Mother Russia!

Blog #9 Mother Russia

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother, the most selfless, kind and generous woman I know, and also to my new mother who I am absolutely thrilled and honored to call mom!  I love you so much. 

Here is the latest blog...   

It's currently May 6, 2011 and I'm sitting in the ship's Piano Bar listening to the solo guitarist, Zach.  Outside is a view of overcast, cold and dark Vladivostok, Russia. We just returned and the first thing I did was drink some Earl Grey tea in an attempt to warm the bone-chilling cold. This morning we had a crew life raft drill and had to stand outside for about 20 minutes. After sailing near the equator and being in such warm and humid climates, this morning was quite a shock and i was not definitely not prepared.  I would say it was about 35 degrees but with the wind chill it felt more like 20 degrees.  When we left for the city with coats, scarves, gloves and hats, I have to admit that even though I was still freezing, the cold added to the Russian experience. It was pretty cool walking off the ship and seeing the Russian immigration officers in the traditional Russian hats and furs.

Vladivostok is the Eastern-most stop on the Trans-Siberian Railroad and the train station was right where the ship docked. Had we hopped on the train, it would take 7 days and only $150 US Dollars to get to Moscow. Too bad we couldn't get on the train...what an experience that would be! 

There is one word for Vladivostok besides cold: dark. I wish I could adequately describe the contrast between Russia and colorful Japan and Korea.  Everything had a greyish, brownish or bluish tone and the entire city felt almost abandoned. The sidewalks and streets were extremely tattered and none of the buildings looked like they had been painted for 20 years.  The architecture was exactly what I was expecting and I have to admit that coming from my American bias of Russians being the nemesis red coats, the people also met my expectations.  I tried smiling at fellow pedestrians and not one of them smiled back.  Either they wouldn't make eye contact at all or they would just look away if they caught me smiling.  It must be a cultural thing.

Vladivostok is certainly not a tourist destination, so there wasn't a whole lot to do without venturing a far distance into the city. Because of our life raft drill this morning, we didn't have very much time so we wandered around what was in walking distance of the port. We stumbled upon a beautiful park right on the water with a Russian Orthodoxy church.  We took a few pictures and then Jeremy discovered a Russian submarine museum. For $100 Rouble, or about $3 dollars, we ducked inside the submarine. Unbelievable. Dad - you would've LOVED seeing this. Not many people can say they've been inside a Russian sub and in the past, that wouldn't have been a positive thing!  Two chilling moments - seeing the framed picture of Stalin in the captain's quarters and walking through the sailor's quarters with their cots parallel to enormous torpedoes. 

We tried to find a restaurant but didn't see anything worthwhile. There were no flashy neon signs and very few pictures or symbols to indicate what certain businesses were.  We probably passed numerous restaurants and shops without knowing it. I enjoyed seeing Vladivostok and I'm happy to say vie been to Russia, but I wouldn't want to return unless it were a short historical tour in Moscow or St. Petersburg.  The culture, colors, mentality and overall vibe of Russia is just so different than the USA. I'm proud to be an American. 
  
Last night was the first repeat of our show "Back to Broadway." This Asian cruise leg is 35 days but it was broken up into an 18 day and a 17 day cruise. A lot of guests booked for all 35 days, but some of them left in Kobe and we got new passengers for the last 17 days. Because of this, and because we only have 7 production shows, we will be repeating all of our shows. For half of the guests they'll be brand new, for the other half...well, I hope they liked them enough to come again!  I am happy to report that every guest I've talked to has said that our cast is the best cast they've ever seen on a Holland America ship. A lot of the crew has seconded that so we feel appreciated :)

We have three sea days until the next Russian port and unfortunately we won't be able to leave the ship because it's a tender port.  Tendering means that the Volendam is too large to pull up to the dock so they drop the anchor and ship the guests ashore on tender boats.  Sometimes the staff and crew aren't allowed to go ashore because there isn't enough time to tender everyone.  After this next Russian city Petropavlovsk, we are headed to Alaska!

Love you! 

Happy Mother's Day!!

J & J