Today we set out to cover the parts of the Red Line Tour we missed yesterday. But first, we mentioned Grinvich at the end of yesterday's post. Here is the front! It's massive, taking up a whole city block!
We went off the beaten track for the start of our day. Went past the Yekaterinburg Circus building, found a lovely park near the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (hiding within the closed Novotikhvinsky Convent), passed some modern accommodation developments, and came back past the Ural State University of Economics.
As we were walking around, we were intrigued by the millions of floating 'snowflakes' in the air. These are the seeds of the poplar (aka 'Cottonwood') trees that are all through Russia. They float in flurries in the air and land to look just like snowfall!
Someone has
a sense of humour!
We wandered past the residence of the presidential envoy of the Ural Federal District, on October Square near the Iset embankment, and along the Iset, where we found the keyboard sculpture, treated by the local IT community with great respect. Nearby is a monument to the Beatles, installed only in 2009!
We then made our way to the other side of the Iset, where we found the Fine Arts Museum. We approached it from the upper level and circumnavigated it completely before finding the entrance from the lower level! Once inside, we found it to be a delight. The huge entry foyer contained a display of cast iron work which really blew away our minds. Then, up some stairs, a temporary exhibition of Japanese prints — totally amazing. Then, further on, a collection of paintings, and upstairs, a collection of work with gemstones from the Urals. We were then directed to another exhibition, up another stairway from the foyer, of icons from the last few centuries. A totally delightful museum, where we easily spent a couple of hours.
Utagawa Hiroshige
The Gion Temple in Snow, 1834
Katsushika Hokusai
The Great Wave Off Kanagawa
Early 1860s
We were particularly interested in Utagawa Hiroshige's early 1860s work 'Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi bridge and Atake', as we have seen Van Gogh's copy of it in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
Pascuale Celommi 1851-1928
The Laundress
Some of the cast-iron work!
A Fabergé ostrich
Well, another full day, and back to the Hotel Chekhov to get ready for our departure tomorrow!
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