Yekaterinburg again

Map

May 25–27, 2007

Once again I only had about three hours to photograph the city.

Long live the Russian people!

On the bright side, the city revealed itself to me a little more this time around. For instance, I did notice the road surface markings here and there.

The roads are not the place for competition, but rather for cooperation

Green monsters are filling up the city.

But blue monsters are proliferating at a faster pace. People used to have some decency — they’d hang up one small memorial plaque. In all likelihood a political commissar received a cutting plotter as a present.

A fine local tradition is being established: installing two figures on top of a single monument.

And rightly so — after all, granite workers aren’t the only ones who get to make a living, metal casters should be allowed in on the action.

Hands down the best monument in the city — a monument to the keyboard. Made by our very own concrete workers.

In the park there’s a ride called the “Astronaut”, which looks a bit like a concrete mixer because of its size and how it works. The ride operator is helping the spinning gal scream.

The main site in the city centre has been thoughtfully given the diminutive name Plotinka, which means little wee dam.

Only someone who grew up next to a little wee dam could’ve created a manhole cover stylized to look like ripples on the water’s surface — after all, where else can you find shapes and colours to inspire you.

Hideous plastic windows are invading everything.

There used to be a soulful house here, it had interesting and unusual window frames — and now it’s gone. Blind white and yellow monstrosities poke out in its place. It’s astounding that people can’t see that the windows of a house are like the pages in a book, they can’t all be different shapes and colours. Unless, of course, it’s a Hundertwasser house or a children’s book.