Above: Our lovely homestay was located in this humble Soviet-style apartment block.
Onboard
We woke around 1030 Irkutsk time or 0730 Ekaterinburg time after more than 10h sleep! We must be adjusting to the local time. The countryside appeared quite green. Even the birch trees are green.
We had breakfast with the Japanese boys. It was disappointing and expensive. Sausage and rice, or stroganoff and rice. Portions were small and the quality was so-so.
We had ramen for lunch today while appreciating more the green birch trees. The scenery seemed very European. The land was low-lying with lots of stagnant water around though.
In Ekaterinburg
We arrived into Ekaterinburg about half hour late at 1630. We had left Irkutsk the same time two days ago, and with the 3h time difference, it meant the journey had taken 51h.
We got picked up at the station with an American girl who had been travelling six months. Our transfer to our accommodation turned ominous as we drive up a muddy road flanked by Soviet-style concrete block flats. A nice lady let us into the building through a large iron door into the mildew-smelling hallway.
Their apartment turned out lovely. We were given their living room with a foldout sofa. It looked like a very small double or a king single. But most importantly, it had an excellent shower, which I needed very much after 51h on the train.
We walked to the main road past very muddy pools of water. The weather had now turned fine and we found that ice-cream here to be cheaper than at train stations. I suppose that it shouldn’t be a surprise.
There were lots of biddy-bits from dandelions (or similar) and cherry blossom petals in the air. Spring was definitely in the air.
We took the tram to the city centre and had trouble finding eateries. We settled on a fast food place. The fried chicken shaslik and pirozhki were good and prices a little lower than New Zealand.
It rained again and we sat it out before taking the same number 26 tram back to our accommodation. Mild panic set in as it departed from the route we had come through. All ended well as it turned to be a loop route.