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Moscow to Krasnoyarsk via Kazan We left behind the colourful onion domes ofMoscow and headed further East to Kazan, where we stayed for just one day. Kazan is the capital of the Tatarstan Republic and a large majority of the population is Muslim, so there are mosques on every street corner, which is unusual in Russia. Kazan's Kremlin, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since the year 2000, boasts an amazing cathedral and a huge ornate mosque. Also inside the walls of the Kremlin is a 50m-tall leaning tower which was built by Ivan the Terrible to persuade the most beautiful girl of Kazan to marry him. Evidently she wasn't impressed and committed suicide by jumping off the tower a few days after its completion.After a day in Kazan we had to get back on the train for the 60 hour ride to Krasnoyarsk, our longest journey of the trip so far, and hopefully the longest one we'll have to do! We were in 2nd class ('kupe'), which was slightly more relaxing and quiet than the usual 3rd class ('platzcart') open carriage chaos. We shared our compartment with a variety of people along the way, the first being a sweet old Russian lady who obviously saw I (Flo) had kicked off my blanket and so she decided to tuck me in in the middle of the night. Then there was a Russian man whose only words to us in 24 hours were 'Goodbye', and a friendly quail-egg eating Chinese man who seemed amused at our attempts to communicate in a variety of languages. Unfortunately the train arrived in Krasnoyarsk at 4am, so we decided to wait in the station until a reasonable time, but this meant a severe lack of sleep! Krasnoyarsk is as grey, dilapidated and depressing as I remember it. We are staying in the horrendously over-priced old Soviet hotel, a huge concrete square with holes drilled out for windows, which doesn't appear to have changed much in the last thirty years. Service with a smile certainly isn't a concept the Russians have come to adopt yet. I can't say I'm glad to be back but as it's only for one night I'm pleased Kit can see where I stayed for 4 months; the town certainly has left anything but a glowing impression on him so far...
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