Arkangelsk (the best city in Russia?)

We finally got our first chance to go to a place that could possibly the biggest hidden secret of Russia. This city is located in the far north of Russia, it is level with Fairbanks, Alaska. Arkangelesk is my (Brian) favorite city here for multiple reasons. I absolutely love the people in this city, they remind me of people in Juneau quite a bit. It is only 250,000 people which for Russia is just a "normal" sized city. Wendy and I were there for 7 days and it was so much fun, that we had to split it into two different blogs so stay tuned.

Nothing says northern Russia like a camel wearing a carpet. This is a two humped camel, which they say is the best for packing. You know in case you need to get a load across northern Russia and you don't have access to Train, Plane, Car, Truck or any other more convenient method of transport.  

Our best buds from Arkangelsk Clockwise from top left : Me(Brian), Vitya, Alyona, Lena, Kirill, Nadiya, Emille, Pavel, Lera, Vova, Nastya, Kostya, Wife... oh I mean Wendy. 

 Wendy and I took a fun opportunity to walk across the frozen Северная Двина(Sevrnaya Dvina) river. There is an island on the other side that people live on. When the river freezes over, taxi's will drive you across for a small fee, we just chose to walk.

 This was a main new year festival going on downtown. This was the coolest ice slide ever. There were so many kids and I had to remind Wendy that she is an adult because she was almost pushing kids out of the way to try it. (kidding... in reality it was the other way around)

 We went ice skating at the main Каток (ice rink) called Stadium Dynamo. The line to rent skates was too long so Wendy didn't get to skate. She had fun watching people come out of the locker room and slip and wipe out on the un-expected ice. She said one time this gal fell down and lay there like a lifeless corpse and her husband had to come collect her off the ice.

How often do you see a ice log cabin? That is real art folks. 

There is hardcore fisherman, and then there are those who camp out in -30 in a tent on a frozen lake to drop a hook down hole and hope something bites. I bet you this guy is thinking about his warm sleeping bag right now. There were a surprising amount of ice fishermen.