Russian River Cruise - 2005

Moscow to St. Petersburg

Executive Summary:  We saw  17^th century cathedrals built by Peter the Great,  monasteries built by Ivan the Terrible, and statues of Lenin with a seagull on top.  

August 26/27

We arrived in Chicago right on time, but unfortunately, the flight was delayed for two hours.  The drive down was uneventful drive and we took advantage of the Wyndham park/fly deal.  I just wonder how many times they rent the same room?  We were scheduled on Air France , and drew an Airbus 340-300.  It was not a nice flight.  The quarters were more cramped than any plane I’ve ever been on.  If the person in front of you tilted their seat back, there was literally no room to get to your tray table. Leave it to the French.  And there was absolutely, positively no legroom.  And it was hot on the flight.  All in all, a miserable experience.  After landing in Paris , we took a bus tour of De Gaulle airport.  There is a lot of – surprise, surprise – construction and you just couldn’t get anywhere from anywhere else.  We finally arrived at the proper gate, only to find a code share flight with - Aeroflot.  I had some reservations, as all their pilots used to military guys, and not known for their great passenger treatment.  But the plane was a Boeing 757, and it was quite comfortable.  Well, except for the screaming kid three rows up, who obviously has a future as an auctioneer.  Or the three hour delay over baggage.  We all eventually had to file outside the plane from the rear, identify our luggage, and then reboard.  But we finally got to Sheremetyevo in Moscow by 8:30 pm. And I had visions of an airport about the size of Dulles, or something.  Instead, it was more like a smaller Milwaukee , with only a few gates, and corridors.  I was surprised that a national capitol would have such a small international entrance.  As promised we were met by the tour guide, and driven to the boat.  We are tired, and thankfully they held dinner for us.  But we are here.  Here in Russia .  I can’t remember difference between please (pashalysta) and thank you (spasiba).   

August 28

We are all pretty jet lagged.  I slept through alarm.  We had breakfast, and then were expected to hit the ground running, with a city bus tour.  Unfortunately, Red Square was closed due to some event, so that was a disappointment.  But we did get a flavor of the city, which is much cleaner and brighter than we all expected.  Our first stop was at a convent that housed some of the Russian tsar's ex-wives.  You didn't get divorced in the old days, you just pushed your ex into a convent.  The phrase "get thee to a nunnery" had special meaning.

 And we had our first exposure to what would be a wealth of souvenir stands.  The tour continued past the Kremlin and other major city points.  We drove past the KGB building (everybody wants to see it!) and the Lubyanka prison.  If you come here, the statue of Iron Felix (Felix Dherzinsky , founder of the Cheka, the Russian Secret Police back in 1917) is taken down and now in museum. 

We saw the Russian Duma and Moscow University .  There is a mix of old and new.  And we are simply thrilled to be here.  Moscow appears to be clean and dynamic.  So the Sunday tour was a good time.  We had lunch at boat which started a long procession of cucumber salads, and we spent part of the afternoon sitting on the sundeck, and dozing.

In the afternoon, we went to the Tretyakov Art Gallery, and saw a lot of art by Russian masters.  But it was worth the trip, with coronation carriages, and royal sleighs.  I think they get a lot of snow here.  The evening featured a performance by the Moscow Circus, which was very entertaining.  But no bears!. 

Then it was back to boat, traveling past lots of neon signs, which I really like. The biggest and brightest are usually casinos, run by the Russian mafia.

August 29

Woke up on time, but still tired.  Breakfast early, off to Kremlin.  And watched the Russian TV version of Today.  It has the same format, just a different language.  Visuals tell the story.  We are but one of a bunch of tour boats, and what must be a submarine exhibit on the other side of the river.  The tour boats were all built by the East Germans, and are all alike, except for some minimal interior appointments.  There was quite a bit of traffic into the Kremlin, which is a word that just means “fortress.“  So lots of towns have kremlins.   Lots of late model cars mixed in with older Ladas.  Audis, Benz, Lexus, Toyota, with SUVs rearing their ugly head.  Gas was relatively cheap at about 50 cents / liter.  The weather was cool and  drizzly. 

We finally got into Kremlin and Armory.  There were lots of state gifts in form of silver, gold, and shaped objects from other countries throughout the last 400 years..  Some were designed as incense burners, but it was pointed out that Russians didn't use them often since they have always have taken baths!.  

