Trains, churches & the Black Rose

On Thursday, after 2 days of visiting gold-domed churches and drinking mead in Vladimir and Suzdal, we boarded the sleeper train to Ekaterinburg, or Sverdlovsk as everyone in Russia still seems to call it. The town was renamed Sverdlovsk in 1924 after Yacob Sverdlov, a Bolshevik party official responsible for arranging the murder there of the royal family, the Romanovs, in 1918. It reverted to Ekaterinburg in 1992 as part of Russia's attempts to leave its Soviet past behind.

Within minutes of joining the train, Amber and I found ourselves right in the middle of the authentic Trans-Siberian experience. We were sharing a 4-berth compartment with a Russian woman and her young son (or possibly grandson) and - for the first couple of hours - a young guy on his way to Nizhny Novgorod. He displayed the Russian interest in English speakers that we had been led to expect, by inviting us to drink beer with himself and his friend, and insisting we accept a box of Siberian biscuits (which he seemed to carry for such eventualities) as a gift to welcome us to his country. Between his few words of English, my (shameful) knowledge of Bon Jovi songs - his friend's favourite band - and Amber's supply of Kiwi toys, we got along pretty well until the carriage attendent came along to tell us to be quiet! Apparently 9.30 is way past bedtime on the Trans-Siberian railway.

After a week of sightseeing there is something very relaxing about being on a train for 24 hours with nothing to do but sleep, eat picnics, read and look out the window. But once in Ekaterinburg the sightseeing began again, starting with another gold-domed church (a continuing theme), this one dedicated to the murdered Romanov family. In the interests of balance we also visited the statue to Sverdlov, still standing although with some graffiti - whether pro or anti-monarchist it was surprisingly hard to tell. We spotted a couple of Banksys (real or homage?) and also saw the Black Rose, Ekaterinburg's Afghan (anti-)war memorial, a soldier sitting with his head bowed (see photo above). My guidebook suggests it provides an insight into how the Russian people feel about the Afghan war. I thought about how fitting it would be for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square.

Moscow via Dusseldorf (and Vienna)

When Amber and I first started to plan our Trans-Siberian trip, we intended to do the environmentally-friendly - and most interesting - thing, and take the train all the way from London to Beijing. Unfortunately, problems obtaining a Belarus transit visa meant that we eventually had to compromise our principles and fly to Moscow. However, the environmentalists will be pleased to hear that the non-religious version of divine retribution soon struck on behalf of the melting glaciers, as our journey was not quite as straightforward as it could have been. After our flight from London to Dusseldorf was delayed by more than an hour, we missed our connection and ended up redirected to Vienna. Which would have been fine, apart from the fact that our bags stayed in Dusseldorf and the airline staff weren't confident of it making it to Moscow any time soon....

Luckily the non-religious retributors had decided we'd learned out lesson, as our bags did turn up in Moscow before we left, and we could get on with the sight-seeing. We were lucky enough to be staying in Moscow with Tim's friend Nadya and her mother, both of whom were wonderfully hospitable and generous. Nadya showed us round the markets and even sneaked us into the school where she teaches English, to talk to some of her students. Her mother cooked us delicious traditional Russian food (even vegetarian food for me!) and made sure we got on the right train when we left Moscow for Vladimir.

Red Square was unfortunately closed during our time in Moscow, so we couldn't pay Lenin a visit or go into St Basil's Cathedral. However, we made up for it with visits to several museums, the State and Tretyakov Museums and by the time we left had almost mastered the Metro system. I knew I should have learned Cyrillic before I left.

Fringe programme

The Fringe programme is out now!

Here's the advert for Mutton.

London previews

There will be London previews of Mutton at the Pentameters Theatre in Hampstead on 24th, 25th and 26th July at 8pm.

Also, try this musical game someone made to promote one of Liberated Theatre's shows a few years ago.

Liberated Theatre

I have a job at the Fringe! I am going to be working on a production at the Gilded Balloon Teviot, with the very lovely people at Liberated Theatre.



The show, Mutton, is on at 4.15pm every day from 1st-26th August so if you're going to be in Edinburgh during that time, please come and see it.... and visit me too, of course!

Here's an article about the company's problems finding accessible accommodation in Edinburgh.