Weatherman's hill

So, with boy #1 back at his grandparents for the weekend, we decided to more closely investigate the area we live in. Right on our doorstep (well, about 200 metres away), is Weatherman's Hill (Meteogorka). This is, as the name suggests, where the local Meterological centre is for the city. It's on a small hill, and while visible in our area, is more generally drowned out by all the high-rise blocks here.

It's right in the middle of a small park. In all the time we've been here, we've been around this area on plenty of occasions, and yet never been into the park or up the hill. Honestly, we haven't been missing out. The park has lots of trees, and it has been a spectacular autumn, but it's full of broken bottles and other indicators of social problems... This is a real shame, as green space is really at a premium here, but you can still push a pram through the park and up the hill to the weather station. There's a new hotel and a few bars on the way up to the top, but nothing that looks worth investigating.

Once at the top, there is a car-park and a 360-degree view opens up of the city. Actually, from up here you can really see that Ekat is in the foothills of a mountain range. When you are down on street level, you don't notice that it's hilly, it's not like Sheffield or Edinburgh where you are constantly climbing. The city skyline is dominated by construction. There's so much being built here to replace the old infrastructure. The city has three clearly defined eras within itself - pre-war, post-war and post-soviet. I'll try to find some good examples to show what I mean.

 At the top of Meteogorka

View of the city looking West. In the background you can see the television tower, that was started in the late 80's and never completed. Now it just stands there slowly rusting.

Blurred in the background is the Gazprom tower. On the side facing away from us is a huge clock-face. It looks as if it will be one of the iconic modern buildings of the city.