Everyday we see: 
In the summertime we saw lots of skin. But the people are beautiful, and most dress very fashionably. Many of the women wear spiked heels -- now that it is winter they wear spiked boots, of all colors. Green, purple, blue, red, boots -- to match thier outer wear - coat and hat.
Garbage - enough said.Every big city has pigeons -- Yekat has its share.
Graffiti Art
Graffiti Art
Flower shops, fruit stands, and banks are plentiful. You can find them on every block, and in the center of each block. They remain open year round and are open until after 10 pm in the summertime. Hours will probably be limited this winter -- I am thinking that those little plastic houses must get very cold as the temperatures drop.
I threw this picture in for Jaren and Scott -- while in Germany, they learned to love doner kebabs. Here in the city there are many stands-- they serve sliced meat from a rotisserie on a pita/tortilla type bread, with vegetables and sauce. Yum! 
Lovely parks and places to walk are all around the city. Quite beautiful, except for the garbage
.
A Russian highline canal.
This cute old man plays for a few rubbles. Ron and I may have to take up the accordian in order to suppliment our income when we return, like the pensioners do in Russia.
Early in the mornings when we would walk out of our apartment, we would hear the bottles breaking and rattling along the bricks as the city workers swept the park clean. They did a good job of cleaning up the previous nights mess. The Russian people don't clean up after themselves because they think will put someone out of a job. Interesting thought process.
The city workers have no safety regulations -- no OSHA organization in Russia. These men were painting our building. Most wore no safety belts, and walked on wooden planks that were not secure, up 6 stories. It frightened me everytime I looked out the window.
Ask any Russian and they will tell you this statue is in honor of the man who invented the radio - his name is Alexander Stepanovich Popov. However, if you are writing a term paper on the radio, you might want to do a little more research. Whatever was invented -- Russians invented it first.
.
A Russian highline canal.
Many of the Babooshkas sell their produce, knitting, flowers, and bottled sauce on the
street corners. They probably don't earn much, but enough to suppliment their living.
They are in 'their spot' day in and day out, no matter what the weather.
This cute old man plays for a few rubbles. Ron and I may have to take up the accordian in order to suppliment our income when we return, like the pensioners do in Russia.
Early in the mornings when we would walk out of our apartment, we would hear the bottles breaking and rattling along the bricks as the city workers swept the park clean. They did a good job of cleaning up the previous nights mess. The Russian people don't clean up after themselves because they think will put someone out of a job. Interesting thought process.
The city workers have no safety regulations -- no OSHA organization in Russia. These men were painting our building. Most wore no safety belts, and walked on wooden planks that were not secure, up 6 stories. It frightened me everytime I looked out the window.Everyday we take some form of transportaion -- I have covered that in a previous blog, so just a couple of pictures that I thought were interesting.
The city is full of statues -- and they love their statues.
The city is full of statues -- and they love their statues.
Ask any Russian and they will tell you this statue is in honor of the man who invented the radio - his name is Alexander Stepanovich Popov. However, if you are writing a term paper on the radio, you might want to do a little more research. Whatever was invented -- Russians invented it first.Every city in Russia has a least one statue of Lenin. We see him everyday -- this statue stands directy across from the Duma building, where we catch most of our public transportation.
Yekaterinburg can boast that they have one of the tallest incomplete architectural structures in the world, the Yekaterinburg TV Tower. They ran out of money before they completed it (fall of the Soviet Union), and so it just stands a mere 220 meters (about 700 feet). Originally they planned to have a restaurant on top so it would have been 400 meters.
Walking along the river we found a really interesting old building. The city is filled with many historical, old, and interesting buildings.
The city has these old buildings that used to be the homes of the traders/merchants. Maybe they weren't quite as successful as the previous merchant, but they still had a very nice home. These wood homes usually have intricate wooden 'gingerbread' around the windows, doors and under the eves. They are quite beautiful because of the workman ship that went into their building. They are tearing many of them down to make room for new buildings.
This is my favorite old building situated right in the city center. It is the very impressive city Duma building, and was built by German prisoners of war. It is now a government building, but was used as KGB headquarters in the past. It has a clock tower that chimes on the hour and we can hear it from our apartment, only a short distance away.
