russia: tobolsk

Tobolsk was the last city I visited during my winter mini tour of Siberia. (And I've already decided that I'd like to see all the cities again in summer, or at least warmer weather, just to see how they look different.) Tobolsk is in the Tymen oblast, and has nearly 100,000 residents.

Wikipedia tells me Tobolsk is one of the traditional capital cities of Siberia, though I'm not sure what exactly that means. The city was first founded in 1590 by a group of Cossacks. It was the second city founded in the region, not long after Tyumen.

In 1708 Tobolsk received its first school, theatre, and newspaper; all of these were the first in Siberia. After the Battle of Poltava (now in Ukraine,) in 1709 some members of the losing Swedish Army were sent to Tobolsk as prisoners. There were so many of these prisoners that they made up 25% of the city population, some of them ended up staying for good, even after repatriation was possible.

Tobolsk became the residence of more prisoners after the Decembrist revolt in 1825. Some of these exiles also ended up staying in Tobolsk permanently.

Tobolsk lost some regional power when the main route of the Transsiberian railway built between Tyumen and Omsk didn't pass through Tobolsk. You can arrive in Tobolsk by train, but the train station is not at all close to the city itself, not even my crazy definition of walking distance would consider the distance between the train station and Tobolsk as walkable.

After the February revolution in 1917, the tsarist empire of Russia ended. The reigning tsar abdicated, and with his family went into exile in Tobolsk for a few months. (From Tobolsk they went to Yekaterinburg in 1918, where they were brutally murdered in July of that year.)

Wikipedia tells me the economy of modern Tobolsk centers on a major oil refinery and the petrochemical industry. Some traditional crafts, such as bone carving are also preserved. Tourism is also part of the economy, because of its historical importance, architecture, and natural landscapes.

I arrived in Tobolsk, and wanted to walk to town, only to realize that it really wasn't walking distance. That in addition to this being Siberia and it being winter made walking a no go. Even waiting for the bus in front of the train station was quite cold.

When I booked my hostel in Tobolsk, I decided to book a cell in what used to be a wing of the prison in the kremlin area. The address listed on the booking wasn't quite the actual location, but when I found the actual location I discovered that check in was in a completely different hotel, in a completely different location/building. Since I was cold and tired, I was annoyed by all this.

Several of the cells in the prison had been converted into hostel dorms, I think I was the only person in the whole thing during the night I slept there. 

Another of the former cells had been made into the kitchen, though it had only a kettle and a table. No real cooking facilities. Yet another former cell was the bathroom and toilet.

After resting up for entirely too long, I went out to walk. The prison I was sleeping in was in the wall surrounding a church and museum. I thought about trying to go in them, but discovered the entry fees and just wasn't in the mood for paying entry fees. Sometimes I'm happy to do this, sometimes not so much.

Not too far away from the prison gates was the main platz in the old city center. This is the part of Tobolsk that is in the middle of the old kremlin walls. I assume it is normally a rather empty area, but at this time of year it was filled with ice sculptures and a giant Christmas tree. I had fun looking at the different sculptures and loved that there weren't too many other people around. There were a couple ice slides, making me regret (yet again,) that I didn't have something to slide on. 

I really should've bought something in Kurgan or Chelyabinsk when I saw things available.

One side of the festival had giant bears, just like the ones I'd seen in Tyumen. I guess Siberian bears are a major stereotype of the region, and Russia in general, sooooo....

Also in the area is the Assumption Cathedral, which was the main church in the old kremlin area. I think part of it is under renovation, but I was still able to go inside, and I loved the interior. Lots of brightly coloured frescoes, a gold iconostasis, tall columns. 

The interior area wasn't very big, but there weren't too many other people around, so it didn't feel crowded.

After wandering all over this area, I decided to wander up one of the bigger streets in town and just see where it went. By this point it was already dusk, with total darkness coming fast. Obviously I'd wasted too much of the day relaxing in my hostel, oh well. What can I do to change this habit of mine, as I've lost way too many hours when I should've been exploring. 

While walking I saw the main WW2 memorial, complete with eternal flame. Due to the lack of sunlight, I decided to wait until the next day to take photos. I also decided to wait in taking photos of two giant murals on the sides of buildings. More photo waiting happened when I walked past some painted snow sculptures.

