Russia

A horrible flight from Beijing at 3am got us to Vladivostok at 8am. Caught the airport train into the centre of the city then a 15 minute hike uphill to our beautiful hotel (One Sea), where we promptly collapsed and slept for a few hours.

Interesting Fact - we are now back on Australian time. Vladivostok is so far east, we share the same tine zone. On our train journey to Moscow we will be crossing 8 time zones.

We struck some magnificent weather, so in the afternoon we did a big walk around the sights. First impressions - Vladivostok is a tourist town. There are heaps of Koreans here. The locals are much more friendly than I thought they would be. The women (and to be honest the blokes too) are hot; very beautiful people.

They call Vladivostok the San Francisco of the East due to its steep hills, bridge, and trams. Margaret was not happy after all the climbing on the Great Wall

Trying hard to learn to read Russian. Here's St Cyril the monk who came up with the Cyrillic alphabet.

Possibly the most famous poster in the history of Russia.

From the internet:

The Motherland calls! by Irakli Toidze (1902–1985).

This is undoubtedly the most significant graphical work of the twentieth century Russia. It was created in July 1941 during the first days of Great Patriotic War between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union. Since then the poster has been printed millions of times becoming the ultimate symbol of Russian liberation fight. It also influenced many aspects of Soviet life, inspiring artists and sculptors to design memorials like 'The Motherland' – an 85 meter 8 000 ton sculpture.

The document in Motherland’s hand is the Soviet military oath (1939-1947). Every soldier had to swear allegiance to the nation, Soviet Motherland and Workers’ and Peasants’ Government.

The poster was created by Irakli Toidze on the spot. After hearing radio-announcement his wife Tamara rushed into the studio, crying out “War!” Irakli asked her to freeze and stay still. Her distinctive posture is now on the poster. Joseph Stalin immediately ordered printing of 5 thousand of copies and sent them to every commandant’s office and recruiting station in the Soviet Union.

Went inside a submarine

Outside the submarine

A hot and sunny 4 star day