light, airy modern church known as “Hope”.

The only other place of real interest was the border crossing between Europe and Asia. No checking of passports and documents here – they pass around Russian champagne and chocolates to celebrate crossing the line and the guards are only too happy to have their photos taken with you, with one foot in either continent. Of course, both sides of the border are in Russia!
We also called in at a Gem Museum briefly (we were held up in a traffic jam to rival the M25), but I was very restrained and bought no “tutt”. I am waiting for Thailand for jewellery,

This afternoon Millie and I went to our first Russian lesson and learnt all the letters of the alphabet. It’s based on Greek, and has several more letters than ours. Apparently if we attend all the classes we should be able to speak some Russian by the time we leave the train. Today we learnt to say “Yes” and “No” (but not “Maybe”) and helpful words like “Please, Thank You, Station and Post Office”.

We lose another hour tonight – so that will be 6 hours ahead of London. By the time we reach Vladivostok we will be 10 hours ahead!

Spokojnoj nochi ……. Good Night.

WEATHER REPORT: Very chilly and windy today – about 10 degrees C. Overcast. Apparently a couple of weeks ago it was up to 30 degrees C – so it seems we missed their summer.