I walked all the way to the end of a cemetery, marked with a gazebo. The gazebo was covered in holiday lights, which were absolutely lovely in an otherwise dark area. I normally like to explore cemeteries, but I wasn't about to do that in the dark and cold. 

After taking photos in the gazebo I turned around and walked back to my hostel, with a stop at a supermarket along the way.

Getting back into my prison was more of an adventure than I wanted it to be. When I'd checked in, the lady told me that the main gate closed at 1800, effectively closing the museum and church to visitors. She gave me a code to open the gate if I needed to go through after hours. When she did this, the gate was open, so I assumed the code system would be easy to work.

It wasn't. I tried the code over and over again, but the gate didn't budge. I admit I got really frustrated, and started crying. I was cold, tired, and not able to get into my accomodation, argh. Fortunately, a guard inside the gate heard me trying over and over, and came out to see what was happening. He showed me how to open the gate with the code, and it included lifting up on one section, which I'm pretty sure the earlier lady hadn't mentioned. Phew. I wonder how long the security guards stick around after closing hours?

I slept like a rock. Even with the long sleep, and the knowledge that daylight was short, it still took me a while to get going the next morning. I packed up and checked out, leaving my pack at the luggage area of the hotel that had handled my check in.

I started my sightseeing on a gorgeous day (still quite cold, but a blue sky instead of dark gray,) with a walk around the old kremlin walls. The view at one end was out over part of the city, it was a lovely view.

My next sight was a memorial at one end of a park area. I'll admit I didn't pay attention at the time to the sign telling me what was being memorialized. Later on I looked it up, Google reviews told me the memorial is dedicated to the Ermak victories of the 16^th century.

I walked up Oktober street, past a monument to Dostoyevsky to Peter and Paul Church. It was small, but I don't skip many churches if I can go in. The inside wasn't very interesting, but the lady inside decided I needed to learn a bit about the church, so she gave me a few dates, as well as showing me the baptismal bath.

After leaving the church I went back to the main street I'd walked the day before, so I could take the mural photos and the war memorial photos and the snow sculpture photos. They were all way better in daylight, as expected.

Last night I walked to the gazebo, then turned around. This day I kept going, by walking around the traffic circle. Not much further along I found a small bakery which had tasty treats and a warm interior. I stayed in there for at least an hour, warming up my phone, my camera, and the batteries for both.

Not long after I left the bakery I noticed some runners coming up the pavement on the other side of the street. Not only were they running outside in -16C weather, they were in fancy dress (costume.) The ladies were wearing Snegurechka costumes, she is the granddaughter of Ded Moroz. The men were wearing Ded Moroz costumes.

After seeing the runners, I remembered that while riding the bus into town I'd seen a random building with unique architecture. I'd marked it on the map and decided to go back later. 

This seemed like a good time to do that, so I kept walking. A while later I got to the building, it was actually a government building! A state committee for something, I don't think there is an equivalent in the States, so the name didn't mean anything to me.

At this point it was sunset, which was a completely different experience with a non cloudy sky. Absolutely beautiful, and really quiet, if that makes sense.

I walked into every supermarket I passed on my way back to the hotel to pick up my pack, at least three of them. I can't help it, I'm always looking for yogurt or other snacks.

I picked up my pack, then found the bus stop to catch the bus back to the train station. There was a schedule posted, but it wasn't accurate, argh. I ended up having to wait more than thirty minutes for the bus I needed, but at least I had the time to wait. When I got to the train station I had a few more hours to kill, then boarded my train as soon as it pulled in.

Finding a place to put my pack in my area was a challenge, as one of the other passengers had a fake Christmas tree as his luggage. The tree took up the entire area above the beds, annoying me. He offered me the space below his bunk, which is the normal thing to do, but I was nervous because I was going to get off the train at 0230, and I knew he'd have to stand up at that hour for me to get my pack. Thankfully, he understood when I told him this, and it ended up being no problem at all.

I'd like to see Tobolsk again, in warmer weather.

russia: chelyabinsk

Chelyabinsk ended up on my mini tour de Siberia for two reasons. One, it was listed in my guidebook, and two, because a former student of mine is from the oblast. I've been lucky enough to see enough of Russia that I can choose to visit a city simply because I know someone originally from there.

Chelyabinsk is the 7^th largest city in Russia, with over a million residents.

