Loading ...let’s ski!
Repost…can’t let this one slip down the poage too fast…:)
Amazingly Archangelic Greetings!
No, really! Allow me to explain. After a few days in Murmansk, once again I took an overnight train and arrived yesterday in the city of Arkhangelsk. So, at least while I’m here, my plan is to enjoy feeling absolutely angelic 😉
This latest SmugMug gallery chronicles a week of skiing in Siberia:
https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Sheregesh
It’s all downhill from here!
Bill
PS for Plunger: the skiing conditions were excellent. Sheregesh consistently has the best snow in all of Russsia. But that comes at a cost- it’s cold! It’s also not the easiest place to get to and it’s quite a bit rougher than the high-dollar resorts closer to civilization. So, for the comfort of your partner and the continuation of your partnership, if you ever plan to ski together in Russia you might want to stick to the posh places close to Sochi.
What a fantastic looking experience! Thank you for sharing. The people there appear happy, free, healthy and friendly. How much is Putin paying you for this propaganda?
Peace and safety on your journey.
Thanks, Hippie. Americans in general would be blown away by how amazingly well I am treated in Russia. Even though it has been that way during every visit, even in 1989 & 1990 during very dark days for Russia. The people share unselfishly, easily. Yesterday was a perfect example, where I was treated like royalty on the train, my taxi paid for -in spite of my protestations- by my compartment companions, happily given a private and very special tour of the Arctic museum by a young passionate employee who took the opportunity to simultaneously share his knowledge and practice his English with me, then while simply going for a cup of coffee in a little shop to be invited out-of-the-blue by the owner to go with him to an open-air museum of old log buildings 40 minutes away, so we spent the whole afternoon together. He said he ‘had a good feeling about me’. But that wasn’t all! Today, he wrote to ask if I would please be his guest tonight, to join him and his wife for dinner, to eat some northwestern Russia specialty foods. Unbelievable! The details are always different, but stuff like this happens literally everywhere I go. It can be a challenge to have enough free time alone, but I’m certainly not complaining.
One of the questions I’m commonly asked is whether Americans are actually afraid of Russians, or don’t like them. I used to be embarrassed or ashamed to say yes, but anymore I just say it’s the nonstop negative propaganda in America that so many have succumbed to. I tell them that it’s just like any disease, but this one is a disease of the mind, one that causes otherwise intelligent people to be filled with fear and everything that comes with it.
Gotta run now- I’m going for a couple rounds of sauna sauna, then dinner.
Oh, as to your question about Putin, I’m not at liberty to discuss the arrangement, but something I can share is the rumor that any contributions made by others will be matched, solely to extend the positive propaganda campaign. Shall I let you know the address to send a couple of gold eagles? All eagles will be greatly appreciated and put to good use, guaranteed 😉
Thanks for all your insights and humor. Even my wife is considering a trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg to see it and experience the reality for ourselves. The media in Canada lies constantly.
MAGNIFICENT !
Another excellent adventure.
Thank you for sharing.
Hard to imagine (after Lake Baikal and some other places north of Yakutsk) what it would be like at a place that Bill describes as REALLY COLD !!
That must mean SUB FRIGID to the rest of us.
Everyone there seems to have stylish down parkas though.
Full length in some cases.
My early years of skiing (when I was near broke) meant cold hands and especially cold feet. Parkas don’t quite help there, and rental equipment (ie, boots) tended not to be the best on that front.
To stay warm, you wanted higher end custom fit boots.