Tarter: bad for the teeth, good for the traveler

On the train we met Alex and Max from Kazan. They were headed home and were insistent on pointing out every landmark you could see from the train as we approached Kazan at least 6 times. They were a bit excited to be going home and I couldn’t blame them.

We stopped at McDonald’s for a bite before getting to our room. Before you start saying how sacriligous it is to eat at McDonald’s while out backpacking let me just say #1 we don’t do it often #2 what the hell do you know? #3 We tried to get doner kabab but were unsuccessful as the place in lonely planet either no longer served it, had no idea what the hell we were talking about, or both. We had Greek Macs and hoofed it up to Fatima where we got a room. It was 900 roubles for a twin room with shared bath, very plain, clean, and had a small tv. We registered our visas and headed to the Capital Coffeehouse that had wifi. Next door we had some beer and sausages for dinner and headed back.

The next day we went to the Kazan Kremlin, a Unesco world heritage site which had an incredible mosque. I really liked Kazan, it was a small quiet city/town with a great vibe and beautiful atmosphere. We checked out the rest of the area and got ready for the final leg of the Trans-Siberian (which from here was actually the Ural railroad but who cares)

Rapid fire!

Got into Yekaterinburg in the morning and checked into Hotel Scerdlovsk across the street from the train station. Next day took a tour to where they dumped the Romanovs after they were murdered. It was just me, my brother, the driver, and our guide Mariana. We went out to the memorial for all the political prisoners executed and dumped outside the town and headed to the Europe/Asia border. I realized that it hadn’t been that long since Russia was under the old regime and I asked Mariana what differences she noticed in her life from before and after. She immediately said that of course change was both good and bad, some things were better and some things were worse but then she hesitated and thought for a moment. “For me it’s the colors. Everything seems a little bit brighter in color”

We hit the post office and then the hotel to reschedule our train tickets. My brother was getting a bit tired of the fast constantly stopping for small towns pace (not that I didn’t agree) and so we decided to skip a few and move up our schedule a bit. We went to the Afgan war memorial, had a bit to eat at a mall food court and took off for Kazan.