Cez Ural

Tretie ráno vlak zastavil v Jekaterinburgu. Galina už v noci odišla. Pavel ešte spal. Dvaja noví cestujúci obsadili prázdne lôžka: vojak, možno dvadsaťročný, v uniforme, ktorá bola príliš čistá, aby ju už nosil, a starší muž so šedivo-žltými vlasmi a krabicou na rybárske náčinie.

On the third morning, the train stopped at Yekaterinburg. Galina had already left in the night. Pavel was still asleep. Two new passengers had taken the empty bunks: a soldier of perhaps twenty in a uniform too clean to have been worn yet, and an older man with grey-yellow hair and a fishing tackle box.

Polly sa postavila k oknu.

Polly hopped to the window.

Jekaterinburg je najväčšie mesto v Urale. Ural rozdeľuje Európu od Ázie. Nie sú vysoké, skôr dlhý opotrebovaný hrebeň než stena. Ale sú staré. Pred päťsto miliónmi rokov bol Ural už významným pohorím. Opotrebovávajú sa pol miliardy rokov a stále sú tu. Sú jedny z najstarších hôr na Zemi.

Yekaterinburg is the largest city in the Urals. The Ural Mountains divide Europe from Asia. They are not high, more a long worn ridge than a wall. But they are old. Five hundred million years ago, the Urals were already a major mountain range. They have been worn down for half a billion years and are still there. They are some of the oldest mountains on Earth.

Transsibírska železnica prechádza cez Ural cez Jekaterinburg. Na kilometri 1 777 trate je malý marker, ktorý na jednej strane hovorí EURÓPA a na druhej ÁZIA. Sprievodca povedal Polly s malým úsmevom, že ten marker je turistický výmysel. Skutočná hranica, geograficky, nie je na čistom bode. Rozdeľovacia čiara vedie približne pozdĺž rozvodia rieky Ural.

The Trans-Siberian crosses the Urals through Yekaterinburg. There is a small marker at kilometre 1,777 of the line that says EUROPE on one side and ASIA on the other. The conductor told Polly, with a small smile, that the marker was a tourist invention. The real border, geographically, was not at a clean point. The dividing line runs roughly along the watershed of the Ural River.

Ale symbolický prechod bol ten bod.

But the symbolic crossing was the point.

Nový cestujúci s krabicou na náčinie ju otvoril a rozložil svoje návnady na stôl. Usporiadal ich podľa farby.

The new passenger with the tackle box opened it and laid out his lures on the table. He arranged them by colour.

"Kde chytáte ryby?" spýtala sa Polly.

"Where do you fish?" Polly asked.

Pozrel hore. "Jazero Bajkal," povedal. "Za tri dni. Omul. Losos z Bajkalu. Nikde inde na svete ho nenájdete." Ukázal na zeleno-striebornú lyžičku. "Toto používam."

He looked up. "Lake Baikal," he said. "In three days. Omul. The salmon of Baikal. You will not find it anywhere else in the world." He pointed at a green-and-silver spoon. "This is what I use."

O niekoľko hodín neskôr, blízko Pervouralska, vlak spomalil okolo malého bieleho obelisku na čistine. EURÓPA na jednej strane. ÁZIA na druhej. Traja turisti mávali na vlak. Pavel zdvihol jednu ruku z laptopu a zamával späť.

A few hours later, near Pervouralsk, the train slowed past a small white obelisk in a clearing. EUROPE on one side. ASIA on the other. Three tourists waved at the train. Pavel lifted one hand from his laptop and waved back.

Obelisk zmizol z dohľadu. Vlak prešiel kontinentom tak, ako by ste prešli malú ulicu.

The obelisk slid away. The train had crossed a continent the way you might cross a small street.