We arrived in Kazan early this morning. I awoke with the sunrise, watching it through the train’s window. It’s already 20+ degrees here, which is great for sightseeing. Although unlike Amy, I do find it quite hot.
Kazan’s the capital of Tatarstan (home of Tartar sauce?), a not-quite-yet breakaway republic of Russia. It’s about the same size as Calgary, but sits on the banks of a much larger river — the Volga. It’s both a very old city (over 1,000 years!) but also new — they’re building/rebuilding quite a lot here.
This is truly a wonderful city. It’s warm, comfortable, and people are far too nice here. Despite not knowing any Russian, we’ve had next to no trouble at all getting help from everyone around us. A person not knowing the language at all would do well here.
Time’s running out for me on this post, though — internet is hard to find here today. More from Ekaterinburg!
(Next time, I get to post before Amy…)
