15 June Afternoon and Evening
After lunch we set off down Vainera Street with Vladim joining us as an uninvited guest cum guide. We walked past the same sights and statues we saw yesterday until we reached this rather surprising last one. Apparently, this “bad” chap has quite an active fan club in Yekaterinburg.
Vladim led us past a local stadium that had a poster honoring Yekaterinburg’s Olympians then to an open-air market that was a bit like a flea market in the states. Locals sell coins, stamps, relics of the Soviet Union, and some (mostly schlocky) local art. We had a good view of Yekaterinburg’s Circus Theater that’s visible from many points in the city. I planned to try to return to later for a photo-op but didn’t. So here’s your chance to see it.
From Yekaterinburg News
If you didn’t look at them in yesterday’s post, you can find the rest of my pictures of Yekaterinburg in this folder. Meanwhile, we crossed a major intersection and entered a park at which point the group split up heading off to follow up on some places of interest specific to them. Rose and I walked through the park toward the river. Vladim stayed behind, apparently intent on continuing his inappropriate pursuit but fortunately Groud had a better sense of what was happening than (at least I) did and she stayed with Erin and the other single women as a sort of chaperone.
In our walk through the park, Rose and I passed a wedding celebration but moved on quickly in our determination to see the world’s largest keyboard. Of course, it’s a wishing keyboard so you type out your wish:
There was another attraction along the riverbank that I particularly wanted to see. In yesterday’s post I mentioned a remarkable coincidence and this monument was a part of that. In the posts that described our wandering about UB I didn’t mention that, walking to dinner on our first night, we passed a sculpture that surprised me simply because of the location.
You may also recall that I included a photo in my post of the Peace Bell that marks the southern end of Sükhbaatar Square. You may not have noticed, and I deliberately neglected to mention the chess game taking place on the steps of the Bell. Now, after three and a half days and more than 4,100 kilometers of travel, from central Asia to the edge of Europe, from Ulaanbaatar to Yekaterinburg came proof that our world is indeed a small place.
I had a few hours before I needed to meet Lu and Ana for the Deca Dance performance so I circled back to get a shot of the Circus Theater then set off in search of a book in English because I’d finished the only one I brought. I also went looking for some postcards because I thought Yekaterinburg would be a more unique spot than Moscow or Saint Petersburg. I failed at both. It’s worth mentioning that one reason I was able to do all this walking in spite of my still painful and somewhat swollen knee was that Lu was sharing some anti-inflammatory medication she’d brought. I had packed some Aleve but not enough to last very long in the quantities I was consuming so this supplement allowed me to extend the life of my meager supply.
I do need to mention another connection I made between Ulaanbaatar and Yekaterinburg. You may recall that I talked about the hazards of being a pedestrian in UB. Although Yekatrinburg’s sidewalks are well paved and drivers attend to both signals and pedestrians for the most part this city has its own hazard. I can only call them the mad cyclists of Yekaterinburg.
These young (mostly men) ride the sidewalks at breakneck speeds weaving between pedestrians as though we were gates on some cycling slalom course. And unless you happen to hear the rush of air through their wheels, you have no warning they’re coming. I have to admit that, although it’s unnerving, they managed this derring-do without my observing any accidents. I took a few minutes to stock up for tomorrow’s twenty-four-hour train ride to Moscow, grabbed a quick light bite to eat, returned to the hotel for a shower and change of clothes, and met the Brazilians in the lobby to set off for our dance show.
The Opera and Ballet Theater in Yekaterinburg was built in 1912 and is a fine representation of a classic European style theater. The show was sold out and my seat was in a side box so I could only get a limited angle for pictures of the interior of the theater.
Lu and Ana had gotten seats in the upper level. On the fourth-floor lobby, there’s an area that traces the history of the building showing photographs of the construction and has props, costumes, and miniature sets from past productions. The show itself was interesting – an hour and a half of non-stop dancing. The performance included a soloist who was on stage performing before the official curtain. (I don’t know if his steps were choreographed or ad-libbed.) The recorded music included an acid rock version of Hava Nagila that opened the show.
It should go without saying that the dance itself was open to a wide range of interpretation in the fashion of most modern dance and I think we all had somewhat different impressions. The unquestioned highlight, certainly for some audience members, was the inclusion of twelve randomly selected women (I saw one who refused) in a dance with the troupe. Some participated more enthusiastically than others but all took part. This particular dance concluded with one of the men in the cast in a slow close dance with an older elegantly dressed woman in a lovely blue dress who was the last audience member after the others had been escorted offstage. Then the entire corps including her partner dropped on their backs lying on the floor as if they’d been shot. She stood there alone and swaying for several minutes seemingly unsure of what else to do before finally exiting the stage to great applause as a spotlight followed her back to her seat.
We’d planned to go out for a drink and to see some live music after the show and G said she’d like to meet us for the latter (not the former because she doesn’t drink alcohol) and would meet us outside the theater at 21:00. The show finished a bit earlier than that and while we were waiting, a young woman whose name, Irina, I learned in the process of our conversation apparently overheard us and approached us so she could speak English with us. 
Irina, it turns out, is an elementary and middle school English teacher so the opportunity to speak English with Brazilians was one she couldn’t pass up. She and her mother (who spoke no English) had also attended the show so we had something to discuss. Groud arrived after a few minutes and we said our goodbyes as the four of us headed off for a light late dinner, some beer, and hoped for live music. We succeeded with two of the three. At the pub, they told us the music would start some time after midnight. We were too tired to wait for that and needed to pack for the train tomorrow.
Of course, no visit to a Russian pub or restaurant would be complete without some confusion about the order. This time it all fell on Lu who wanted a specific type of dark beer. When the waitress indicated they didn’t have that brand, Lu somehow ended up ordering a lager. When the waitress brought it, Lu tried to return it for the dark beer. The Russians being Russian made no accommodation so she ended up drinking two beers.
Oh, and if you’re wondering why the music would start at such a late hour, this is Yekaterinburg at 23:00 or so when we left the pub:
The Asia – Europe border is only about forty kilometers from Yekaterinburg so sometime early tomorrow morning we will leave Asia and enter Europe though we aren’t likely to see that crossing from the train.