The "Kamchatka Peninsula" is the farthest east a person can actually go and still be in Russia. Siberia? The city map they gave us said we were in Siberia, but the tour guide denies it. Is it that Siberia holds a "bad zip code" mentality?? Anyway, everyone we were with called it Siberia, so we did too. Nine months of winter, two weeks of warm, what is left? Today was the last day of winter and it was snowing! You can see in some photos the local people out in the city park with shovels. It is tradition on the last day of winter to go to the park with your shovel and shovel some of the snow into the air as a sign of "getting rid of" winter. I hope they woke up this morning to birds singing and 60 degree weather for spring! Doubt it.
What was beautiful? The cone mountain volcano. Some say the most beautiful in the world. Who knew it was here? It probably is. It was perfect and HUGE!! Had the Japanese held on to this peninsula it would likely be the best "ski resort" in the world. As it is.... There are some old ladies that when lipstick is applied they look wonderful. No matter how much lipstick you put on this old lady, she ain't gonna look good. Sorry but true. The town has been forgotten. Rusted out ships in the harbor. Buildings that you would think were left abandoned were actually apartment buildings full of people. The roads. You can see the potholes in the roads. Not only would you bust a tire...you might steer completely off the cliff trying to avoid them and we thought we saw people trying... Cars were coming over a hill we stopped on for a "scenic overlook". It would have been lovely but we were so fogged in, visibility was about zero. As the people passed us in their cars, they looked like out of control drivers as they avoided the potholes!
What was beautiful? The young girls. My goodness, these gals are really something. They are tall, slim, beautiful skin, they smile, they can sing, they can dance...as you can see in some of the photos. The young ladies here are just beautiful. All the people we met here were very nice. Our guide, Victoria, spoke English as if she lived in the States. That really makes a tour special when the language barrier does not exist. What was wonderful? The food. Although, if you don't like smoked salmon, raw cod and carrots, fish soup, halibut with a light cream sauce partnered with rice and green beans with white asparagus and for dessert whipped crab meat with cream cheese!! It was the only meal we have had where everything had fish in it! The chef won a world cooking competition this past year. His slicing a dicing was great fun to watch. The Russian signing and dancing was the best we have ever seen. It was a cold, bleak day but the people here made it a fun day for us. Kathleen liked this town. She wanted to stay longer. She can come back. She tried all the food. Nicky...well, he liked the singing and dancing.
You'll see a Gold's Gym in one photo!! To our body pump friend in Kentucky, maybe you can transfer here???
The statue of Lenin. Most of the statues of Lenin in Russia have been removed. This one is up, way up. It is the tallest statue of Lenin in Eastern Russia, maybe all of Russia now. It really was big. Maybe 20 feet tall. It is right beside a big pond that was frozen and a park where everyone was shoveling the snow.
The biggest industry here is fishing. Back during WWII this town was maybe more important than Moscow. It was the headquarters for their military operations. They have a military museum here. It looked run down. Really a shame. There was one memorial statue and cemetery for the fallen soldiers here during the Crimean War.
Unfortunately, this town made the national news back in 2005 when the Priz (Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle) of the Russian Navy was disabled in a submarine accident near here and sunk to the seafloor.
The volcano and the young girls. Beautiful. The weather?? It is Siberia. One really cool thought about this place. They are the first people in the world to see the sun come up everyday...at least that is what they said!! They are on the edge of Russia, the edge of the continent, they may be the people Tina Fey saw out her kitchen window??
The people here live a hard life. We take for granted that we can go to the grocery store and buy fresh fruit. No fruit grows in Siberia. People here save up for vacations to go places to have fresh fruit.
This was our last stop before we get to the USA in Alaska! God bless the USA!!
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