russia: pervouralsk and nevyansk

Ekaterinburg is the fourth largest city in Russia, and is the capital of the Sverdlovsk oblast (state.) The location was chosen because it sits near a border of the European and Asiatic contintinental plates. The train station in Ekaterinburg actually marks this border with a design over the front doors of the station.

Not surprisingly, many markers of this border are near the city, in a town called Pervouralsk. 

I wanted to see the markers, just because I could. I walked to the train station and eventually found the right desk to buy a ticket for the next trained scheduled to leave for Pervouralsk. The first desk I tried wasn't the right one, they sent me elsewhere. The second desk was the wrong one as well, and the information desk didn't know where to buy the ticket either. Argh. I went down two flights of stairs and tried another desk, finally succeeding.

This ended up being my first experience with a quirky aspect of the Russian train system. All trains run on Moscow time, no matter where the train is at any given time. I had a vague idea that this was the case, so I wasn't completely confused when the ticket lady told me that my train departed at 1100 Moscow time, which was 1300 local time. I ended up having to wait almost two hours for the train, as I'd just missed one, argh. 

It was weird to look at my watch (still set to Moscow time,) and the train station clocks (also set to Moscow time,) and see one time, but then look at my phone, which was set on local time.

The train itself was a slow train, stopping what seemed like every few minutes. I ended up getting off the train one stop earlier than I'd planned, because I'd been looking at a map app, it showed another continental border marker I hadn't known about. 

When I saw the marker out the window of the train, I dashed off straightaway.

This stop was pretty much out in the middle of nowhere, so after walking around the border marker and taking photos, I had to walk through snow in the general direction of the town of Pervouralsk. I didn't have any data on my phone, so I wasn't completely sure of where I wanted to go, and I couldn't look up any information.

I followed the tracks for a while, crossing a small creek on the way. It was snowing the whole time, thank goodness I had waterproof boots!

Once I got to town I walked along the highway to get to the main continental markers. For some reason there are two of them, both quite big. One looks as if it was built specifically for tourists, complete with a small platz in which buses can park and a small shop. The other was smaller, with less signage. 

What they had in common were clearly depicted sides of Asia and Europe.

There were also driving signs on both sides of the highway. I ran back and forth across the road in order to take selfies with those signs too.

By the time I'd seen both markers (getting from one to the other required walking a path through the woods,) it was getting dark. I found my way to the train station (the one at which I'd originally planned to disembark,) and discovered I'd have to wait a couple hours for the next train.

The ticket lady suggested the bus station, which was not far away. Thankfully a bus was scheduled to depart within 30 minutes. I was somewhat motion sick by the time we got back to Yekaterinburg, but then I had the walk from the train station to dinner to get my head right again. Yay for a nice cold walk :)

The next morning I did a better job of getting moving a bit faster, as well as checking train times so I didn't 'just miss' a train. My train left at 0905 local time, arriving in the town of Nevyansk a couple hours later.

I walked from the train station to the city center, a rather lonely walk. It wasn't too long, but I didn't see anyone else out walking, nor did I see much (if any,) traffic. While walking I did enjoy the pretty painted window shutters on many of the houses. Since the town isn't very aesthetically appealing, I guess you have to do something to make it at least a little bit better. 

My first stop in the city center was the WW2 memorial area. As I expected, there was a rather large stone with the years carved into it, as well as some fake flowers laying around. The flowers were gathered around an eternal flame. 
There was also a statue of a soldier, actually just a bust of what I'm guessing is supposed to represent an enlisted soldier. I don't know how the Russian Army shows rank on its uniforms.

Next up for me was the Saviour Transfiguration Cathedral. A really really big, bright yellow chuch. I should point out that while the outside looked really big, the inside was much smaller than I expected. 
At least, it didn't feel very big. It was not a wide open or airy church.

About 3 minutes of walking took me from the church to the so called 'Leaning Tower of Nevyansk.' 

It doesn't lean nearly as much as the much more famous tower in Italy, but you can see the lean with just a glance.

The leaning tower was originally part of the family 'house' of the ruling family of the area. It is still attached to the house, which is now a local history museum. I enjoyed the museum quite a bit (I'm sure the appearance of a single foreigner in low season was a bit confusing to the employees,) especially the depictions of local life in photos and items.

I think in better weather you can pay to climb up the tower, but I didn't think that would be a great idea in colder weather; especially since the skyline of Nevyansk didn't seem all that intriguing.

The house/museum wasn't far from a pond/lake, so I walked partway around the water, just because I felt the need to walk a bit further. There wasn't much of anything to see, but the weather was decent, so I enjoy walking.

On the way from the water back in the general direction of the train station I passed a Lenin memorial, which reminded me that cities and towns both small and big were affected by a man who is actually quite small in stature. I also found another war memorial, complete with large carvings of the heads and faces of anonymous soldiers and others involved in the war.

I walked around the rest of the city center area, but there wasn't anything happening. An area with what might've been a market was mostly empty, and there weren't many people outside at the time.

I made the walk back to the train station, fortunately I didn't have long to wait to catch the next elektrichka back to Ekaterinburg.