Vladivostok
Vladivostok is a city in Russia, at the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Home of the Russian Pacific Fleet, used to be off limits to foreigners and Russians until 1992, now is opening up to tourism. You can visit the Pacific Fleet and the Vladivostok Aquarium, also the Arsenev history museum and the Pacific Fleet Military Museum are very interesting. Don't miss the markets, specially the Sportivnaya, the largest one, it is like a maze, full of people selling almost anything, with a great food variety.
The matryoshka doll is a set of dolls of decreasing sizes placed one inside another, usually 6 or more, often designed following a theme, like girls in traditional dresses. It is said that a painter from a folk crafts workshop, Sergei Maliutin, saw a set of Korean wooden dolls representing the Seven Gods of Fortune, so he drew a sketch with a Russian version consisted of 8 dolls. The largest one was a girl in an apron, then alternating in boys and girls, finishing with a baby. It was carved by Vasiliy Zvezdochkin and painted by Sergei Maliutin.
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