One of the highlights were ten of the famous Faberge eggs.  These always opened to reveal a secret - a clock, a set of pictures, a small train, etc.  In fact, these gave rise to the term "Easter egg" used to describe hidden items on a webpage or computer game.  The display also featured clothing (Catherine only wore a dress once - when she died she left 14,000 gowns), and crowns.  

The largest crown was only used once for each Monarch.  The rest were lighter, at about 700 grams, and were your day to day crowns.  Not too many jewels.  Many of the jeweled pieces didn’t survive the Bolshevicks who broke them up and sold them for hard cash.  Plus there were coronation carriages and a sleigh.  

  Once we left the armory, we found ourselves amidst more churches and passed the largest bell and cannon, both of which were never used.  But the Russians seem to have this thing about "biggest." 

Finally we made it into Red Square . 

The large plaza is anchored at one end by the Russian History Museum, and at the other by colorful St. Basil's cathedral with it's colorful onion domes. 

One one side is GUM department store, and the other by the Kremlin wall and Lenin's mausoleum. 

Lenin’s tomb was closed so he was a no see.  Maybe they were pumping more embalming fluid into him?  My brother did take the tour last year, and said that he looked pretty darn good for being dead for over 70 years.  We were told a story of a soldier guard at the tomb who was asked what he was guarding, and he said, “death.”  

People do talk openly about the Stalin and Communist years.  They admit that these were bad, bad times, with millions killed or exiled.  We passed several red square churches, but generally only did a quick walkthrough.  Just the fact that we were standing in the place that we had all feared so much back in the 1950’s was exciting.  The place was larger than I knew, and it was exciting to be right there – right there in the place where we all saw the Russian leaders watching the military parades and shows of missile launchers from the old days.  Then back to ship in heavy traffic.  The people were dressed very stylishly and lots of walking, despite all the cars.  We are beat before lunch.  John and I off to a subway tour and Arbat St.  The Subway stations all have a central theme.  Smolensk , Ukraine , etc.  Beautiful places, chandeliers, stained glass, hammer and sickle and red star everywhere.  Probably could do the subway on own with map.  Cars fast, people looked the same as all over the world - tired.  As do the riders.  They are broad gauge, to interface with the Russian railroads.  The tunnels are tight, though, with little clearance.  Arbat Street was not quite what I expected.  I had thought that there would be more flea market type places, but instead found just a pedestrian mall with places like the Hard Rock Café, McDonalds, and antique stores, all with high prices. 

We walked and checked out some stores, had a cappuccino and watched the girls.  Something about European women.  All the walking. 

Then it was back to the ship, sleeping as we went.  There was a folk music gig after dinner which was entertaining.  End of day with nice sunset. 

August 30

We took off this morning for part of the Golden Ring around Moscow , the Monastery at St. Sergius.  This is considered the Russian Vatican.  Not as rich, more run down, but some beautiful buildings and icon work.  Bolsheviks destroyed many of the larger bells, but many have been recast.  Biggest is 20 tons, with a 2 ton clapper.  St. Sergius was buried here and when they had to move him 30 years later due to construction work on the monastery, they dug him up and found him and his clothes unchanged.  Obviously this added to his reputation and he was canonized as a result (I think.)  The monk who took us around was a resource and the women thought him cute, but frankly, I’ve already seen enough churches.  John and I waned to see a truck factory where they also made subway carriages.  Monastery had really cool blue painted domes and gilded domes.  I never realized that these are all metal domes and roofs.  I guess what else could you guild.  Dumb me.  And easier to form as well. 

The church interiors were certainly more colorful than the exteriors, with painted icons over all the walls and ceilings.  Oh yes.  There are no pews.  People stand to listen and participate in the services.  That means that many of the churches appear small, but can hold quite a large number of parishioners.

