To Yekaterinburg and Back. September 2013.

I was lucky: I was invited to Yekaterinburg to take part in the International School-Conference "Anomalies and pathologies of amphibians and reptiles: methodology, evolutionary significance, the possibility of assessing environmental health". Here I have posted the presentation for my conference talk, and here — the presentation that accompanied an open lecture for students. The conference ended with an amazing outing to a nature park in the Middle Urals; the photos taken there are on this page . And here I post a number of photographs connected with the flight from Moscow and back, as well as shots taken at the conference and during walks around Yekaterinburg. I flew on planes often in 1989–1993, and after that, if I am not mistaken, I did not have to fly any more. Modern airports and a flight on a "Boeing" (a fairly small one, though) turned out to feel like a novelty to me all over again. This is Vnukovo airport, which struck my imagination with its scale During take-off and landing I put my phone in airplane mode and took pictures We arrived in Yekaterinburg. At night The first day of the conference. At the podium — Alain Dubois (France) with an interpreter; in the hall Miklós Puky (Hungary) is waving his arms A festive event.

The bottles and plates are already nearly empty, but the eyes are still bright Siberian salamanders We did the right thing!

Sverdlov and Dubois The "zero point" of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk region How do you like such views?

If I understand correctly, this is the reservoir held back by the dam of the first factory in Yekaterinburg A keyboard as an object of landscape-garden design.

L.Ya. chose the key with the Russian letter "yo", explaining that this letter, introduced by Catherine the Great, most strongly marks Russian distinctiveness I confidently chose a different key.

Throughout the conference L.Ya. and I argued about Ukraine's geopolitical choice.

L.Ya. tried to convince me that, in choosing between association with the EU and joining the Customs Union, one should think not about momentary interests but about the distant future; I fully agreed with him.

But for me (for all my warm feelings toward many Russian citizens) the prospect lies in Europe, while for him it lies in the Customs Union.

He worries that Russia will only be able to become strong enough to seriously take part in global geopolitical games by annexing Ukraine, whereas I consider attempts to reincarnate the USSR or the Russian Empire a colossal mistake Indeed!

Note the sign in the background!

It looks like a mosque with a minaret.

No, these are two different objects: a circus and an unfinished TV tower A fellow with a cigarette was angry with me for photographing some scenes from the life of their firm Old and neglected (what a fine Ukrainian word — "занехаяні"!) buildings stand next to ultra-modern ones.

And this house, though old, is well kept — just look at the woodcarving!

Recently I realized why manholes are round and not some other shape (I came across this question in a questionnaire that Google uses to interview job candidates).

It took me some time to understand why exactly round. And this manhole is not round at all!

Some strange structure.

Old.

Probably it could be used as a high-tech gallows These are not fishermen.

They are tinkering with the fountains The arrows point to a sign that intrigued me so much that I placed it as an inset at a larger scale.

"Attention!

There are sharks in the river!"

This is paving laid over an old larch dam What were you just thinking about?

We were taken on an excursion to a museum of stone-carving art.

Among other things, works by contemporary masters are exhibited there The adversaries clearly have Mongoloid facial features Interesting comparative-anatomical solutions...

Maybe I don't understand something, but my heart aches not from the ingenuity but from such restrained beauty Catherine from Yekaterinburg...

Ah...

Just imagine — when she met me at the airport in the middle of the night, she was smiling just as radiantly!

In a small group we slipped away from the formal events to look at a habitat of the marsh frog right within the city limits A marsh frog, just like any marsh frog...

Introduced.

Spartak says — southern-Ukrainian genotypes After several failures in catching these skittish frogs I felt stung, took off my trousers, climbed into the pond and would not rest until I had caught the cunning, wary creature Halia: "And what plant is this?"

To reach the pond with the marsh frogs you have to pass through whole groves of dung-loving mushrooms.

Probably not by chance They say there is an observation deck up there.

I wanted to get up, but never managed to.

Apparently it is the tallest building in the East of Russia A solemn moment...

Cleanliness at the university is maintained by tidy and silent girls with characteristic Central Asian faces V.L. is trying to gather his courage and interrupt the previous lecture (by Klaus Henle from Germany), since my turn has come.

I urged him: "You are the most important person here.

Go up and tell everyone what to do!"

For a delicate and reflective person — no easy task...

Night The very same dam, but now it looks completely different They don't spare the electricity The passage under the dam... ...and the spillway.

Right now it serves no function other than a decorative one A Chinese lantern The dominant architectural style is eclecticism And this is the last day.

We set off for "Olenyi Ruchyi" (in more detail — here ).

The old Ural highway (which, after Yekaterinburg, turned into the Siberian highway).

It was here that convicts were driven eastward — one way only.

As we were told, the local place-names were laid down in those times.

The highway crossed the Ural Mountains at the lowest and gentlest spot.

It is no coincidence that on the other side of the mountains a city grew up that became the industrial capital of tsarist Russia — Yekaterinburg.

Yekaterinburg itself lies in Asia, and so it turns out that we travelled on an excursion to Europe On the left — Europe, on the right — Asia.

This boundary marker between Europe and Asia is set at the spot determined by Alexander von Humboldt, who visited Russia in the time of Nicholas I. It is pleasant to realize that you are in a place visited by perhaps the last universal genius of European culture To be photographed with a living classic is a great honour And this is the last evening in Yekaterinburg, already after returning from the park.