Day Five
Saturday
Went last night to have a drink with Michael. We went to a place called "The Alaskan" where I met some of Michael's friends and acquaintances. A blues/jazz band was playing--they were pretty good--and we played pool two on two with some kids I met there. Michael and I took the long way home, talking along the way.
This morning we got up at 6:30 to catch a bus and a plane to Sitka. It's a beautiful town snuggled in mountains and seashore. Lots and lots of little islands dot the coastline.
We went up to the site where the ceremony took place to officially transfer Alaska from Russia to the US. It was also the site of an old Russian mansion, but that was burned down long ago.
It's funny, during the land trading ceremony, the Russians were supposed to lower their flag and the US raise thiers and there would be a gun salute and a cannon salute. When the Russians tried to lower thier flag, it got stuck, so they hoisted up a soldier to get it down, but the soldier lost his grip and the flag floated down and landed on the salute rifles, then it landed on the ground. The audience was shocked and didn't know what to do, but they raised the US flag anyway and fired the cannons to complete the ceremony. I can just imagine how funny it would be to have that big important official ceremony and something go so drastically wrong like that.
Legally, that hill and the surrounding area (the town of Sitka, I guess) was the only land that the Natives actually sold to Russia. Russia got the little land area by the sea in exchange for a big engraved medallion, so technically, that could be the only piece of land the US actually legally obtained.
We also toured the house of Bishop Innocent of Moscow, the first known missionary to learn the Aleutian language and then translate the Bible into that language. Before him, the language was only oral, but he invented a way to write it. Of course, he converted lots of Natives as well.
Those are the hightlights, folks.
Went last night to have a drink with Michael. We went to a place called "The Alaskan" where I met some of Michael's friends and acquaintances. A blues/jazz band was playing--they were pretty good--and we played pool two on two with some kids I met there. Michael and I took the long way home, talking along the way.
This morning we got up at 6:30 to catch a bus and a plane to Sitka. It's a beautiful town snuggled in mountains and seashore. Lots and lots of little islands dot the coastline.
We went up to the site where the ceremony took place to officially transfer Alaska from Russia to the US. It was also the site of an old Russian mansion, but that was burned down long ago.
It's funny, during the land trading ceremony, the Russians were supposed to lower their flag and the US raise thiers and there would be a gun salute and a cannon salute. When the Russians tried to lower thier flag, it got stuck, so they hoisted up a soldier to get it down, but the soldier lost his grip and the flag floated down and landed on the salute rifles, then it landed on the ground. The audience was shocked and didn't know what to do, but they raised the US flag anyway and fired the cannons to complete the ceremony. I can just imagine how funny it would be to have that big important official ceremony and something go so drastically wrong like that.
Legally, that hill and the surrounding area (the town of Sitka, I guess) was the only land that the Natives actually sold to Russia. Russia got the little land area by the sea in exchange for a big engraved medallion, so technically, that could be the only piece of land the US actually legally obtained.
We also toured the house of Bishop Innocent of Moscow, the first known missionary to learn the Aleutian language and then translate the Bible into that language. Before him, the language was only oral, but he invented a way to write it. Of course, he converted lots of Natives as well.
Those are the hightlights, folks.
posted by ElleLoup at 11:09 PM
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