Murmansk

I was searching for the Murmansk Northern Fleet Naval Museum but I did get distracted by four locomotives puling a long line of oil tankers They were being held at a level crossing but there as an arguement between the train driver and the level crossing operator, but it looked like the train wasn't going anywhere for a while. I waited fifteen minutes and then gave up.

 I was searching for the Museum of the Northern Naval Fleet. I was sure that I was in the right area but i couldn't find it. I tried asking a few of the locals. They must have thought that I was mad. I tried asking for a museum. When I got the inevitable shake of the head, I tried saying it was a big, blue building. I was directed to a lot of big blue buildings and none were the right one. I rather regret that I didn’t take any photos as I would have the largest collection of photos of blue buildings in Murmansk in the world.

I found a large over grown space in the right place but no building. The last entry on line had said that it was very delapitated but it had probably fallen down or had been pulled down. But I did get to see the 6th Komsomol Battery Memorial at the end of Lenin `prospect.

 They had no tank or infantry support but held back a German advance for a week. The 71 victims are interned beneath the monument and their names inscribed into the granite of the plinth.

And then it was time to catch the overnight train to Kem.