These, of course, were taken throughout the voyage, but put together so you get the idea.... this was the first lock we went through (I lost track - perhaps 7?)
...our resident piano player. Not bad, really.....
...the first of many lectures. This one was The History of Russia, Part I.
....this was a bell tower of a church flooded by the river....
The first town on our itinerary is Mandrogi.. It is a small tourist town now, built by one of the oligarchs on the remains of a burnt out village...
...there was a vodka museum, with, of course, a tasting room...
.....and a shish kebab lunch on shore...
Next stop along the river is Kizhi Island, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of 1,650 islands on Lake Onega. Beautiful wooden churches, apparently a popular tourist destination...
.....Kizhi.....
The most impressive thing about these churches is that they were built without any nails or other metal ties - even the joints were made of wood....
You can see it was raining. It was also windy and cold. I've got to say, this is more what I thought Siberia would look like...
The next stop was the small town of Goritsy. It was very picturesque, with a monastery and a beautiful Nunnery (Ivan the Terrible's wife was exiled here by Boris Godunov, of opera fame). . Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice, and the fellow traveler who was supposed to supply me with pictures has fallen down on the job. I'll provide them later if they ever turn up.
In between, on the ship, we had more lectures - Russian History, Part II, Russian Fairy Tales, a lecture on Putin, and (have I mentioned) Differing Attitudes towards the Middle East - America vs. Russia.
I should also mention, I guess, that during the course of the trip, I read Irving Stone's biography of Van Gogh, a collection of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, and the Summing Up by Somerset Maughm, an autobiography of sorts. I had read the Van Gogh biography many years ago, but found it much more moving this time. The Somerset Maughm was interesting, not so much a day by day recap of his life but rather his views or art and writing and life. It has made me want to reread his books.
Other things added to my reading list. To be read: Putin's World; House on the Embankment; Pushkin's poems and short stories. To be re-read: Quiet Flows the Don (and the others in the series); Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita; Turgenev; and Gorky Park.
And one movie on my list: Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears. (It apparently won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.)
The last town on the Volga part of our adventure, Ouglich. Ivan the Terrible's youngest son Dimitry was banished here, and later found dead, presumably killed by - yes, right on one, Boris Godunov. (Hence the False Dimitrys who haunted poor old Boris.....
..and, the Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood, on the spot where Dmitry was killed....
.....and, from here the ship takes us to Moscow, the final stop of the epic tour. I had some thoughts that I might finish that tonight, but I'm sorry, no can do. But the next blog is definitely the last part of this excellent adventure...
...our resident piano player. Not bad, really.....
...the first of many lectures. This one was The History of Russia, Part I.
....this was a bell tower of a church flooded by the river....
The first town on our itinerary is Mandrogi.. It is a small tourist town now, built by one of the oligarchs on the remains of a burnt out village...
.....and a shish kebab lunch on shore...
Next stop along the river is Kizhi Island, a UNESCO world heritage site and one of 1,650 islands on Lake Onega. Beautiful wooden churches, apparently a popular tourist destination...
.....Kizhi.....
The most impressive thing about these churches is that they were built without any nails or other metal ties - even the joints were made of wood....
You can see it was raining. It was also windy and cold. I've got to say, this is more what I thought Siberia would look like...
The next stop was the small town of Goritsy. It was very picturesque, with a monastery and a beautiful Nunnery (Ivan the Terrible's wife was exiled here by Boris Godunov, of opera fame). . Unfortunately, my camera ran out of juice, and the fellow traveler who was supposed to supply me with pictures has fallen down on the job. I'll provide them later if they ever turn up.
In between, on the ship, we had more lectures - Russian History, Part II, Russian Fairy Tales, a lecture on Putin, and (have I mentioned) Differing Attitudes towards the Middle East - America vs. Russia.
I should also mention, I guess, that during the course of the trip, I read Irving Stone's biography of Van Gogh, a collection of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, and the Summing Up by Somerset Maughm, an autobiography of sorts. I had read the Van Gogh biography many years ago, but found it much more moving this time. The Somerset Maughm was interesting, not so much a day by day recap of his life but rather his views or art and writing and life. It has made me want to reread his books.
Other things added to my reading list. To be read: Putin's World; House on the Embankment; Pushkin's poems and short stories. To be re-read: Quiet Flows the Don (and the others in the series); Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita; Turgenev; and Gorky Park.
And one movie on my list: Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears. (It apparently won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.)
The last town on the Volga part of our adventure, Ouglich. Ivan the Terrible's youngest son Dimitry was banished here, and later found dead, presumably killed by - yes, right on one, Boris Godunov. (Hence the False Dimitrys who haunted poor old Boris.....
..and, the Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood, on the spot where Dmitry was killed....
.....and, from here the ship takes us to Moscow, the final stop of the epic tour. I had some thoughts that I might finish that tonight, but I'm sorry, no can do. But the next blog is definitely the last part of this excellent adventure...
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