Lenin stands proud, impervious to a 10c wind and biting drizzle, declaiming to the passing citizenry of Ykaterinberg (Sverdlovsk that was) the eternal promise of socialist paradise.
From the site of the assassination ot the Romanovs (July 1918) the panorama includes venerable 18th century palaces, dilapidated1950s housing blocks and the contemporary office blocks and banks of the new Russia. Across the way the Tsar's spirit is being called to a new manifestation of paradise in the form of a Harry Potter movie poster.
Stalin began the move of armaments factories, beyond Hitler's reach, and until the 1990s it was closed to foreigners. Boris Yeltsin enjoyed his first non-alcoholic drink here, at his mother's breast and during his anarchic reign the city was the battleground for mafia wars.
Today it is booming-more based on its mineral and energy wealth than blood. The streets throng with young workers and shoppers on the move.
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