It turns out that this city is a fishing port of Siberia! I was very glad to have packed sweatshirts, jackets, hats and gloves – even tho B gave me a “is that really necessary” look… It is also one of the few tender ports on this cruise. We dropped anchor about a half mile from the shore around 7am. Organized tours were allowed off first and finally about 12noon the Russian customs were willing to clear independent passengers. So we got all our cold weather gear together and headed for the Queen’s Lounge, where we received our passport and a tender ticket #15. They had just called #’s 9 & 10. There was a long delay and finally the cruise director announced that where there had been 3 Russians checking passports, 2 had decided they needed a coffee break… Finally they called our number and we boarded the tender-which is a small 40 passenger boat, for those that have never been cruising. It was about a 10 minute ride and we finally put our feet on Siberian terra firma… The weather was cold, about 40*, and drizzly. There was a small table of souvenirs set up in the port hangar but we opted to walk the half mile into to town to see what was there. We walked past the statue of Lenin and into the first store which was a tiny version of a Best Buy. We wandered the store and found the prices high and we were pretty much ignored by the clerks. We continued down the street and noticed another street above us. At the corner there was a beautiful church made of logs that I photographed. It was pouring by this time so we did not explore around it. We were still in search of a grocery store, as B loves to explore foreign markets on our travels. I stopped a young couple and asked if they spoke English. The young girl did and told me there was a market farther down the street-but we opted to climb the stairs to the street above and found a shop with several stores/counters in it. We walked in dripping wet and I had to wait 5 minutes before my glasses unfogged. This shop was sort of a mini-mall, only about half the size of a gym but with different kiosks and counters of merchandise. There was jewelry, baby clothes, toys, shoes, kitchen ware and ladies clothes. Brian and I carried American flag pins and balloons. The jewelry clerk was very friendly so I gave her a pin – she then gave me a calendar. While I was looking at the clothes, B made a balloon animal for a young girl while half the store watched. I made one for a young boy and then we left those shops. We were still in search of a food store and somewhere to buy the chotskys I wanted. The rain had stopped and we walked a few stores down where we found a tiny store with snacks. We bought some very Russian looking chocolate bars and made balloon poodles for the 2 ladies. They gave us another chocolate bar… We were enjoying ourselves immensely & so were the Russians we were meeting. Walking a few blocks more, I has just about given up finding items in town when we saw a building with English signs proclaiming Russian souvenirs, postcards etc. Hurray! We found hat pins, lacquer boxes, nesting dolls and postcards. And they even took my Visa! The young clerks were delightful and we made more poodles and gave out more American flag pins. One of the girls had a t-shirt on for Jess: it read “will you be my boyfriend? Check box: yes-no-maybe”. Jess, she was not Japanese, but what do you think about Russian? LOL!
It was still cold, but now the sun was shining as we headed back to the ship. The hills were gorgeous- covered with trees in fall colors and brightly painted houses dotting the landscape. The dreary weather and fog of the earlier hour had faded away to reveal pretty scenery and snowcapped mountains. Brian & I thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Russia.
When we got back to the ship we grabbed a snack and a nap then attired ourselves in Russian costumes for Russian theme night. We were about the only passengers appropriately attired, but we looked great and enjoyed the attention of the whole crew and fellow cruisers.
Since Russia we have been two days at sea participating in badminton, golf, basketball free throw shooting, quoits, hockey slap shots and more. B & I usually win these events so we have accrued a vast collection of crappy prizes, but I refer you back to my philosophy about winning…lol! I have also managed to walk a mile each morning even in the cold weather. I am still up in the casino and we established a core group of about 15 poker players, so there is a bit of play there too.
We are headed for Japan and will have 4 consecutive port stops there – see the map in blog 2. However we just found out that the internet aboard ship will be blocked while we are in Japan. So while I will try to keep track of our Japanese travels, I will be unable to post anything until the 9 of Oct – we will look for an internet café on shore but we’ll have to see. We are looking forward to our visits to Japan – Sayonara
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