Abroad in 2012: A Year of Travel: ICE-BREAKER KRASSIN

On Wednesday, September 5, I took the bus out to see the Ice-Breaker Krassin.

Actually, I missed the stop, and took the bus all the way out to its end terminal, thinking it would stop and circle back. Nope. The bus goes on to a terminal, and I had to get off the bus, walk to the corner, and pay for a new bus ticket.

That was alright, though, because it once again afforded me a view of "real and regular" daily life in Petersburg, and not the "sanitized" sights intended for tourists in the city center where we live. Bottom line: life looks neither pretty nor easy. Huge apartment blocks with graffiti along large boulevards strewn with trash. It looked much like Cabrini-Green spread out over an even wider area.

When I mounted the second bus, I was wise enough to actually ask where the stop would be. The conductor informed me (the stop was much more evident on the return trip!) and I proceeded to walk in the wrong direction, down scary streets with no people other than auto service repair shops with wary mechanics peering out. I was, however, unworried and confident of the mistake I had made and in the direction I was going.

When I arrived at Ice-Breaker Krassin, there was a tour in progress, so I had to wait 20 minutes.

After boarding the steep gang plank and arguing, unconvincingly, that admission is supposed to be free on the first Wednesday of the month ("That was discontinued in 2011."But why do the guide books say otherwise?" "That is a mistake we must rectify...")

At 1:00 p.m., a man appeared, looking very much like the captain, and started toward me. I assumed he was about to either explain the mistake further or tell me to vacate the ship. Instead, he introduced himself as Vladimir Korzun, engineer and English tour guide!

Vladimir lead me on 1.5 hour tour of the ice breaker's super structure (engine and boiler room tours only on weekends). I quite enjoyed it, fascinated by the ship's history and its original purpose, to break through feet-thick Arctic ice and lead ships through to their destinations.

Click on the link in the first line for first-rate, first-mate information, if you're interested. Here are some photos from my visit.

The National Mineral Resources University - Gorni Institute. THIS IS ACROSS THE STREET FROM ICE-BREAKER KRASSIN. IT'S ALSO CALLED THE ST. PETERSBURG MINING INSTITUTE - OR THE GORNI - AND IT WAS RUSSIA'S FIRST HIGHER TECHNICAL EDUCATION INSTITUTION.

BEFORE IT WAS THE "KRASSIN," THE SHIP WAS CALLED SVYATAGOR. THIS IS WHAT THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN LOOKED LIKE WHEN IT WAS BUILT IN ENGLAND IN 1916. THIS SHIP HAS A VERY INTERESTING HISTORY, WHICH PROMPTED ME TO WANT TO SEE IT RATHER THAN THE MORE-FAMOUS AND MORE POPULAR, CRUISER AURORA.

VLADIMIR KORZUN. HE TRAINED AS AN ENGINEER.

LIFE BOAT ON BOARD. KRASSIN SITS ON THE WIDE NEVA RIVER.

BEHIND THE KRASSIN IS A WORKING ICE-BREAKER THAT PLIES THE BALTIC SEA DURING THE WINTER. IT IS MOORED AT THE BALTISKAYA SHIPYARD AND IS MUCH LARGER THAN THE OLD KRASSIN, WHICH WAS RETIRED FROM ACTIVE SERVICE IN 1971. THE KRASSIN IS NOW A FLOATING MUSEUM.

ACROSS THE RIVER FROM THE KRASSIN, AN OCEANIC RESEARCH VESSEL IS GETTING LOADED.

THE STAFF CABIN.

THE CABIN WHERE THE STAFF MET WITH THE CAPTAIN.

I GREW UP IN AN ERA WHEN THE U.S.S.R. WAS THE PRIME GEO-POLITICAL ENEMY OF THE U.S.A. THE KRASSIN WAS A SOVIET VESSEL THAT STILL DISPLAYS THE HAMMER AND SICKLE AND THE CCCP EMBLEM. SEEING THOSE SYMBOLS, I CONFESS, GAVE ME A CERTAIN SENSE OF DREAD.