russia: tyumen

I did not plan my New Year's holidays very far in advance. Despite having a three week break, I stayed in Russia for the first couple weeks, because there is so much to see and do in the country. I didn't get the first week and some sorted out until just a couple weeks ahead of time, whoops!

My first destination was Tyumen. Almost 2150 kilometers east of Moscow, Tyumen is a rapidly growing city. Though the 2010 census had just over 580,000 residents, Wikipedia tells me the current estimate is just short of 770,000 residents.

Tyumen became part of the Tsardom of Russia in 1585, when a Cossack leader annexed the area from the Siberian Khanate. Sometime after this the city was completely destroyed, along with a city called Sibir. While Tyumen was later rebuilt, Sibir wasn't. Sibir ended up being the name for the entire region instead.

Wikipedia goes on to say By the beginning of the 18th century Tyumen had developed into an important center of trade between Siberia and China in the east and Central Russia in the west.

Tyumen had also become an important industrial center, known for leatherworkers, blacksmiths, and other craftsmen. In 1763, 7,000 people were recorded as living in the town.

By the end of the 19th century Tyumen's population exceeded 30,000, surpassing that of its northern rival Tobolsk (which I visited later on during this trip,) and beginning a process whereby Tyumen gradually eclipsed the former regional capital. The growth of Tyumen culminated on August 14, 1944 when the city finally became the administrative center of the extensive Tyumen Oblast.

World War II saw rapid growth and development in the city. In the winter of 1941, twenty-two major industrial enterprises evacuated to Tyumen from the European part of the Soviet Union. These enterprises went into operation the following spring. Additionally, war-time Tyumen became a "hospital city", where thousands of wounded soldiers were treated.

Possibly the most interesting part of the recent history of Tyumen is what happened during WW2 in 1941. The body of Lenin was secretly moved from Moscow to a secret tomb in what is now the Tyumen State Agriculture Academy. 

I don't know why his head wasn't moved as well. As far as I know, locals had no idea this happened until well after the war was over.

Regarding the current economy of Tyumen, Wikipedia says Tyumen is an important service center for the gas and oil industries in Russia. Due to its advantageous location at the crossing of the motor, rail, water and air ways and its moderate climate Tyumen was an ideal base town for servicing the oil and gas industry of the West Siberia. 

As a result, today Tyumen is a center of industry, science, culture, education and medicine. Many large oil and gas companies such as Gazprom, LUKoil, Gazpromneft and Shell have their representative offices in Tyumen.

There are numerous factories, engineering companies, oil industry service companies (KCA DEUTAG and Schlumberger,) design institutes, shipyard and other oil servicing companies located in Tyumen. Schwank, market leader for industrial heaters, has its subsidiary, SibSchwank, in Tyumen, holding market shares of about 25%. UTair is also based in Tyumen.

As Tyumen is not an easy train ride from Tyumen, (the train would be direct, but it would take 35 hours,) I chose to fly instead. My flight landed in the early morning, which is acually my preferred time to arrive somewhere new.

As Moscow has had a very warm winter this year, I knew I would be in for temperature shock as soon as I set food outside the airport, and that's exactly what happened. I went from temperatures above freezing, to -20C or so that morning. Big difference, to say the least. It was easy to catch a public bus into the city center, then walk about 15 minutes to get to my hostel. 

I wasn't able to check in straightaway, but I was able to leave my pack, which was enough for the time being. After leaving my pack the first thing I did was find a supermarket to pick up snacks and drinks. Am I the only weirdo who wants ice cream even when it is quite cold outside?

One of the few things that is no fun about traveling in the cold is related to photography. Camera batteries don't last nearly as long in this kind of cold. You can keep the batteries in your gloves or pockets, but that means you can't set up your camera nearly as quickly every time you want to take a photo. 

The cold also makes touching your camera not so fun, as the metal picks up the cold and holds in. Same goes for the tripod. Argh.

I walked along one of the main streets in the city, seeing a whole lot of holiday decorations. There were quite a few snowflake decorations, which I suppose makes sense in terms of the weather. My first official sight had nothing to do with anything, it was a quirky monument, dedicated to janitors.

