Yekaterinburg

We found this bridge in the city centre, where there was a dam and the whole area had been renovated. Newly married couples appeared to engrave/write their names on the padlock and then lock it to the fence on the bridge. Interesting sight, seeing hundreds of padlocks all along the bridge. Ah, young love.



Also in the city centre was a rather random, but pretty professional, monument to the Beatles. There was a big silhouette, and other paintings dedicated to the band. The love you give is equal to the love you take.



The next day involved a trip to the zoo, mainly because we weren’t quite sure what else to do... We had been told that the zoo was “one of the most compact in Russia”. Not really what you want to hear about a zoo. The zoo was crazy, and had some of the rarest animals in the world, some of which I doubt I will ever see again in my life. Snow leopards, Amur Leopards, Jaguars, Panthers, White Bengal Tigers, Lynxs, etc. Surreal.



This is just a quick shot of the front of our train. The inside, luckily, isn’t as Soviet-block-looking as the outside, and is actually quite nice.