The diary of a traveller, entry 23. On the way to Europe

23. November

Another culinary delight for breakfast. This time it was micro-waved, powdered mashed potatoes. Totally smothered in butter again of course. Quite disgusting. Today Andrei has organised a big excursion for us outside of the city to the old part of Yekaterinburg and to the monastery erected at the sight of the mineshaft where the Romanov’s remains were found. Slightly macabre.

Well it was a long old day and I saw lots of interesting things but I won’t be too sad to say goodbye to Andrei. He’s the most irritating host I’ve had so far – would much preferred to have explored Yekaterinburg myself. Anyways, first stop on our grand excursion was a little town called Nevyansk (Невянск). It has a leaning tower which is apparently quite famous. The town used to be famous as a large producer of cast iron (brought to mind that wonderful sequence in Andrei Rublev where they cast the bell). It was founded by Peter I in the early part of the 18^th century. There was an English clock mechanism in the top of the tower. Nice. There was also a smallish cathedral nearby which we had a quick tour off (an unknown man gave me a candle to light which was nice of him – I think I put it in front of the saint who represented grammatical understanding and knowledge).

After that we went to a Russian ceramic pot museum and shop which was everything you would expect from a Russian ceramic pot museum and shop. Highlight of the day was lunch which was delicious homemade pilmeni in a small village outside of the town. There was a blazing fire in the fireplace and also a small Old Believer’s church in the garden.

We drove on and got to the site where the Romanov’s bodies where found around 5pm. It is now a complex in the middle of the woods for the Church – monasteries, seminaries etc. Quite a nice spot actually. So bloody cold that we didn’t stay long though. I think it is more humid here in the Urals perhaps. The last stop was the Europe-Asia border which is a geographical border based on the gradient of the Ural Mountains I think. Took a photo.

(c) Richard Breeson,

photos are taken from Richard's archive