In the morning Yuri and Natalia met me for a tour of the city, before I hit the road. I’m glad they did because it was really interesting and I’d have missed it otherwise.
First stop was a trip to the Pyotr Nesterov monument. Pyotr was a Russian pilot who was the first person to perform a loop in an aeroplane. This was done in a Neiuport IV monoplane, in case you were wondering!
He was later killed in a mid air collision during the first world war. He looks a bit like me don’t you think? (If I’d kept my legs together maybe!).
sophiewhiptank 
There are Valery Chkalov monument on the photo. Not Pyotr Nesterov. Wikipedia says:
Chkalov developed several new figures of aerobatics. In 1936 and 1937, he participated in several ultra long flights, including a 63-hour flight from Moscow, Soviet Union to Vancouver, Washington, United States via the North Pole on an Tupolev ANT-25 plane (June 18–20, 1937), a non-stop distance of 8,811 kilometres (5,475 mi). The flight pioneered the polar air route from Europe to the American Pacific Coast.