Posted 9:25 AM by Gobbler
Rollin Rollin Rollin

Ive been off for almost a week i have just realised. Im now in moscow, five thousand kms further along the road home. I stopped off in yekaterinburg on the way, the highlight of which was supposed to be the military museum with an exhibition on the 'U2 Affair' (this being the shooting down of a U2 american spy plane in 1960 and not some ugly reference to the nefarious sexual activities of the 80's musical phenomenon) as well as displays on the Afghan War. Plus a few tanks and other military hardware. The book promised an interesting bit of museum. Being a Sunday, it was closed. I hadnt even realised that it was a sunday let alone that the museum was closed as most russian museums close on monday. This museum closed on Monday as well, so i would have had to hang around for two more days to get to see it, not worthwhile unfortunately. I walked around it and saw some old tanks and other interesting hardware, including (for those that care) a T34, a JSIII, an SU152 or SU122, a Katyusha rocket launcher with a few rockets attached, and a big feck off missila, presumably the same type as the one used to shoot down the U2, but now i shall never know.

This was not the only reason to stop in yekaterinburg. In soviet times the city was named Sverdlovsk in honour of Comrade Sverdlov, the communist who ordered the brutal, tortuous executions of the last Tsar and his family in a house in the city. On the site there is now a church and a chapel and quite a few crosses, all newly built or renovated. Across the road from the site there stands a monument to the 'Urals Young Communists', with a boy and girl holding aloft a flag. I wondered whether the fact that the statue was sited so near to the place of execution was coincidence. In polar contrast to the newly built church across the road, the steps around the soviet monument were buckled and crumbling, and the sad monument splattered by paint bombs. Todays Urals youth evidently do not belong to the communist party.

The monument was typical of the many that are scattered all throughout Russian cities, bold and positive. On my way to the military museum i passed the Afghan War Memorial and was duly shocked by the statue. A lone soldier, sitting on the earth, looking unkempt and exhausted, his clothes and hair ruffled, his head down, holding his smooth steel AK pointing to the sky. A miserble, depressing statue. I appreciate that the USSR lost the war and that the whole thing was a collosal balls up, but who would have expected to see such a statue in 'lets all smile together-or we'll lock you up' USSR? I wonder how many similar statues there are in the USA about the Vietnam War, a similar disaster, depicting the misery of the American soldier. MAny perhaps, I dont know.

In the square and around the city there were girls, presumably rich mafia types, riding their horses along the pavement and streets, their steeds liberally crapping all over the pavements that everyone else (whos Daddy's cant buy them horses to ride) has to walk around.

I left Yekaterinburg that night for Moscow.

Current Citiscapades

Arrived in Moscow yesterday morning and met a couple of english blokes at the hostel. as a result spent a very long night drinking lager like we were back in blighty. even managed to attracted a few other nationalities to our party witha scot, an aussie, a rouge (i think) swede and a german. Aussie bloke told english matey that The British Empire bejhaved in the same way as Hitler, English matey didnt take it too well, tensions rose. amazingly i did not become embroiled as i was chjatting to german matey and felt that it might perhaps be more tactful if we stuck to another conversation...

Day two in moscow now and i have as yet been foiled in my attempt to see lenin, completing the trio of pickled dead people. I queued for 45 minutes only to have them close the gate as i was within 10 people of getting through. most irritating. Especially as it was only half 12 and you can only see the old boy from 10-1, not the biggest window. Will have to try again tomorrow, ive just got to get me some lenin in. The guidebook suggests that you should wear respectful clothing such as trousers and long sleeve shirts, and not t-shirts such as the 'Mc Lenin' shirt. I thought the guidebook was having a little joke here, but a tour of some touristy places today has revealed several McLenin t-shirts, bizarre. Not to mention the t-shirt with lenin on the front thrusting two fingers in the air shouting "Fu*k the Revolution!". The guidebooks evidently forgot to mention this particular tshirt, but One imagines that the police would not appreciate you visiting Lenin in that one either. Apparently Lenin is in a perfect state of preservation, according to a panel of indepent analysts. Presumably apart from his brain which they had removed on pickling to be analysed in an attampt to discover the secret of his greatness. In the 60's they realised that this was a crap and futile idea, and stopped research. Presumably Lenins brain is still around somewhere, in a miserable jar with some slices cut out of it. Poor old chap. He wanted the people of the world to unite, not pickle him and put his chopped up brain in a jar.

Also, and this nwas something of a surprise to me, Red Square in Moscow is not called Red Square because of its Communist origins, as i reckon almost everyone imagines, but because of the fact that when they built it they used r4ed pavestones. Remarkable.

Having a jolly good time all told but as always irritated by the impossible paradox that Im always eager to meet people to avoid being on my own but know that its a bit futile because after a day or two i will leave, probably never to see them again. tis a pain in the arse. Tonight i shall meet up with english mateys on the couch and drink some beer. Very tires so may not head to the club i had been promising myself, but we shall see.

The Road Ahead

I had planned to leave tomorrow for st p. have heard that i can get a direct train from there to berlin without having to go through belarus, which will require a transit visa which will take a few days to get. I may stop off for a day or so in one or more of the baltic states, shall have to check on time.