We had enough time to tour a bit more of Murmansk before
heading to the airport. It was warm and
sunny with blue skies, and the locals were soaking it up, no doubt enjoying
every minute they could during their short summer. We visited a memorial dedicated to the
sailors who died when their nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea in
October, 2000.
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| A lighthouse overlooking the Kursk Submarine Memorial (still from video) |
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| A picture-perfect summer day in Russia's northernmost city (still from video) |
This time we had no trouble moving through Russian passport
control, and our charter flight to Helsiki landed ahead of schedule, which
allowed us time to tour parts of the city we hadn't previously seen. Like in Murmansk, the weather was perfect. That evening we had a final, celebratory
meal, and the next morning we departed for home sweet home, Chicago.
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| Also a nice day in Helsinki! |
It will take some time for us to process what we've
experienced over the last 16 days. We've
found that writing this journal has helped us keep things in perspective. Now we'll begin going through our images and
will add some to our posts. As they say,
a picture is worth a thousand words.
Thanks for embarking on this journey with us to the North Pole!
