Train Home from Ekaterinburg

The train to Ekaterinburg is 5 1/2 hrs, but notice how much fun the kids are having, on the way home, after two and a half days trip. 

But here is the secret to happy travellers 

-- electronic devices (ipads in kid friendly cases) 

--and each a new toy from Ikea.

In Ekaterinburg

Visiting the US Consulate for renewing passports:

 Visiting another well-known American institution:

Then walk a few blocks to the well-known-in-Ekaterinburg Zoo: 

Where besides the usual lions and bears and tigers (pictured above), they also had an interactive zone inside one of the buildings.  This center involved matching feathers to pictures of birds:

And this table encouraged children to "picture" themselves in the jungle....

Outside near the entrance they had a hut on chicken legs (from the Baba Yaga fairy tales)

which the kids enjoyed: