Hi

Sorry for the delay in these blog posts we have been a bit cut off from internet access so havent been able to up date my old blog!

We had a fun train ride from Perm which was actually a really boring city! There were two russian guys sharing our kupe (our train compartment) who thought we were hillarious because we could speak any russian and im sure he called all his friends to tell them about the angliski's he was sharing with! He also insisted on talking to us for hours (in russian) and we didnt have a clue what was going on about! We did manage to communicate with him mainly through our russian phrasebook which he loved and eventually managed to get some sleep once he had shut up!

We arrived in Ekaterinburg early in the morning and found a hotel to stay in which was quite cheap. We were quite impressed when we first arrived at our floor as the rooms looked quite posh and fancy. However by the time we reached our room number we were in the middle of a building site with plaster and paint pots all around it was pretty grim! The toilets were gross and we had to pay to have a shower which didnt have a door so i wasnt very impressed! It was only for one night though and was very cheap so we shouldn't complain!

We explored Ekaterinburg once we had recovered from the shower experience and saw the catherdral built over the Romanov death site. It was very nice although the people were a bit odd inside! We then found the WWII memorial which was of a fallen soldier (see the pics). It was a really impressive statue and had a very big impact, the best statue we have seen so far! We then wandered down to see the statue of Lenin, some other buildings and the city pond.

Once we had exhausted the tourist sights we headed to the bars as there was a really good scottish pub we wanted to try out! Tryed out a few other places and then stumbled back to our building site bedroom for some sleep!

As our train wasn't leaving until midnight on thursday we killed some time in a cool military museum and photography exhibition in the day and then spent what felt like a lifetime, putting photos up for you all to see, so i hope you have been checking them out!

So far we hadn't met any other english speaking people since Moscow and were both really missing chatting to people and making friends and we headed to the station chatting about how cool it would be to meet some english speaking people on the train! Dont get me wrong the russian people are lovely but there is only some much you can communicate when you cant speak the language. The Russains also continue speaking to you despite the fact that you havent got a clue what they are saying. so you get a barrage of russian which makes no sense whatsoever!

We arrive at the station ready for our longest train journey so far (2 nights but trust me thats long enough!) and as we were waiting for our carraige to be added, we spot a lonely planet (a dead giveaway for tourists!) so we get very excited and head over to speak to them! We meet Matt and Karin, a canadian couple traveling along the same route as us and low and behold they are sharing our kupe! It was so nice to finally meet some other travellers and be able to communicate properly, we were all very excited!

So we had a really fun train ride, and spent most of the time chatting, drinking beer and playing games! We even played barry white to pass some time and Matt taught us how to play poker, betting with hair crips and bangles as chips! Renny won but i think it was beginners luck! Renny even found a russian admirer called edward who took an instant shine to our Renny! She really did well to bag such a beauty, an old russian guy who now lives in canada - what more could you possibly want!  The train ride was very fun although i dont think i would want to spend longer that 2 days on the train! After a while it gets very boring and theres not a lot of room in the carriages and the toilets stink! It is fun though and a very easy way to travel round! The trains are always bang on time, not like old england where they are always late!

We are heading to Krasnoyarsk next and hopefully will get to visit the Stolby nature reserve to see some nature after all these towns we have been visiting! We have also arranged to stay in a russian homestay with a guy called Anatoliy who runs english tours and homestays in Krasnoyarsk but check out the next post for the fun and games we had there!

lots of love x x x x x x x