There are many active volcanoes in Petropavlovsk and the Kamchatka Peninsula. Earthquakes occur daily (most cannot be felt); however, the area is protected by the shape of its bay from any tsunami-like effects.
Today's tour started with a volcano museum. Our museum guide as a local physicist who form the museum. His English was excellent.
The next part of the tour included views of the bay, a tour of the new Russian Orthodox Church, and a stop by a mall that has a fish market. Caviar was reasonably priced according to our guide.
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| I caught this photo of Russian immigration officials getting ready for our arrival. |
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| The leaves have not completely fallen off the trees, and I bet the area was beautiful with color this year. |
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| Our guide said that the pipes found everywhere carry hot water. |
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| The statue to St. Peter and St. Paul. They are the namesakes for the town. Vitus Bering, who explored the region from Denmark, had two ships named for these two saints. |
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| One of the older Russian cathedrals overlooking the bay. You can see a volcano in the background. |
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| A local physicist and his wife built the museum dedicated to volcanoes and understanding the science behind them. |
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| This Russian peninsula is the meeting point of three plates which causes the seismic and volcanic activity. |
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| Our physicist guide was very interesting with his demonstrations, and his English was excellent. |
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| The outside of the building that has been transformed into the volcano museum. I wonder if the family lives upstairs. |
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| We were given a treat from the streams in the local mountains/volcanoes. It tasted like water. |
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| A monument to St. Nicholas. |
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| A chapel in remembrance of those who died in the Crimean War. |
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| There are earthquakes daily, and tsunamis are always possible in this part of the world. The unique shape of the bay protects the area from any possible flooding. It is the second largest bay in the world according to our guide (largest in the Northern Hemisphere since Brazil has the largest). |
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| The majority of trees are of the Birch variety. These are called "rock" birch trees because they'll grown on top of rocks. |
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| Can you see Alaska from here? |
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| The beautiful Russian Orthodox Church as built about 15 years ago. It was burned by an arsonist a few years ago, but it has been repaired. |
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| There are 5 volcanoes that can been seen from the hill on which the Russian Orthodox Church sits. |
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| A view of apartment homes from the church. Most buildings are limited to five stories. |
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| The ceiling of the church has beautiful paintings in gold and blue. |
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| The screens separate the main part of the church from the altar. Only priests may go through the doorways to the altar area. |
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| The church bells are located on the outside. |
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| A final look at the five volcanoes you can easily view from the church grounds. |
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| There are five "helmet" domes. The number, shape, and color has meaning in the Russian Orthodox Church. I think the color gold represents the fight between good and evil. |
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| The bus stopped for 20 minutes at a mall and fish market. Anyone want any caviar? They only have red caviar (the roe from Salmon) in this part of Russia . |
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| I passed on purchasing any of the caviar or the dried/salted fish. Hey, we're having a big fish cookout tonight on the ship. Wonder where they got the fish? |
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| It's back to the Amsterdam where the Russian officials are waiting to check our passports and stamps. |