 It was also a good place to people watch.  Many families came to visit the church.  People here were dressed much like we expected to see in Russia.  Some of the homes out in the boonies are pretty humble.  Moscow was dense with apartment complexes.  Towns have more individual houses, but are pretty well run down.  There is some new construction.  Double built windows in the old style, so it does get pretty cold here.  And of course, we saw plenty of dachas along the way.  Always read about dachas close to Moscow .  Suburbia doesn’t really exist, so people can do that sort of thing.  Our guide said she & husband bought a place on the river for US$1000, 1500 sq meters, figure about a ¼ acre.  There is lots of gingerbread on the houses.  Usual woman out tilling garden plots.  Some of the tour people were just so amazed at this and commented on the poverty.  Guess they haven’t seen what I’ve been around over here.  Roads all good around Moscow , but have been told that out in the “provinces” it is not so good.  The main transport is by water or by rail.  Can drive from Moscow to Vladivostok , but I’ll bet it would be rugged.  Tour director was from around Sofia , and had not been east of the Urals. 

The traffic back from monastery was brutal.  Almost late for ship sailing, so I didn’t get to walk down to port authority building, which was supposed to be a good example in sight and smell of Stalinist buildings.  Had lunch – the eating contest continues – and slept most of the afternoon as boat sailed north to St. Petersburg though the Moscow ship canal.  Built in the 1930's, it connects Moscow to seven seas – Baltic, the Caspian, the North, got to look up the rest.  We started to pass through locks, many  with statues and hammer and sickle.  But all the buildings look pretty beat up.  There are 18 locks between  Moscow and St. Petersburg. And millions died to build this canal, as it was a Joe Stalin project.  The Soviets spent so much on self aggrandizement, and let the people starve.  It is such a display of huge egos and misguided intentions on the part of a few.  I think history will judge them harshly.  Dinner and off to bed.  I’m still tired.  Our impressions of Moscow ?  The city was much cleaner and brighter than any of us expected.  It was very dense, and it was interesting to be sitting the biggest nuclear bomb target of the west for 45 years.  There was lots of money evident and the place was pretty cosmopolitan.  All housing is in the form of apartment complexes.  Some huge, called palaces by our guide, and all but the new very run down.  Everyone lives in apartments and most have dachas, weekend cottages with gardens, outside of the city.  Stalin era buildings were larger and more ornate, Kruschev era were all no more than 5 stories tall and very plain.  We will see how it compares to St. Petersburg .  Religion is really on it’s way back.  It was interesting that for many, when the state radio announced “This is the day of the Ascension,” many remember exactly where they were.   Religion plays more of a part in Russian life. 

August 31

I slept all night, and woke up feeling wonderful.  The ship went through several locks overnight, and we are now out of the Moscow ship canal and in the Volga River .  It is really lovely.  There are small villages along the way but the most part, the river banks seem unspoiled.  Some of the river houses and dachas are very large and look very new.  Part of the New Russians I guess.  We all went to Russian language class for an hour this morning.  We learned a few things, but I think I’ll stick with the phrase book.  After that, we passed a bell tower that reared from the middle of the Volga .  It is all that is visible of a monastery that was flooded when the Volga was dammed for hydro power back in the 1930's by the Bolsheviks.  After that we attended a lecture by Professor Anatoly Utkin, who was in charge of the Russian US Institute.  Basically, he studies the US for the Russian government.  He started his lecture by stating that Russia was in the midst of a national disaster.  They are loosing population (in fact all white western countries are) and have no capital, or middle class.  He asked if of all the smoke stacks we had seen along the river, were any of them in operation.  Not a one!  And this is an industrial area.  Most of the population lives east of the Urals and most of the really valuable land commodities are west, in very difficult areas.  He cited some examples where the US has really made some poor choices both for itself and for Russia .  He stressed that the when the US needs a friend [against China ] Russia should be the one, and his country wanted to be a part of NATO but was blocked by the US .  He is also afraid that Putin may well be the last pro-western president.  And the Russians still have a vast nuclear arsenal.  There was both truth and in paranoia in his words.  But he painted a bleak picture.  He rambled a bit, and abruptly ended the lecture.  Well, I wanted to ask some questions, so I headed him off at the end of the deck and cornered him.  John asked about the resources, I asked for solutions.  This man was very high up in the former Communist government, so bear in mind that his answers were slanted and, as he said, “I’m just an old party hack.”  But he did not offer much clear hope of solution for either the country of the world’s problems.  