Wikipedia says archaeologists have discovered ruins of the ancient town of Arkaim in the vicinity of the city of Chelyabinsk. 

Ruins and artifacts in Arkaim and other sites in the region indicate a relatively advanced civilization existing in the area since the 2nd millennium BCE. Apparently there are 23 archaeological sites in an area called the Sintasha-Petrovka cultural area, this original settlement is one of them.

The modern history of Chelyabinsk started with a fortress called Chelyaba, which was founded in 1736, built to protect trade routes through the area. Though it remained a 'provincial' town for the next century, Chelyabinsk was given official town status in 1787.

Chelyabinsk finally started growing because of the railroad. The connection of the city to Yekaterinburg in 1896 essentially made Chelyabinsk a gateway to Siberia, so heaps of people moved through the city, and some ended up staying.

During WW2 some military and industrial companies were moved to Chelyabinsk by the government, keeping them well away from the reach of the advancing Germany army. There were so many tanks produced in Chelyabinsk that the city was nicknamed Tankograd (Tank City,) for a while.

The most interesting point in recent history took place in 2013. A meteor moving at over 55,000 kilometers per hour exploded in the sky, around 25-30 kilometers up. The shock wave created by the explosion injured more than 1000 people. Some of the fragments landed in and near Chelyabinsk.

Chelyabinsk is a major educational center of the Ural region. Wikipedia tells me there are more than a dozen universities in the city, the oldest of which was founded in 1930.

The economy of Chelyabinsk is mostly industrial.

There are metallurgy and military production companies, a massive tractor company, companies producing construction machinery, and pipe plants. There are agricultural firms, watch producers, insurance firms, and more. Wikipedia mentions tourism as part of the economy, but I don't think that's a huge part of what makes the city run.

My train from Kurgan arrived in Chelyabinsk was only around four hours long, arriving at 0430. Since it was so short, and started after midnight,

I didn't get much sleep; I was too afraid of sleeping through my stop. The train station in Chelybinsk is quite big, and very modern. There are a few big rooms, but they don't feel as grand because of the modern architecture.

I dozed off and on in the train station for the next four hours, killing time until it was daylight, or at least close to it. Just as I was getting ready to walk out of the station I got a message telling me the address of my accomodation had moved, which irritated me to no end. I'm glad I got the message before I went in the wrong direction, but they could've sent it at least the night before.

The hostel in which I stayed was quite nice. Though it was in an old wood building, the rooms were warm, had windows letting in natural light, and a couple big kitchens. After warming up and relaxing for a couple hours, I went back out, ready to explore.

I chose a Lenin statue as the first sight I wanted to see. Along the way I discovered that Chelyabinsk had had more snow than Kurgan, as well as colder temperatures, so the snow hadn't melted. Many of the pavements weren't cleared, making walking more of a challenge than I wanted. 

I love walking in winter, but at the same time I prefer walking on pavements, not in the middle of streets.

I stopped into a church, enjoying the warmth for a couple minutes, then kept walking. Further along this first walk I passed a wooden house, one of the original homes of Chelyabinsk. (That is, the style is of the original homes, I'm not sure it has actually been around for over 250 years.)

Unfortunately, when I got to where the Lenin statue was supposed to be, I discovered it was on a military property of some kind, behind closed gates. Argh. 

The River Miass snakes through Chelyabinsk, so when I turned around to head back into the city center I crossed a bridge to get there. This was just one of several bridges I walked over while I was in the city.

Another thing I noticed while walking around Chelyabinsk was the number of small lots selling Christmas trees. Although it was after western Christmas, Orthodox Christmas was still more than a week away, so there was plenty of time to buy one. They seemed to be pretty cheap, but I don't know if the prices I saw were by size, or per tree, or by another measurement.

My next sight was a park. Park Aloye Pole had two things I wanted to see. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, and a monument mausoleum of Lenin. The church was brick on the outside, so I didn't love it. The insdie was really small, and didn't seem very welcoming, so I wasn't a fan of that either. Darnit, I usually like at least one thing about any church I visit.

I'm not sure what the monument mausoleum of Lenin was, or was supposed to be. There is a bust of the man on a small structure of sorts, but I know Lenin himself isn't there, as his embalmed body is on display in Moscow.

