Thursday... Vladivostok, Russia
Trip Start
Apr 08, 2010
1
33
43
Trip End
May 15, 2010
Vladivostok, Far East Russia, Russia
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Luckily, we had prepared for cold and rain, each bringing gloves and a substantial rain repellent jacket with a hood. I had downloaded a self-walking tour of the city but that was history now. And, there was no way I was going to bring my SLR digital Canon Camera. I put my small "point and shoot" in my pocket, along with my passport and card key (in a plastic ziplock bag) and we walked toward the gangway.
Once outside, the rain pelted us from all angles. We walked over the Terminal Bridge. Below were train tracks and a replica of an old black steam engine mounted on a platform. Later, we learned the numbers 9288 on the front of the engine, represented the distance in kilometers from Vladivostok to Moscow. Built between 1880 and 1900, it is the longest continuous railway in the world. We walked passed the Train Station... terminus for the Trans Siberian Railway. It was beautiful and very well preserved.
After a couple of blocks, we took shelter in a market. It was dry and warm. No one stared at us, no one seemed interested that a couple of tourists came in from the wet to dry off. We talked about continuing on but realized it was ridiculous to go further. We turned around and walked back toward the ship. We stepped inside the Train Terminal. There was a mini-mall and it was dry, so we stopped to look inside some of the shops. There was very little of interest so after awhile, we left. Once back on the ship, we hung up our clothes to dry, changed our shoes and hoped the weather would clear in enough time to go out again to explore.
About 2 pm, the rained let up. It was cold and very windy but without the rain, walking was manageable. We turned right at Svetlanskaya Street, one of the city's main streets. We walked by the Versailles Hotel, built in 1895. We walked on, until we came to another main street. We turned right again and continued walking. Most buildings were badly in need of repair but it wasn't hard to imagine how regal they once looked... freshly painted, impressive and stately. Potholes were everywhere, on the roads and on the sidewalks. Local people walked by us briskly, not returning our smiles. It began to drizzle. We had walked pretty far. We turned and retraced our steps. We got back to the ship with only a light rain coming down. We were happy. It would have been upsetting to have come all this way, to not walk on Russian soil.
This evening, in the Princess Theater, there was a Vladivostok Folkloric show “Kalinka”. It was standing room only to see the local performers.
