Part IV: sightseeing with an English Language All-Star

After finishing my lesson with the students I returned to Inna’s office to meet my guide for the afternoon, one of her “all-star students”, Victoria. Victoria would take me around Vladivostok to show me all the highlights, help me exchange some left over Korean money I still had and assist me in buying a SIM card for my mobile phone.

Victoria had been studying English for only three years, however one would never know this as she spoke crystal clear with hardly any mistakes and great confidence! I complimented her on this amazing accomplishment but she was very humble always saying that she knew “so very little” English!

Walking around with Victoria and practicing English reminded of the “good ole” days back in the wild and crazy 90s, I say that as as Russia was undergoing a severe crisis then. Back then every summer I’d visit a host family in the suburb of Zelenograd, a suburb of Moscow. My host mother was an English as Foreign Language teacher at the university and similar to my experience in Vladivostok would have her students take me into Moscow for a tour. However, this time was a bit different since then I was the one who was 16 or 17 and they were the ones who were a lot older! Oh well………..how time flies!!!! But, I still have the spirit of a 16 year old :) !!!!

One of my main goals that day was to exchange my left over Korean Wons into Rubles. Seemed like a simple task since the biggest hotel in town, The Hyundai Hotel was Korean. What could go wrong? It’s Korean so obviously they have Korean clients who need to exchange money and it’s a giant five star hotel, therefore it should’ve been a slam-dunk! Except as I quickly learned, never ever take anything for granted when in a foreign country, especially Russia and especially out in The Far East of Russia! We arrived at the hotel and asked where I could exchange money.  They looked at me as if I was crazy and said they didn’t exchange money!! So much for that one! Asked if they knew where I could they blankly stared at me and indicated they could’ve cared less….. Eventually after wandering around for nearly an hour trying to find a bank, I finally found a place that accepted Korean Won!!! Moral of the story……never assume (or as we say in America, you’ll make an ass out of you and me) and always exchange foreign money before you leave a nation!

Once we got the money exchange out of the way and a new SIM card for my phone, we were off to explore Vladivostok’s version of The Golden Gate Bridge, which has a similar name, The Golden Horn Bay Bridge. Built for the 2012 APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Conference) Summit this mammoth sized suspension bridge, is an INCREDIBLE marvel and tribute to Russian engineering. Just a few kilometers down the road sits another suspension bridge “The Russkiy Island Suspension Bridge” which is even bigger and even more stunning. But for today, I’d just have to settle for the smaller of the two, “The Golden Horn Bay Bridge”. Victoria and I walked about a kilometer out on the bridge and were treated to a stunning view of “Russia’s San Francisco”!

Besides the bridge, the fog, and the bay, Vladivostok had one other feature in common with San Francisco……….the hills!!! And walking up and down them all day gave you a workout that made your Stairmaster workout look petty! To put the hills in perspective one day of walking around Vladivostok was the equivalent of walking to the top floor of a modestly high skyscraper!! Much like the cultures of The Andes Mountains who’ve adapted to the extremely high altitudes by having larger lung volumes, I wonder if the people of Vladivostok’s knees and legs have adapted to the tall grueling hills?? Certainly they must be a lot stronger than say someone in St. Petersburg where it’s flat and swampy! Who knows, all I know is that by the end of the day I felt as if I’d completed the Stairmaster workout from hell!

Some of the other cool sights we saw were The Vladivostok Funicular, a cable car on a railway that goes up steep hills! You couldn’t beat the price, a five-minute ride to the top for only a few rubles, which is not even the equivalent to one dollar or Euro!! After viewing Vladivostok from high above, we descended down to the recently revitalized waterfront and enjoyed the cool but beautiful sunny day breathing in the smell of the Pacific Ocean! On our way down we passed through the "Triumphal Arch” built in the 1890s to commemorate the Tsarist family and the visit of Crown Prince Nicholas to Vladivostok. However, the original arch was destroyed during Soviet times and not restored to its former glory until 2003. Victoria told me that when we went underneath the arch to hold my breath and make a wish! And, she emphasized to me that this really worked telling me a story of how her mother passed beneath this arch some years ago while on a visit to Vladivostok from a local town and made the wish to live in Vladivostok with her and her sister. And sure enough, what do you know they now all live happily today in this beautiful city!!

Eventually it was time to return to my hotel! On our way back Victoria showed me some other sights along the way in the center, including The White House (Vladivostok’s administrative building that is painted the color………white), the city’s two main streets Svetlana Street and Okeanskiy Prospect (Ocean Prospect) and the city square.

I’m unsure who had more fun, Victoria speaking English for the very first time to a native speaker without a teacher being around or me being able to see the wonderful sights of Vladivostok? We’ll call it a draw! Huge thanks goes out to Inna and her all-star student, Victoria for making my time in Vladivostok special and epic! I’ll be back with even more impressions about Vladivostok later! Thank you for reading!!!!! 

The All-Star, Victoria, who recently graduated from school!