This statue honors the Communist Youth.
Russian workers are honored in this statue.
Russian workers are honored in this statue.
Yekaterinburg can boast that they have one of the tallest incomplete architectural structures in the world, the Yekaterinburg TV Tower. They ran out of money before they completed it (fall of the Soviet Union), and so it just stands a mere 220 meters (about 700 feet). Originally they planned to have a restaurant on top so it would have been 400 meters.Walking along the river we found a really interesting old building. The city is filled with many historical, old, and interesting buildings.
Ron and President Allen walk in front of a very prosperous merchant's home. Around the turn of the century the man that lived in this home, owned many businesses in the city and he was a well known trader. When we walked around the building to a park in the back we saw that the back of the building had not been restored and didn't look anything like the front. They were just 'putting on aires'.
The city has these old buildings that used to be the homes of the traders/merchants. Maybe they weren't quite as successful as the previous merchant, but they still had a very nice home. These wood homes usually have intricate wooden 'gingerbread' around the windows, doors and under the eves. They are quite beautiful because of the workman ship that went into their building. They are tearing many of them down to make room for new buildings.
This is my favorite old building situated right in the city center. It is the very impressive city Duma building, and was built by German prisoners of war. It is now a government building, but was used as KGB headquarters in the past. It has a clock tower that chimes on the hour and we can hear it from our apartment, only a short distance away.
This is where old meets new --
literally. It's interesting the way
they incorporated the very old building into the front of the new
high rise. 
The population of Yekat is about 1.4 million.
Most of the people live in highrise apartment buildings. Many new apartment buildings are being constructed, but the cost to live in them is probably out of the average person's range. Looking across Gorodskoee Lake you can see the northern skyline of the city.
The most famous church is The Church On The Blood. This cathedral belongs to the Russian Orthadox church and is built on the site where Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were executed by Bolsheviks. It is very beautiful and a very touching story -- I will do a future blog on the Romanovs.
A beautiful little church located in a park.
And this is our church building. Top floor of this bank. It looks nice on the outside, but is pretty plain on the inside. We call it 'Rosie' because it sits on a street called Rosie Luxenburg. It is located about 6 long blocks from our apartment. We walk to this building about 5 times a week.
I caught this picture one day from our kitchen window.
A man was 'mowing' our back lawn with a weed eater -- this is the way they mow the lawns. We have never seen mowers used, even in the parks --just lots of men with weedeaters. I thought Jaren might be interested in this one.
The skyline is filled with cranes.
Beautiful old and new churches dot the landscape.
We asked the people in English Club 'What are the
main religions in Yekaterinburg?' 'Atheism' was the
first reply; then Russian Orthadox; Catholicism; Jewish;
and Protestant.
The most famous church is The Church On The Blood. This cathedral belongs to the Russian Orthadox church and is built on the site where Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were executed by Bolsheviks. It is very beautiful and a very touching story -- I will do a future blog on the Romanovs.Notice the barbed wire around the walls of this monestary - this might be the solution to keeping
our teenagers in class.
A beautiful little church located in a park.
And this is our church building. Top floor of this bank. It looks nice on the outside, but is pretty plain on the inside. We call it 'Rosie' because it sits on a street called Rosie Luxenburg. It is located about 6 long blocks from our apartment. We walk to this building about 5 times a week.We have a circus in our city that performs shows year round. We haven't been yet, but plan on taking in a show to see if it is "acceptable" for the missionaries to attend.
I caught this picture one day from our kitchen window.
A man was 'mowing' our back lawn with a weed eater -- this is the way they mow the lawns. We have never seen mowers used, even in the parks --just lots of men with weedeaters. I thought Jaren might be interested in this one.One of the hardest things I had to get used to when we arrived in Yekat was all the garbage. Most of the garbage doesn't make it into the cans
-- this garbage area is behind our building and is kept realitively good, compared to other garbages. This is where Ron's friend, Scabbers The Rat lives.
-- this garbage area is behind our building and is kept realitively good, compared to other garbages. This is where Ron's friend, Scabbers The Rat lives.We've walked all over the city and our apartment is just ahead of us -- just around these garages where people park their cars, through some trees, down a dirt path, and we are home. We hope you enjoyed the tour.
