叶卡捷琳堡／Yekaterinburg

在托姆斯克之后的下一站是叶卡捷琳堡。这个城市是西伯利亚铁路的主要停靠站之一，吸引游客到这里的理由是，这是末代沙皇尼古拉二世一家被杀之处，而这里也是亚洲与欧洲的交界处。
The stop after Tomsk was Yekaterinburg (also Romanised as Ekaterinburg). This city is one of the major stops on the Trans-Siberia Railway. The main draw of this city is that this was where the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II and his family was murdered. Also, you can find the Europe-Asia border here.

叶卡捷琳堡的主要景点全部聚集在市中心，不过这里地方不大，因此一个下午就可以参观完所有景点。第一个要去的景点自然是尼古拉二世一家被谋害之处啦。据说，1917年俄罗斯爆发十月革命，尼古拉二世家族被布尔什维克军队逮捕，囚禁于叶卡捷琳堡。1918年7月17日凌晨，尼古拉二世家族包括和他们在一起的仆人近10人被看管他们的布尔什维克秘密警察集体处决。他们的尸体被浇上硫酸和汽油销毁，残余骨渣被埋藏在叶卡捷琳堡地区的一个废弃洞穴中。他们的骸骨在1991年被挖掘出来，俄罗斯政府在1998年为尼古拉二世一家举行正式的葬礼，将他们埋葬在圣彼得堡，与其他俄罗斯沙王长眠一处。尼古拉二世一家被谋害的房子在1977年被拆除，如今取而代之的是这座用来纪念他们的教堂。那个十字架就立在尼古拉二世被处决之处，而那个小木屋是为了纪念由始至终都对尼古拉二世一家不离不弃的尼姑而建的。看到一对一对的新人在这里举行婚礼，你实在很难想象90年前这里发生了这么恐怖事情。
Yekaterinburg’s main sights are all located within the city centre. It is not a big place, and hence it is possible to visit all the major sights in one afternoon. The first destination is of course the spot where Nicholas II and his family were murdered. Soon after the Russian Revolution in 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne and he and his family were imprisoned Yekaterinburg. In the wee hours of 17 July 1918, Nicholas II, his wife, his son, his four daughters, the family's medical doctor, his personal servant, the Empress' chambermaid and the family's cook were all murdered in the same room by the Bolsheviks. It is now well documented that this event had been orchestrated from Moscow by Lenin and the Bolshevik leader Yakov Sverdlov. The bodies of Nicholas and his family, after being soaked in acid and burned, was buried in a sealed and concealed pit. Their remains were excavated in 1991 and reburied by the Russian government in St Petersburg, alongside the other tsars. Now, on the spot where they were executed, stands the Cathedral of the Blood. The cross marks the spot where Nicholas II was believed to have been shot. And the little wooden chapel is to commemorate a close friend of the family, a nun who stood by them through all the tragic times. Looking at all these happy couples getting married here, it is really difficult to relate to the tragic happenings of 90 years ago.叶卡捷琳堡有一条漂亮的河贯穿整个城市，当然也少不了在其他欧洲城市都会看到的教堂和铜像。
There is a big river running through the city. And of course, just like every other European city, you can find tons of churches and bronze statues littering the city. 很多人都好奇，欧洲和亚洲的分界线到底在哪里？其实它就在乌拉尔山脉，距离叶卡捷琳堡40公里的莫斯科高速公路上，当地政府在1837年建造了第一个象征这个分界线的指标。为了吸引更多游客，当地政府在2004年在距离叶卡捷琳堡17公里的高速公路上又建了另一个指标，让游客可以不必跑得太远，就可以一脚踩着欧洲，一脚踩着亚洲。既然是旅游景点，当然是可以跟团去啦。不过跟团的话，要付2500卢布（约140新元），我和同个旅舍的其他游客都不想付那么多钱。结果灵机一动，包了一辆德士载我们四个人去，最后一个人才200卢布（约11新元）。　　～伟
Many people are curious as to where exactly the border between Europe and Asia is. Well, it actually lies on the Ural Mountains in Russia, about 40km from Yekaterinburg, along the old and new Moscow highways. The oldest obelisk erected to mark this border dated from 1837. In 2004, local authorities decided to make the image of the border more attractive for tourists and erected a new obelisk at the 17th km mark. As such, one does not have to go far in order to have one foot in Europe and one foot in Asia at the same time. This being one of the biggest tourists’ attraction in Yekaterinburg, there are of course tours to the obelisk. But a guided tour cost 2500 roubles (140 SGD), which is way out of my budget and that of the fellow travelers in the hostel which I was staying. Hence we hit upon the idea of booking a cab to bring us there. In the end, the short one hour return trip cost us only 200 roubles (11 SGD) each. 　　～wei