Arrived in Ekaterinburg
We arrived in Yekaterinburg (also written Ekaterinburg, or abbreviated EK) early this morning after successfully executing our 12 hour layover in Vienna. We were met at the airport, successfully installed in our hotel , showered and in bed by 6:00am.
Yesterday, Vienna was lovely. It was a perfect early spring day; bright blue, cloudless sky, sun all day, a little chilly in the shade, but warm and comfortable in the sun. We trained directly to the downtown from the airport and hopped from café to café sampling the Viennese pastry as we moved from Stephensplatz, to the State Opera and the Sacher Hotel , over to the Hapsburg Palace and Spanish Riding School. There, we found a patch of grass on the palace’s lawn and joined the Viennese in a little relaxed sunbathing under the watchful eye of the Emperor’s statue.
The people watching was amazing. Purple seems to be the color of the year. Pants, jackets, hats, ties, tights – I don’t think we saw purple hair. There were so many languages, too. I know we heard a lot of German (of course), but also Spanish, Japanese, English (of course), Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, French and a few we couldn’t place.
The old buildings reminded me a lot of what I saw in Kiev and pictures of other old European cities like Budapest. There’s just beautiful.
Of course, Vienna is a big city and we confined ourselves to the old, touristy area, so we didn’t get a representative impression of the city. As the center of an old Empire in the center of Europe, we expected variety and boy did we get it.
Today, what a change! We’ll be lucky if the temperature gets much above freezing. It’s snowing right now. I looked out the window and joked that it looks like Siberia – of course, this is the western edge of Siberia! If we weren’t so tired (and if it weren’t so cold) we might try to get out and walk around. I think we’ll be satisfied with the gym.
We’re in mud season now, so the city isn’t looking all that great people admit. Perhaps tomorrow we’ll be able to get into the city center and see some of EK. Today, we rest and recover.