Living Life to its Fullest: 10/2/10 – Day 7

Today was definitely an interesting day. We got into port at 8:00 am. This was a tender port, meaning our ship was not able to dock in town. Instead, we anchored and took some of our lifeboats back and forth from the ship to the pier. The Russian officials were quite strict. They had to board the boat and see everyone face to face for a passport check before going ashore. And, once we got there, only the people on pre-organized tours were allowed to venture outside of the city’s downtown area. We were booked on a 1:30 tour and I was hoping to ashore in the morning and peruse the city in the morning…no such luck. Passengers not on morning tours were not release to go ashore until noon, which left very little time and I wasn’t going to risk missing the tour for a few minutes in town. We were completely at the mercy of the Russian government, and they seemingly weren’t very kind individuals. Lots of fear and gruffness left over from the communist rule. It was quite an eerie feeling.

We met for our tour at 1:30 and were delayed an hour leaving. We did finally get ashore and met our guide, Natalia. A very nice lady who teaches at the local university and enjoys the opportunity to lead tours when English-speaking groups come to town so that she can practice her English. Even though we didn’t go very many places, it was a nice day and we were able to gain a small understanding of the Russian culture. We had stops at the older Russian Orthodox Church, the new church which is under construction, a native cultural museum, an overlook of the city, and their city market. It was nice to finally step foot on solid ground after a week at sea. And, even though I was frustrated that our tour wasn’t until afternoon, it ended up working out better because it was rainy and foggy in the morning, but cleared in the afternoon. It was classic fall weather with autumn colored leaves and temperatures in the high 50s. Overall, it was a nice day after the Russian officials allowed us to go ashore.

I’ll give a little more detail about our tour. The operative Russian Orthodox Church, complete with gold onions atop the building, was truly beautiful inside. We didn’t have much time to spend there, but I enjoyed watching as locals came in to go through their ritual prayers and candle lightings. The church sat in a neighborhood that was lower income housing and quite dilapidated. This is one of the reasons for erecting a new church at a better location. We were not able to go in the newer church as it was still under construction. Our next stop at the cultural museum was an interesting experience. The stop was too long and the guide overly detailed and not so interesting. However, we did learn a bit about the aboriginal people and the history of this distant area the country. Our next stop was up one of the surrounding mountains at a scenic overlook of the city. This was a nice stop, even though there were power lines in the way no matter which direction we took pictures (I guess that’s what Photoshop is for). Our last stop was at the local market, which was quite a bit less busy than usual due to the earlier rain. No souvenirs or English spoken at this market. This is where the locals shop for fresh meat and produce, as well as cheap necessities, mostly imported from China. We arrived back to the ship at about 6:30 pm and set sail shortly after that. It was about that time when the skies finally cleared enough for us to sneak a peak at the 3 volcanoes standing boldly behind the city in the distance, which was a very nice way to say “farewell” to Petropavlovsk, Russia.

My Parents on the Tour Bus

This was at the begining of the tour. Notice all of the people with umbrellas waiting to get back to the ship. It was so nice that it cleared up for us as the afternoon progressed,

a luxury that the morning tour groups didn't have.