It would take too long fully to describe my experiences in these two places so I must confine myself to significant impressions. I did not come on this journey with highly specific objectives, other than to extend and deeper earlier acquaintances, but these are folk that you, my dear readers, have never met.
It was a little strange to arrive at Yekaterinburg Airport to be met by someone I had never met, other than through emails. Natalia is cousin to a friend who lives in Corning, who was looking for a modern day, English speaking, 'pen pal'. Her career is as a translator of English texts into Russian, who works independently. She has international certification, having first studied in London. There I was, just off the plane and, although I did not know it then, famously in the middle of a very long stretch without sleep. Looking all about for someone who might fit my own picture of 'Natalia', when up from behind came a voice, 'Are you Robert?' So began my Ykb adventures!
In the Wikipedia article, you can find out much more than I can tell you. For tour planning, The Lonely Planet article is a great place to begin discovering this amazing city.
In the last century this history became stained with blood and terrible political acts. These relate to the murder of the Czar, Nicholas II, and his family in 1918. They had taken up residence near the city during the Civil War. On the night of July 17, they were awoken from sleep and taken to the basement of the house and shot, the Czar and Czarina dying immediately. The children were more trouble to kill, as they were laden with jewels, secreted in their undergarments, that acted a body armour.
After this their bodies were taken some 15 kilometers through dense forest to mine shafts, into which their remains were dropped and covered with earth and the shafts boarded over. The intention was to render this ordeal secret. So it remained until road building revealed the boards and then the shaft, many years on. Now a monastery, Ganina Yama, established to memorialize the royal family, occupies the site. Set remotely in dense forest, with a unique building for each of the family, it is a beautiful place to visit.
A massive magnificent Church Upon The Blood, commemorates the place where these murders took place, now crowded about by city sprawl.
Natalia and I visited both sites. Public transport goes right by the church, but a bus reaches to the monastery only a few times each day. In July and October, many come from all over Russia to make pilgrimage between these two locations.
Yekaterinburg was founded almost 300 years ago by Peter the Great and named for his wife, Catherine. It is the gateway to Asia and Europe and greatly favoured by mineral resources; due to the transport afforded by rivers and later railways, it was the early economic engine for Russia, and later much artistry flourished, in part made possible by the wealth produced there. There are many museums that display its progress. Natalia made sure I saw a good number of these and later admitted that she before seen them! How often, is it not, that having a visitor leads to greater knowledge of one's locality and its history! I thought it very suitable that ensuring the visitor's joy of discovery be rewarded and alloyed with one's own. She had a long list of things to have me see!Like Spb, there are many churches and therefore many domes and spires gold plated and splendidly glinting in the sun. Only churches may have this gold-plate embellishment, much to the chagrin of one newly rich local who, some years back was denied gold plating for the roof of his huge mansion while, in his own neighborhood were many glittering all about!
The tallest building in the city provides a viewing platform at the 52nd floor from where one can view as far as the city outskirts.
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