Our westward progress across the Bering Sea continued this morning. It continued so far that we have finally reached the other side of the fabled Beringia Land Bridge – or what used to be the geographic link between North America and Russia before the oceans separated these two landmasses.
Unlike the melting ice sheets that created the Bering Sea to begin with, there has been a political thaw in recent decades that has done much to span the oceanic division between the U.S. and Russia. Today we had an opportunity to take advantage of those easing tensions and stepped foot onto Russian soil.
Provideniya is in the extreme northeast corner of Russia and has roots as a military outpost designed to guard this end of the country. Unlike in Soviet times we were greeted with not only open arms, but song and dance. The Little Sun Dancers met us on the dock before everyone was guided in different directions throughout town by locals. Hikers took to the hills and the local lighthouse while others spent time in the well-designed museum. Still others strolled through town before taking in a variety of cultural performances from dance, to song, to “comic interpretation of life in Russia,” as the act was described to us.
With splendid temperatures and atmospheric fog rolling in and out of the harbor all day, the stage was set and our time in Russia, though brief, was nothing less than hospitable and charming.