At that point I connected to Lenin street, walking to Revolution Square to see the main Lenin statue of the city. I was thrilled when I got to the square to find another ice sculpture festival. Lenin was along one side of the square, the rest of the area was filled with a small ice labyrinth, a couple really big ice slides, and quite a few ice sculptures. Great fun to walk around, and I really wished I had a plastic sled of sorts to use on one of the ice slides.

One of the sculptures was a throne, so naturally I took a photo of me on my throne, hee hee. So nice to find the appropriate chairs for me all over the country.

After taking photos of many of the sculptures, I followed a street that branched off the square. There were two reasons for going this way. One, I'd found a water tower marked on the map further down that street; two, I could see sunset happening as I walked. The way the sun spread light was quite photogenic for a while.

The water tower wasn't particularly exciting, but I'm glad I found it. Are these things ever used anymore? I also found a really really big sculpture of sorts in a small park across the street. 

The top of it had two 'statues' leaning toward each other in love, so it makes sense that it is regularly used as a place to stage wedding photos.

By the time I got back to Revolution Square, it was dark. All the ice sculptures were lit up with different coloured lights, so the dark didn't matter. More fun to wander around and watch people. In a slightly different area I found sculptures made of holiday lights: a carriage like that of Cinderella, and picture frames, and a giant ornament. Very pretty.

Even though it was fairly early in the evening, I walked home from there, stopping in a couple grocery stores along the way to warm up and to get food for dinner. I slept early and hard that night, as I usually do my first night in a new city.

The next morning I packed up and checked out, leaving my pack at the front desk of the hostel. It was slightly out of the way for me to come back and get later in the day, but the train station was even more out of the way, so I didn't want to put the bag in luggage storage at the station.

My first sight of the day was the Alley of Glory, which was a park like pedestrian area with several war memorials along the way. I'm pretty sure it's a lot more interesting to see in summer. As I walked through it just felt like everything was white and snow covered. War memorials aren't as interesting when the name plaques are completely covered.

I got back to Revolution Square, then followed another street to get to a park, where I got to see a bright red locomotive on display. I was wearing a red coat that day, so when I took my photo with the locomotive I almost blended in. 

Also in this park was a wooden sculpture of the head of what looked like Pushkin. I really liked it, though I'm not sure why such a thing was in a random park in Chelyabinsk.

From there I got back to Lenin street, and followed it all the way to the end. It's a long street, so I saw a few things along the way. At least two universities, both of which were in buildings that made me think of the Seven Sisters in Moscow. I wonder how many students attend each of those universities, and how many students in general are in Chelyabinsk?

I also passed a tiny cafe, where I stopped to have carrot cake and hot chocolate. At the very end of the street was a huge monument to Ivan Kurchatov, the father of nuclear engineering in the Soviet Union. He was in charge of the Soviet equivalent of the Manhattan project. (Which was a few years after the US did the research and building.)

Then I walked all the way back to the city center, to get to one of the main museums in Chelyabinsk. 

The State History Museum of the Southern Urals does not have a fun name, and the building isn't particularly exciting, but I ended up quite enjoying my visit. I got to pay the local fee for entry, there wasn't even a question of me being a foreigner, woo hoo!

When I first walked in, I went through what I thought was the enire museum, and was quite disappointed. There were a number of paintings and photos on display, but that was it as far as I could see. When I got back to coat check to pick up my coat the lady asked if I'd really seen everything, I said I thought so.

I was wrong. She took me up to a closed door, which led me into the rest of the museum, which was a much bigger section. I never figured out how I was supposed to know to open a closed door that didn't have a label, but I'm glad she did it for me. The rest of the museum was far more interesting, and far more informational.

I got to see one of the big chunks of the meteorrite that fell in 2013. I got to see photos and items from daily life in the region going back a while. I got to see the history of flora and fauna in the area going back a really long way. I got to see the traditional clothing worn in this part of Russia, as well as how it has changed over time. All in all it was a great museum.

From there I walked quickly back to my hostel to pick up my bag, stopping at a supermarket to pick up snacks along the way. I hadn't left myself enough time to walk back to the train station, so I hopped on a tram to do so, watching my watch the entire way. 

I got to the station in plenty of time to board my train without any stress, and get comfortable for the long ride I had coming.