By that time, we had reached Uglich, or first stop and the Church of Dmitri of the Blood.  This was the site to which Prince Dmitri was exiled in 1584 after Ivan the Terrible died.  The boy died here, either by assassination or accident, as the beliefs vary.  But non the less, there are the usual onion domed churches.  And of course, there were plenty of vendors.  We bought more stuff, including fake fur Russian hats, which will be good for snow shoveling.  I also found my brother an icon panel.  How we are going to get all this stuff home escapes me.  And we went to the Russian Vodka Museum , which was kind of a hoot.  Every region had its own brand, and believe me, there were plenty of brands.  And all were displayed by two young ladies, who didn't speak a word of English.  But gestures seemed to suffice.  Then it was back to the boat, just ahead of the rain, and a bit of a rest.  Thankfully, the weather has turned cool!  I am on day three of my vodka tasting.  I’ve had Stolichnaya, Moskovkaya, and I have four to go on the list.  Today was Starka.  I have read of this vodka, but never had it.  It turns out it is brown, almost the same color as brandy.  It’s pretty good, but powerful. 

Dinner featured – cucumbers.  Gee, what a surprise.  The food hasn’t been monumental, but it’s been pretty fair.  The waiter, Vlad, and our bar guy, Yura, have been outstanding.  The barman has a wide face, and just makes you happy.  He is trying to teach John and me some Russian.  I think we are good customers!  This will be a relatively early night.  This has been fun and very interesting so far.

September 1

The day started with a foggy trip up river to Yaroslavl .  This town was the capitol of Russia for about four months starting in 1598.  It was originally an outpost of Finno-Ugric tribes back in the 8^th to 10^th century.  Because the inhabitants worshiped bears, it was called Bear Corner and was on a point where the Kotorosl River joined the Volga .  The people were not above demanding a bit of a bribe from passing ships and merchants, and pretty soon the trades people asked Prince Yaroslavl the Wise the straighten things out.  The story goes that the Prince showed up, and the townspeople unleashed a fierce bear upon him.  The Prince wrestled the bear and won, thus gaining the total respect of the townspeople.  Anyway, we headed into the town of about 600,000 for the usual church tour.  We could have gone to the tire factory, or the diesel engine plant, or the petrol refinery, but nooooo.  More churches.  Actually, this was rather interesting as our guide gave a pretty detailed description of things.  We started with a music program in a theater built during the Napoleonic War.  It was fun, with dancers, singers, and a five piece combo. 

We found the usual mix of Stalinist era buildings mixed in with the older ones. 

The monastery had the usual fresco painted walls, the usual gift shops.  This one will keep an army of artisans busy in restoration for the next couple of lifetimes.  Today was also the first day of school, and kids were all dressed up and carrying flowers for their teachers.  Education and art are revered here, much more so than in our society.  Unfortunately, they pay less than we do in the west.  The fence around one of the churches had inset tiles  that spruced things up a bit.  I tried to buy a couple of CDs, and wanted Russian folk music (accomplished) and the Russian Army Chorus.  Alas, there are no recordings of the latter to be had; just pop music.   I did talk to one of our guides for a while, and learned that from her perspective, things where more optimistic than yesterday’s speaker.  It is a definite generational orientation.  The country is being reborn, and with the initial change from the flat socialist society to the initial highs and lows of capitalism.  She seemed to think that the extremes were leveling out, but there was still a huge spread between the very rich and the very poor.  But there was opportunity and hope, and a reward for hard work.  So I got a sense of cautious optimism.  The guide was 31, and remembered some of the rationing and shortages under the Soviet system.  John and I found a coffee shop tucked away back in the town center.  And then it was back to the boat.  It was a pretty town, with a lot of restoration, and at least some functioning industry.  It might be interesting to see this in the winter.  Everything has double windows, and the look of hard winter.  Incidentally, the four lacquer box towns are close to here.  We departed Yaroslavl right on schedule at 13.30.  Later.  We all went to the tape of the last years of the tsars.  It was basically a very glossed over look at the mistakes made by Tsar Nicholas, from 1913 – 1917.  It had lots of old newsreel footage, and told the tale of his dissolution of the Duma, the conditions of WWI, and his eventual assassination.  Left out was the infiltration of the labor unions and dissent caused by Lenin and Trotsky, and the overthrown of the government, along with the ensuing civil war between the white and red Russians.  John and I talked with a company treasurer from New York after the show.  He had studied Russian in college and had come to the same conclusion as the rest of us that the boat tour was an efficient manner in which to see much of the country.  We all agreed that it was a desperate situation and that the country has some real adjustments to make.  Barb and I went to the vodka tasting party. The party featured five vodkas, although I had already been through four of them!  Starka is actually one of my favorites.  It has a little vanilla in cognac in it.  Barb did not like the kipper appetizers, but I though them delicious.  Then off to a Russian blini dinner.  We wore our hats and got a bunch of laughs.  And after that, we had a participatory look at Russian fairy tales, which was a blast.  Then, a nightcap and to bed.  Tomorrow looks like a relatively slow day.  It is hard to believe that we have been here for a week.  This has been great.   This is a big country – a country not without problems, in the middle of a huge change. 

