A (hopefully) brief stop in Krasnoyarsk

Krasnoyarsk.

I think it’s Russian for “ass end of the country”.

There ain’t much here. This is the most utilitarian city I’ve seen in a very long time. Until just over a decade ago, I couldn’t have come here — it was verboten to outsiders. Mostly defence contracts here, and it shows. Toe jam has more character than this place.

It’s also cooler here. Despite being about the same latitude as Ekaterinburg, which was a balmy 25 degrees when we left, it was hovering around freezing this morning as we streaked across the taiga. You could see ice on some of the pools of water. It warmed up quickly, mind you, but we haven’t warmed up to here.

Amy’s found a potential early train to get us the heck outta here. Hopefully, it’ll work.

(A note to those of you traveling across Russia and thinking of stopping here: save yourself the trouble and spend your valuable time in another city.)