KABOOM!

Vladivostok, Russia

August 8, 2019

The Captain’s concerns about disturbing us both as we powered along at 20 knots and then arriving at our berth In Vladivostok were unnecessary. As we went along I looked out and saw what I thought were giant fireflies but turned out to be some kind of sea gull, flying along next to us, its white feathers reflecting the ship’s lights. Although I was awake and reading, I didn’t even realize that we had reached our destination until I looked out the balcony door and saw the lights defining a very tall, very long bridge which we must have crossed under to reach the dock.

Welcome to Vladivostok!

It’s a bit rainy and a lot humid but it’s 74 degrees out! 25 degrees cooler than Japan. Good thing because we’re going on a three-hour “stroll” through the city. Once again, the starboard side is facing the city while we’re looking out at the harbor. When we got up to the Lido for breakfast and saw the city we thought, uh oh! Vladivostok is called the San Francisco of western Russia and now we know why. It’s hilly, and how. Closer reading of our excursion description and in italics, “Long inclines and some steps. Must be able to keep up with the group.” Put on those new tennies, do a couple of knee bends and we’re off. 

Well, we’re in Russia which means there will be officials. First we collect our passports from the ship, then our cruise card is scanned at the gangway (S.O.P.) and then our passport is shown to a local official also on the gangway. All is good and we’re off.

Each group of ten has a guide and an assistant who carries a sign with your group number and makes sure that no one gets lost or left behind. Our guide, Anna, is a a beautiful red head from Vladivostok. Her assistant, Alexandra, is a young university student in St. Petersburg who is spending the summer here with relatives. There are at least ten groups of ten; we’re constantly crossing paths so it’s easy to latch on to #7 group instead of our #3. Alexandra is busy. I told her that in American cross country foot races, there is always an official “sweeper” who runs behind the pack to make sure that they all stay on the course, so she was our “sweeper.” She loved that. Her English is very good, which might be a combination of schooling and location. Years ago when we were in St. P, every young Russian was studying English and most anxious to try it out on any English-speaking tourist. Anna’s was a bit harder to understand, but her English was a thousand times better than our Russian! It almost is for the better because it requires you to pay more attention to her. 

The vaunted station at the end of the Trans Siberian Railway is just across the street from the ship. When I was studying Russian those 40 or 50 years ago my goal was to take the train from Moscow to Vladivostok. I’m not quite sure how, when or why I gave up on the idea. Anna showed us pictures of the interior of the station. For some reason we were not allowed inside. In fact, Alexandra told me she had never been inside. Perhaps a Russian thing; who knows. Anna said the journey across the country took nine days on the train and I don’t think one travels in style comparable to the Orient Express. I do like my creature comforts. Maybe that’s why I never took that trip.

Besides being the end of the railway, Vladivostok is also the busiest port in Russian. The harbor is huge, lined with an endless series of commercial docks. The streets of the city are bustling. Cars, buses, pedestrians. Everyone driving or walking at a mad pace. This morning when we arrived I switched on the Google Map app on my phone and searched for Vladivostok. The street map popped up and immediately it was covered with those yellow and red dots that indicate traffic jams. I can’t help but remember those pictures from the 60s and 70s of grand Russian boulevards with just a handful of cars. Boy, are those days over!

Just as in Petropavlovsk, the streets and parking lots are jammed with cars...Toyotas for sure, plus other Japanese and Korean brands. The Russian-made cars are few and far between. There are electric street cars plus taxis and some airport-parking-lot-shuttle sized buses. And everyone drives at a full tilt! And no one is especially interested in red traffic lights or pedestrian cross walks. All senses are alert! And for the first time we saw lots of people (generally 30 and younger) with cell phones in hand. The “kids” dress like westerners and act like them, too.

Vladivostok is a combination of older, elegant buildings from the early 1900s when it became an international port, Soviet Bloc-style apartment buildings and contemporary high rises. A lot of the older buildings look a little worn, but not the Potemkin village false fronts that we saw all over Cuba. Lots of restaurants serving every cuisine—Russian, Chinese, Pizza, hamburgers, even a Cinnabon! 

One of their favorite sons is Yul Brinner. There is a statue of him as the King from “The King and I” in front of the former home of his grandparents, now the offices of a shipping company. And it was right next door to a massive four story building of the same era that I think is also offices and across the street from a modern high rise called “The White House,” where the government offices are located. It’s all a wonderful blend of old and new. It’s nice to see that the older buildings are still standing and being used.

We walked up the inclines and then across town past the soccer stadium to the bay and shoreline devoted to pleasure craft, carnival rides and a nice broad path along the waterfront. There is even a yacht club. The times they are a changin’. Some people were swimming in the bay so we asked Anna if the water wasn’t cold but she said, “No, very warm.” Then someone asked, “How ‘bout in the winter?” Her reply: “Ice!”

There was a huge pedestrian plaza with a massive fountain and dancing waters coordinated with music. It was a work day, so it was mostly tourists taking all this in. Then Anna swept us towards the “some steps” we were warned about. A big, long stairway up from the shoreline to the street. Thank heavens we’ve been taking the stairs on the ship since day one. That was a lot of “some steps.” 

We eventually returned to the main part of the city to spend some time in a museum of the history of the area. In one display was a very large, clunky typewriter with a Cyrillic keyboard. Someone asked Anna if it had a special significance so she started to tell us how a typewriter worked, acting out putting the paper in and rolling it into place and then explaining how hard it was to correct a mistake. It was a wonderful performance and I think she was a bit startled when I told her we were all old enough to remember using typewriters. She got a big kick out of that. We all felt older than dirt!

Somebody in Russian Urban Planning went to Disneyland because all tours end in a three story souvenir shop! Two floors of souvenirs and the bottom floor is a grocery store and antique store. The grocery store had a wide selection of Russian vodkas plus snacks and candy. On display in the antique store? An old, portable typewriter with Cyrillic keyboard. So tempted but we had a grand total of only 1000 Rubles, about fifteen bucks.

So much activity swirling around us as we walked back to the ship; such a difference from the quiet streets in Japan. Unlike Japan, though, the dock area is restricted to passengers only. Damp (it rained on and off) and weary we were back on board around 11:30. Jim went downstairs to hand our passports back in while I was on our balcony looking at the three, armed with missiles, Navy warships parked next to us when, KABOOM! My heart did indeed skip a beat until I realized it was the Noon Gun. This harbor seems to be the home of Russia’s Pacific Fleet. We’re guessing that the subs were out counting the North Korean missiles that flew overhead. 

We had a quiet evening, skipping the Mentalist in the Showroom.

A sea day tomorrow en route to another Russian port. Although we took refuge from Francisco’s wrath coming to Vladivostok, the Captain has told us that the storm is still viable, heading towards Hakodate, our last Japanese port before returning to Yokohama. He’s anticipating a bouncy ride tomorrow. We don’t have anything to do tomorrow until 11:15 so I’m anticipating a lazy morning.