September 2

The day dawned dark and gloomy.  Sounds like the prelude to a Russian novel.  We started the day with a talk on Russian costumes and amber.  I was going to blow these off, but decided to do.  It was a good thing I did, as the costume one was pretty interesting.  Besides, I got to do the male model thing on a traditional Russian man’s dress.  This consisted of an over blouse shirt and belt.  The latter was often used to hide money and tobacco from the man’s wife.  The bit on amber started with a slow, slow tape on the origins of amber, which is petrified pine sap, and ranges in color from white to dark blue and green, although most is the traditional amber color.  From there we stopped at Goritsky and a short bus ride to the Kirillov, and yet another monastery; St. Cyril on the White Lake .  This was a big one, and is giving some workmen several lifetimes of restoration work.  I did find out a bit more about iconography especially as it applies to the Russian style.  There were two main schools of icon painters, one having a more brilliant paint medium.  Often precious stones were used in the paint, and a painter’s wealth was measured in the amount of paint he had.  This also explains why the colors are still so brilliant after 400 years.  I thought it interesting that the heads of icon figures are always disproportionate (much smaller) to the body.  The images were not to resemble any reality, but to be “icons.”  And the Christ child is always on the left of the Mary, as that is the side from which evil would approach.  The town square also featured the obligatory statue of Lenin.  Some of the statues have been removed, but one of our guides said, "This is our history.  And who knows what will happen in the next 70 years."  So the statues remain in most places.  Once we returned to the boat, the eating contest continued, and we all felt the need to slumber.  The weather is cool, with overcast skies.  Later,  I took a nap, and am still tired.  We passed yet another monastery submerged and crumbling due to the building of the canal system.  We attended the briefing on the optional St. Petersburg trips, and the attended another lecture on Russian history by Anatoly Utkin.  There wasn’t much new here for either John or myself, but it was interesting to get another perspective on how Stalin and Churchill carved up Europe after the war.  And of course we got another admonition on China .  These guys are really, really concerned about the Dragon.  After all, Russia has lots of liebenraum in that part of the world.  The interesting lecture will be tomorrow on Russian foreign policy.  I do not expect kindness to America , and perhaps rightfully so.  Then more eating, and a short classical concert by some of the ship’s crew, who are very good.  Off to bed.  We all have to quit eating.

September 3

The day dawned with more fog.  We are behind schedule, due to the foggy conditions.  The fog started to burn off around 8 AM, to reveal a beautiful, sunny day under cloudless skies.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, the weather has warmed.  We started the day with another lecture by Anatoly Utkin of Russian foreign policy.  He saw several elements of concern:  The continued build up of NATO (“Against what?” he asked), the withdrawal of the US from the SALT treaties, and the failure of the west to include or consider Russia in overall global strategic thinking.  He also mentioned the eastward buildup of military forces on Russian borders and the lack of compunction of Washington to meddle in what he considered Russian internal issues.  An example would be the recognition of the Chechen rebels, and – most revealing to me – the interference of the US in Afghanistan .  His contention was that had we stayed away from helping the rebels, and had helped Russia (as they later helped the US ) Osama bin Laden would have been neutralized long before he became a threat.  It is certainly food for thought. 