I'd like to go back to Chelyabinsk when the grass is green, just to see the differences in how the city looks. There are also a couple museums I want to see, as well as big parks.

russia: kurgan

Kurgan is the 53^rd largest city in Russia, just over 2000 kilometers east of Moscow, with a slowly shrinking current population of just under 327,000. It ended up being the warmest place I visited during this mini tour of Siberia, with temperatures only slightly below freezing. Definitely not what I expected anywhere in Siberia.

Kurgan is the modern name of the city, it was founded as Tsaryovo Gorodische in 1659 by a farmer from Tyumen. Like the beginning of many Siberian cities, its early history involves time as a fortress and fortified city.

Kurgan was granted official town status by Catherine the Great (Catherine the 2^nd,) in 1782. This is also when the city took its current name. Wikipedia tells me the name comes from a burial mound, called a kurgan, that was close to the original settlement. The city moved a few times, but only by a few kilometers each time, and always close to the Tobol River.

The city got its first school, hospital, and fire station (with a lookout tower!) in the early 18^th century. During the years when being sent into exile was a thing, Kurgan was one of the cities that regularly hosted exiles.

Several of the so called Decembrists were sent to Kurgan. The Decembrists were a group of military officers and minor nobles that tried to revolt in December 1825. It didn't work, and they were all punished, along with their families by being sent into exile.

Before 1917, most of the houses of Kurgan were made of wood. (Typical in Siberia.) The wooden house tradition slowed down, but continued to hold on until the mid 20^th century, when big (boring and ugly,) concrete apartment complexes were built.

My train from Omsk was a nine hour night train, and arrived exactly on time in Kurgan. I stayed in the train station for a couple hours, for no reason in particular. My walk to my hotel only took 30 minutes, and was one of the more boring city walks I've done in Russia.

Finding my hotel was easy, but I was not able to check in early. Well, I was able to do so, but I didn't want to pay 50% of the nightly fee just to get into the room a couple hours early. Instead, I left my bag at the front desk, and went out to explore.

My hotel was really close to the city center, it only took me ten minutes to walk to Lenin Square. I intended to go there to see and take photos of the statue of Lenin. When I got there I discovered an ice festival, with sculptures placed all over the square, all around the statue. Totally awesome.

Because of the ice festival, the area around Lenin wasn't nearly as empty as I'm used to seeing. Most of the time when I want to take a photo with the man, locals watch me, but there isn't anyone in my frame. 

This time, I had to wait a couple minutes for people to move, then hope they didn't get in my frame while the camera was counting down. Since everyone in the area was taking plenty of photos, no one looked at me at all. Hee hee.

One of the ice sculptures was sortof like a giant wok on a platform. I think it was more a way to play on the ice, as opposed to an actual sculpture. I saw a few parents put their kids in the middle, then watched the kids try to climb out again, sliding all over while doing so. Really cute.

On one side of the square was an ice rink, not yet completely frozen.

From there I ended up walking along random streets, eventually ending up at the local Decembrist museum. It was in a yellow wooden house, one of the ugliest yellows I've seen. Definitely not the colour I would have chosen, but I didn't choose it, soooo... The entrance to the museum was around back, I wonder why.

I was happy to find a museum that did not have a foreigner fee for me. I was not happy when I saw a photo fee listed, argh. Just include a few extra rubles in everyone's entry fee, and stop these silly extra fees. They just make me feel like a human atm. Oddly enough, this was the first city in which I found postcards during this trip, and I found them at this museum. Even though I still had the rest of that day and the next to see the city, I bought the postcards. I also bought a magnet. 

The exhibits of this museum were all on the second floor of the house. The museum displayed furniture, clothing, personal items, and photos of the Decembrists, along with an information page for each room. There wasn't anything unique in this museum, but I was still glad I visited. The ladies who worked there were surprised to see me, as I don't think Kurgan gets many foreign visitors, and those who do come don't come in winter. All that on top of me being by myself, the ladies were fascinated. 

Kurgan doesn't have much to see or do, which is probably the greatest reason the city doesn't get a whole lot of tourists. After I left the museum there was nothing particularly exciting on the map that I wanted to see. I ended up walking the streets in a grid patterns, just to kill time and hope I'd see something worth taking a photo of.

I did find one photo to take, at a fire station of all places. Many Russian cities still have traditional fire stations, which include watchtowers. 

They look very similar to water towers, but have a balcony area at the top, where someone used to stand and watch the city. Before people were connected by phones and electronics, the fastest way for a fire station to learn about a fire was to watch the city.