Not far away I found a WW2 memorial. There was an eternal flame, named engraved on plaques, and fake flowers. 

Part of the memorial was also a giant sculpture that I think was supposed to be a torch with a flame on top.

I kept going along the main street, eventually coming to a statue of Lenin. Big statue, on a big pedestal, nothing different from what I've seen previously. He stood in front of the government building that holds the administration for the oblast. This government building also had holiday decorations.

After walking another couple blocks, I followed another street for a quick detour, to find a church. 

The outside was a boring white, but the inside was nicely painted with frescoes and a great rotunda. I am always a sucker for a church with a rotunda that is painted on the interior side.

Eventually this main street followed the lines of the Tura River, which runs through the city. I wanted to take a whole lot of photos of the pedestrian bridge that goes over the river at this point, but it was just too cold and windy to keep it up for long. Almost directly across the street from the bridge was another war memorial, this one also had an eternal flame.

After looking at the memorial for a minute or two, I knew I had to get inside for a bit to warm up. Thankfully there was a church visible not too far away, so I headed in that direction. It felt so good to step inside the church, and I appreciated the lovely gold iconostasis in front.

After getting feeling back in my fingers, I walked home. All the way home, with three stops. The first was to take nighttime photos of the giant bear decorations set up in a central park area. The other stop was in a donut shop, for dessert after the dinner I hadn't yet eaten. I stopped for the third time in the same supermarket as the morning, to pick up dinner (salad,) supplies.

The next morning was my normal routine of waking up early but not getting moving as fast as I should. That being said, this was also the shortest day of the year, meaning sunrise comes later. It was also hard to get up because my body was still mostly on Moscow time, making it feel like the middle of the night.

The weather my first day in Tyumen was cold, but completely sunny. Not so much on my second day in the city. It was just as cold, windy, and snowy for much of the second day. Not nearly as much fun in terms of randomly walking around the city.

I walked to the train station from my hostel, which wasn't a short walk, but gave me a chance to see the non touristy parts of the city. I found luggage storage and left my pack there for the day, then walked out again. On the other side of the parkplatz in front of the station was a large Soviet style mosaic mural, honouring the science cities in the area.

Walking straight up the street in front of the train station brought me back to the bears I'd seen the night before. They weren't nearly as interesting in daylight, but I took my photos anywho.

From there I went back to the main street I'd walked the day before, walking even further than I had the day before. I walked all the way to a monastery marked on the map, and listed as a sight worth seeing. The holy trinity monastery ended up not being all that impressive, mostly because the main church within the walls was under renovation. I was only able to visit the smaller church, which wasn't nearly as interesting aesthetically, though I think it did have the more interesting history.

After leaving the walls of the monastery, I walked back in the direction from which I'd come. 

This took me past the second war memorial I'd seen the day before. Less than a block away was the city museum, which seemed like a good place to visit.

Joy of joys, another Russian museum with multiple ticket options. Argh. And shoe covers, which I really don't like. I chose a couple ticket options that had to do with Soviet times, and WW2. Neither area was particularly large, but oh well.

On my way into the area about WW2 I slipped and fell on the stone steps, as they'd been worn smooth and my shoe covers made them even more slippery. If you put those shoe covers on while your shoes have any water with them (snow, ice, stuck to the bottom of your shoes,) they don't do much. The covers are pretty cheaply made, meaning holes come along quickly, and before you know it you're still bringing water/dirt all over the building you're in.

Anywho, after falling down the stairs I took off the shoe covers and refused to put them back on. I really don't like those things.

By the time I left the city museum it was dark outside, so the powers that be had already turned on all the lights. Street lights, lights on the pedestrian bridge, holiday lights, etc. By that point it had (finally) stopped snowing, so I could see everything clearly and it was lovely.

After that I killed several hours by stopping in three food places. First a cafe for dessert and a drink. Then a pizza place for dinner. Then the donut place again for second desserts. YUM all the way around.

From there I walked back to the train station, picking up my bag plenty of time ahead of my train. I only had to wait about thirty minutes to board, and as expected, the train left exactly on time.

I'd like to come back to Tyumen in late spring or summer, just to see how the city looks, as I'm sure it would be completely different.