Russia World Cup 2018: Ekaterinburg
It was always going to be a long day in Ekaterinburg arriving at 5.20 am. After seeing all the sights by 8 am. I decided to go the Boris Yeltsin Museum.
There was a World Press Photo exhibition where they showcased the winners - why is it bad news makes a good story?
There was also an informative exhibition on Yeltsin's presidency. It was interesting to see that they described communism as an experiment and that it was only in the '90's that Russia found the path to liberation from its totalitarian past.
These were things I wanted to talk to Alex and Uliana about. But I sensed that Alex's bottle of rum would see his nationalistic side rise up, and could see at times that his daughter did not agree with his outlook.
At the end of the exhibition I was wondering what Boris Yeltsin would think of the man he asked to "Look after Russia." Also what would Putin have made of Yeltsin's comments questioning the leadership of the country before he rose to power. Finally which world leader bought him a Boss jumper as a gift?
Did you see the look Ronaldo gave Mo Salah at the Champions League Final in the tunnel. Well that was the look I saw in Putin’s eyes as he took over the presidency.
The thriller did not materialise in Ekaterinburg and the 20,000 plus Peruvians in the stadium (and me outside the stadium in the temporary stand) were disappointed with a 1-0 win to France.
This is the stadium where the capacity was not big enough so, the took down the shell of the stadium from behind the goal and added scaffold stands. Maybe I should be thankful that the Peruvians did not do so well, as early on in the game they started chanting whilst jumping up and down!
After the match I had time to kill, before my 7.20 am flight back to St Petersburg so I went to a pub to watch Argentina v Croatia and was thrown out at 2 am.
This is turning into my longest day.
I did not sleep the night before, I am up all night tonight and I have a 26 hour day (due to the time difference).
Good job it is Brazil as they look to win their sixth title.
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