During lunch MS Expedition left Svalbard and cruised east, deeper inside the fjord where Longyearbyen is located.
On this gloomy day we are headed to one of "National Geographic Magzine's Top Ten Ghost Towns" on the planet - Pyramiden! It is also the most northerly abandoned town on the planet! This was a Russian coal-mining town that was part of the Soviet Union starting in 1927.
Our Russian captian, Sergi, anchors MS Expedition near the shore and we have our first chance to drive the small inflatable rubber boats, called ZodiacsŪ, that we will be using using throughout our expedition. We take our guests ashore and are greeted by a Russian man with a rifle. His name is Vadim and he is carrying a rifle for the same reason we are...protection from polar bears!
Vadim said he will be our guide and tell us about the history of Pyramiden...As Vadim led us along a concrete road to the center of town he explained that when this was an active coal-mining town over 1,000 Russian people lived here...Not just miners, but their wives and children, too! Today there are only 5 Russians here to work as guides and to staff the old hotel/restaurant/bar/gift shop/museum. Vadim tells us that summer is their "slow" season for tourists to visit. The busy season is in the winter because when the ground is covered with snow tourists can come here by snowmobiles to see the Northern Lights!
A tall tower marks the outskirts of Pyramiden. We can see the town at the base of the pyramid-shaped mountain where the town got its name. Near the top of the mountain we can see the entrance to the coal mine.
We enter the Town Plaza and are surprised to see grass... something that is not found here in the Arctic. The Soviets brought in soil by the shipload so the workers could have a lawn like they would have back home!
The Soviets created a model modern Soviet city unlike anything the workers actually had back home. The buildings included a school and playground for children, a heated indoor swimming pool, a large cafeteria, seperate residential apartments for single men, single women and families, greenhouses, a hospital, and a large recreation center called the "Cultural Palace" featuring a library, large theatre for movies and performing arts, a basketball court, a weight-lifting room, art studio, dance studio, and music studio with northernmost grand piano on the planet!
For Russians to work here was a promotion and privilege compared to life on the mainland Soviet Union!
Vadim took us into large Cultural Palace...It was very impressive to see something like this in this remote Arctic location. We saw signs of people having left here quickly. We asked Vadim why the people would want to leave this worker's paradise? He explained that in 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed and everything changed! The government did not have the money to support Pyramiden. The standard of living declined because of shortages, lower worker pay and poorer living conditions.
The end came after a terrible tragedy in 1996! A Russian flight from Moscow to Svalbard crashed near Longyearbyen! All 141 passengers were killed including miners' families. That led to a great feeling of depression in the workers and the company. Sometime after that it was decided to close the mine. The mine closed on March 31, 1998, and everyone left as quickly as they could.
The buildings all remain just as they were left. Because of the cold, dry Arctic conditions things do not break down here very quickly so these buildings should still be standing 500 years from now!
As Vadim leads us out of town we think about what life used to be like in this oasis in the solitude of Arctic snow and ice...the bustling town with people scurying around the plaza, the smells of food from the cafeteria, the sounds of children playing and the distant heavy machinery sounds of men working the mine...The Arctic silence has returned and only the buildings are evidence of the happy moments enjoyed by those who lived here...
Day 2 PM 
