36 Hours to Kazan

Train Station in Novosibirsk

I've never taken a train this far in Russia, so I was a little concerned about how I would pass the time. As it turned out, I shouldn't have worried. I'm listening to Pillars of the Earth via the Audible app on my phone, plus I just discovered Minecraft a few weeks before my trip, so I'm building my own cathedral along with Tom Builder and Prior Philip. From time to time the sun came out and I took some pictures. As we approached the Urals I noticed that more pine trees began to be added to the ubiquitous birches of Siberia.

Some pictures of the inside of the train:

Brushing teeth before bed.

The view from my bunk.

Using my Audible subscription.

These next pictures were taken as we were coming into Tyumen. I know, you've never heard of it. But it's the oldest city in Siberia, and important in Russia's gas and oil industry, with more than half a million inhabitants.

This is a clever logo. Almost as clever as the FedEx logo, but not quite. At first I kept thinking it was Р/Д. But what would that stand for? Russian / Road? The slash is a rail? Then all of a sudden it hit me. The middle letter, Ж, takes it's left and right side from the other two letters. It's РЖД, Russian Rail (literally "Iron") Road. Well played, graphic designer!

I didn't take many pictures after this as it began to get dark. We pulled into Ekaterinburg in the evening, Russia's fourth-largest city (1.3 million - Novosibirsk is 3rd at 1.5 million) and the administrative and industrial center of the Urals. It is famous in Russian history for being the place where the Russian royal family was killed during the Russian Civil War between the Reds and the Whites in 1918. It was too dark to take pictures, though, and I was tired. I lost my cabin mate here and gained three more, so I got to experience a full compartment for the first time on this trip. Two of us got off at Kazan. I don't know where the other two were headed, but the conductor told me that the train finished in Sochi. I forgot to ask him where it had started.