So I recently had an adventure to Russia’s Arctic north. It consisted of a 13 hour and 19 hour train ride from Moscow to Murmansk, which is not only right near the shore of the Arctic Ocean, but is the largest city in the world above the Arctic Circle. To give some background info, the city was founded at the start of the 20th century to serve as a naval base, and was actually the second most heavily bombed Soviet city during the Second World War (only behind Stalingrad). Many of the buildings are painted bright colors in order to combat Seasonal Affected Disorder, and the whole place seems to be overgrown by trees and forest. I was there for a total of four days, and since it was early July, it was during the period of 24 hour sunlight. So yeah, I went four days without a night. Anyway, here are some pictures of the journey. Many stories and a podcast will soon follow.

Defenders of the Arctic WWII statue, nicknamed Alyosha

Many buildings were painted bright colors to combat seasonal winter depression

Many streets are being overtaken by trees

Monument pillar from a building that was bombed during the war