I’m in Komsomolsk-na-Amure, in the Russian Far East. I was visiting the city’s WWII memorial, when I suddenly spotted a familiar face. It can’t be, can it? Yes it is! Stalin himself. Smiling calmly, without a care in the world. What was most startling is that the bust is quite new, erected just last year. […]
Browsing Posts in Travel
Komsomolsk: A familiar face
April 30, 2019
Escape From the Château d’If
February 5, 2019
I have successfully both entered and escaped the legendary Château d’If! The real-life Château d’If is almost exactly as described in Dumas’s The Count of Monte Cristo. A stern 16th century castle on a tiny fortified island offshore from Marseilles, with strong walls, dank cells, and few visitors. The tourist authorities have helpfully labeled one […]
San Marino
January 29, 2019
I’ve finally made it to the Most Serene Republic of San Marino! As well as being a micro-state (and my last “official” European country), it’s actually quite fun in its own right. I’m in the eponymous City of San Marino, which sits on a tall and very steep hill, with strong defensive towers. You can […]
Pamir Passes
November 6, 2018
The Kulma Pass between China and Tajikistan was finally opened to foreigners last year, so I seized the moment and took a road trip through from Kashgar to Murghab, then up through the high passes into Kyrgyzstan. There had been a little early snow, enough to make things scenic, but not enough to block any […]
Xinjiang: Shipton's Arch
November 3, 2018
This morning I was out at Shipton’s Arch, near Kashgar, Xinjiang, China. It was unknown outside of local lore until British traveler Eric Shipton “discovered” it in the 1940s. It is probably the tallest natural arch in the world. It grows out of a mountain slope and then bridges over a deep canyon. So one […]
California: Nike Missile Site
September 30, 2018
The Nike Missile Site in the Marin Headlands, just North of San Francisco, is the sole preserved site from a giant 1950s era US national anti-aircraft defense system. This site was one of six defending San Francisco, using nuclear tipped anti-aircraft missiles so they could reliably take down incoming Soviet nuclear bombers. Gulp. On the […]
© 2025 The Wandering Scot
Design by SRS Solutions