Day 37 - Vladivostok - Ee th water's cold and they've got a submarine in the car park

Vladivostok, the end of the line

9,325 Miles GMT +11 Temp –12 

Well here we are in Vladivostok. We didn’t sleep on the train last night, we stayed up and consumed two bottles of Russian champagne, which was ok given how cheap it was.

We had a very quick look at central Vladivostok, the former secret naval base. It’s very grey, very Soviet and still very navy orientated. There’s a real submarine parked up on the promenade and it’s not yellow. To think that it would have been impossible to come here not that long ago. 

You thought I was joking

Ive been in a Russian submarine

I couldn’t resist a guided tour of the submarine……well when in Valdivostok, before we headed down to the icy beach, breaking the ice and paddled very briefly in the Sea of Japan – oh my word it was cold.

The Sea of Japan - too cold for plodging

Anya and I leave for Moscow later today and will then fly on to Warsaw, Lena is flying back to Yekaterinburg. I think I need a few days at the very least to let the dust settle on this trip, but there has been some talk of doing it again one summer to see how colourful and warm Russia can be. 

 

In the meantime here is a taste of Russian humour.

A Communist died and since he was an honest man albeit atheist, he was sentenced to rotate spending one year in hell and one year in heaven. One year passed and Satan said to God: "Take this man as fast as possible, because he turned all my young demons into Young Pioneers, I have to restore some order." Another year passed, Satan meets God again and tells him: "Lord God, it's my turn now." God replied: "First of all, don't call me Lord God, but instead Comrade God; second, there is no God; and one more thing - don't distract me or I'll be late to the Party meeting."

A Russian and an American are sentenced to Hell. The Devil summons them and says: "Men, you have 2 options: an American or Russian hell. In the American one you can do what you want, but you'll have to eat a bucket of shit every morning. The Russian one is the same, but it's 2 buckets." The American quickly makes up his mind and goes to American Hell, while the Russian eventually chooses the Russian one. In a week or so they meet. The Russian asks: "So, what's it like out there?" "Exactly what the devil said, the Hell itself is ok, but eating a bucket of shit is killing me. And you?"  "Ah, it feels just like home - either the shit doesn't get delivered or there aren't enough buckets for everyone!"

Saint Cyril and Methodius, the two monks who invented the Cyrilic Alphabet