This fire station was also painted an ugly yellow colour, so was the watchtower. The watchtower was shaped like a lighthouse, I remember wondering what the heck a lighthouse was doing in the middle of a city when I first saw it.

A review of this fire station on google maps says the fire station was completed in 1882, so it really is old.

I kept walking, coming to the platz in front of the Philharmonic Theatre. A good place to people watch, though not much else. I really wanted to keep walking around the city, but for whateva reason I was running out of energy. I found a nearby supermarket and picked up some snack food for dinner, then walked back to the hotel, where it didn't take long to check in.

I wasted time online for a while, then was able to convince myself to go back out for another hour. I walked back to Lenin Square, and was excited to find that most of the ice sculptures were lit up for the evening. I guess when they were built/carved, light wires were built into them, so the ice appeared to change colour, I loved it!

Obviously, there were plenty of locals out along with me, but at that point I stopped caring. The ice rink was finally completely frozen, and I noticed the 'walls' around the rink were also changing colour. Awesome. 

The whole area was worth standing around for a while to people watch. I did feel sorry for the kids who were dragged from one sculpture to another by adults. The adults took photos, then moved on, but didn't really let the kids play, nor interact all that much other than to take the photos.

I did not sleep particularly well that night, my room was quite warm and stayed that way even though I turned off the heat. I didn't have a window, so I wasn't able to do much. Ugh.

In the morning I did my normal wasting of time by putzing around online, but since I knew Kurgan didn't have a whole lot going on, it didn't really make a difference for the rest of my day. Once I did get going, it didn't take me long to pack up and check out, then leave my pack at the front desk.

When I looked at my phone, Yandex maps listed three statues of Lenin in Kurgan, so I decided I wanted to see the other two on my second day in the city. My walk to the first one was quite long, but since I had the whole day to get through, I didn't care.

Go figure, when I got close to the first statue I wanted to see, I figured out it was in a factory complex of some kind, behind a guarded gate. Argh. So much for seeing all three. If I had more confidence in my Russian abilities, I'd have asked the guard if I could just take a look.

I ended up turning around and walking back in the direction from which I came, thank goodness for clear, wide pavements the whole way. At one point I crossed the street because I saw a building with a large mosaic mural on one side.

It turned out to be a school.

As I got back into the general city center, I passed the suburban train station, which had an old looking city sign in front. Since I love city signs no matter how lame they look, of course I took a photo with the sign.

From there I walked all the way to Lenin number three, with a stop at a supermarket along the way. When I found this Lenin I was surprised to see that he was in front of a school. I've seen a lot of Lenins, and I think this was the first time I found him in front of a school. I don't know why, but that isn't a common place for him to be.

After seeing Lenin, I walked to Park Pobedy, or Victory Park. Getting there took me through some really boring residential areas. Since Kurgan was having such warm weather, the snow was melting a bit and getting to the ugly/dirty stage. I assume most winters are not like this in Kurgan.

Park Pobedy was like most such parks in Russia. I saw a couple fountains, but the water wasn't running. I wonder what they look like in the middle of summer? I also found several large war memorials. 

One of them had an eternal flame, as well as plaques with engraved names. There was no one else around, though that was probably due to the weather more than a lack of remembrance.

At this point I felt as if I'd seen everything I wanted to see, but then I discovered another problem: a lack of cafes listed online. That is, there were cafes on the map, but none of them seemed like places I could go to kill a few hours. Argh. Instead, I made my way back toward Lenin Square, as seeing the ice sculptures again would be fun.

Along the way I saw a church and stepped inside. The Alexander Nevsky Cathedral wasn't all that big, but I quite liked the inside. The entire thing was painted with frescoes, they all looked quite old and faded. The iconostasis up front was gold, as was the giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A nice place to stand and send a few prayers up to the Big Man in the sky.

Lenin Square was just as busy as the night before, so I walked around the platz several times, just watching people. 

There were a couple ice slides built on one side, I really wished I had something to use as a sled to go down, as it looked quite fun.

Eventually, I went back to my hotel to pick up my pack, then walked back to the train station. I found a chair relatively near a plug, then sat there for a few hours until boarding my train. I don't think I need to come back to Kurgan, as it was quite boring, and none of the 'views' were particularly scenic.