Spartans In Russia 6

September 3rd, 2010: Anapa, Russia

Travel Day. 300km from Sochi to Anapa along the coast of the Black Sea. Up and down mountains, in and out of bays, all around the Russian beautiful countryside. What was supposed to be a 6-7 hour trip turned into a 10 hour jaunt. Pretty typical from what we are beginning to see here in Russia. With that said it was a great chance to have some great conversations amongst the team and to see the Russian country. Upon arrival in Anapa the team checked into the hotel and then embarked on a recon mission. Not too far from where the team is staying is a boardwalk of sorts with all kinds of activity. When the team walked up there was Spiderman standing under a neon sign saying Paradise (but in Russian). A very odd image in a dream let alone reality. Once the team crossed into “paradise” two monkeys jumped from their handlers landing on two of the athletes. Then a hawk appeared and perched itself on Marc Howatson’s arm after scaring the virus out of Ben Ball. Before we know it two giant red parrots were standing on Derek Thiessen’s head. When we looked about and saw more fluffy white animals not too far away we realized it was time to keep moving away from the makeshift petting zoo. Things did calm down after the initial rush of the entrance to paradise, or maybe we became accustomed to the oddities. Like all boardwalks there were vendors of all sorts selling trinkets, clothing, meats on sticks, drinks, etc Then there were the carnies (small hands) and they had typical games like how hard could you punch, pop the balloon with a dart and win a bottle of vodka by dropping a ring around the neck of the bottle, you know…typical. At the end of the boardwalk is an absolutely beautiful beach that stretches as far as the eye can see. Big and sandy much different than the rocky beach in Sochi. After making it all the way to the ocean it was time to turn around. A couple souvenir purchases, Dan JVD buying some street meat (we will see if it was worth it tomorrow) and a couple more superhero/animal encounters and we were home. Off to bed to begin our next phase of the tour in Anapa. Who knows what else Anapa has in store for the Spartans. If “paradise” is an indicator these next three days could get interesting.

Go Spartans!!!