Journey to the Past

For those of you who are animated movie buffs (or girls, for that matter), you may recognize the title from the 90s movie, "Anastasia", a cute song-and-dance movie about the last remaining Russian Romanov, Anastasia. Today we got to visit the city where they were presumably murdered, Yekaterinburg.

According to the Lonely Planet Russia guide, they tested the bones of the Romanovs in the 90's - Anastasia's was with them. Turns out it was another daughter who was not accounted for. Sucks for the movie :(

Church of the Blood, where the Romanovs were killed. Monument to the Romanov family.

Anyway, Yekaterinburg is a lovely city with most of it's historical center spread out over many blocks. It's a modern city with trams, trolleys, and buses connecting all corners. There are a plethora of pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, and shopping centers (even a Gucci!). It feels like the first cosmopolitan city we have hit since we left Seoul.

In the center of Yekaterinburg is the City Pond, created by a dam. Around the pond are some nice parks including Lover's Lane and the Keyboard Monument, a walking path, and the Governor's Mansion. And what Russian city would be complete without it's statue of Lenin!

City Pond and Lover's Lane

Keyboard Monument and Lenin

We walked around for 3 hours admiring the sights, architecture, streets, and people before we hit the post office (see previous post). Our favorite church, among a dozen, was the Ascension Church. From the side it was a beautiful sky blue and white, with gold towers. From the front it was old and peeling; obviously it hadn't been restored yet!

Side and front view of Ascension Church

Yekaterinburg is a good city to stop in for a day along the Trans-Siberian. We liked the history behind the city and the sights it had to offer. We also liked how walkable everything is. If you get a chance to visit you'll enjoy yourself.