  The day's schedule then changed.  We are too far behind schedule to go to Khitzi Island , and will stop at an alternate tomorrow.  So today we are just sailing, trying to make up for the weather problem.  We had a tour of the bridge and the engine spaces (three, six cylinder in line diesels, Russian made) and the John and I went to our talent show rehearsal.  I cornered Dasha, one of the tour guides, about life in Russia .  Again, I heard optimism with the country, but an uncertainty where things are going.  And there is the divide between her parent’s generation of understanding of the rapid changes, and her generation of acceptance and embrace.  I have also heard how difficult it is to travel to the US , not on Russia ’s part, but on the part of the US .  To get a visa application, you have to be present at the US Embassy in Moscow .  And then you are not assured of obtaining one for a visit.  So I heard hope, uncertainty, and a confusion of the US policies.  I asked a bit about Georgia and the Ukraine , and was told that they will always remain outside the Russian Federation .  Dasha said that while she had not experienced it, she had heard of the great deal of hated by the locals toward the Russians.  She also mentioned the remembrance of the rationing coupons and long lines.  Later.  We locked again several times.  The locks are all single units, and thus really restrict the traffic in the canal.  Cruise ships have right of way and we see may commercial ships anchored, waiting for their turn in the locks. Plus the buildings are all looking a little shabby.  But things still work, and I guess the mentality is, "Why make them look pretty."  We are cruising at the southern end of Lake Onega , which is the second largest lake in Europe .  All the river traffic that I didn’t see over the last two days has been stacked up here, as passenger traffic has priority.  So there seems to be plenty of river freighter traffic moving both ways, hauling the usual timber, steel, etc.  The towns still look pretty humble, but the increased ship traffic was encouraging.  But everywhere, the infrastructure is a bit faded.  The villages have that hard winter look, but at no time did I hear a boombox, a lawn mower, or anything other than people talking, and “gentle” rural sounds.  It was quite refreshing.  No basket balls, no screaming kids, no boom cars, nor any TV.  We went to a liar’s game in which a very obscure English word was presented.  Three of the tour guides gave explanations, with only one correct.  We had to guess which.  I was totally out of it.  Go look up “slibbersauce.”  Or “wallydrag.” Or "clinchpoop" Then off to dinner as the eating contest continued.  Our dinner companions were two brothers from Thomasville , Georgia .  One is retiring as the curator of a local museum, and the other and his wife were retired to Kalamazoo , after teaching music.  And then, I went out side and watched the sunset and the water.  I have never been as content as this.  It is a lovely trip, with the ability to obtain some solitude as the boat makes its way through the canals and forests.  I spent some time talking to the bar tender in the Kremlin Bar.  He said that business has been slow this year, as the boats have not been full and the passengers not drinking much.  John and I have tried to bring the average up on that!  He said that business was slow.  I also cornered our bar guy, Yura, and tried to get him to tell me how life has changed in the Russia .  He claims that he is a surgeon in his down time, and that he does this to make money.  I’m suspect but have heard the same answer twice so I will try to investigate.  I think his answers would be interesting but not as optimistic as the younger tour guides.  We blew off the concert and are going to bed.  What a great trip!

September 4

We stopped this morning at the town of Mandrogi .  This was totally destroyed during the Great Patriotic War, but in 1996 some entrepreneurs decided to construct a town of artisans as a tourist stop.  Think Russian Wisconsin Dells without the water slides.  The artists live on the second floor and use a part of their space or a downstairs space for a gallery or shop.  There are a few local homes, some with wonderful carved panels.  

On an island, they built carved figures of a Pushkin fairy tale, and set up picnic shelters, and other tourist enticements.  So it was a pretty interesting little place, with a small zoo, and plenty of local pottery, painted eggs, etc.  We had shiskebab and then around Noon , departed for our next stop.  This was the town of Svir Stroy .  Basically, it is the town of Stroy , on the Svir River .  Besides the local shops, we were told that the locals would invite people into their homes.  And that turned out to be really interesting.  The one we were in offered us tea and biscuits, and some cherry liquor.  The house was 1930ish inside, with the young man’s grandmother and grandfather still living there.  The kitchen was small with a masonry wood stove, but it did have running water.  The furniture was a mixture of 1930s and modern, all well used.  They raised enough in the garden to last the winter, which generally started with snow in early November.  Temperatures ran to -32 F.  The main garden ingredients were beets, potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes.  There were cabbages, and the family would go to he woods in a couple of weeks to pick mushrooms.  As with practically every house we saw, there was a flower garden.  The Russians appear to be big on flowers, with shops and stalls selling them in the cities.  And each house or dacha has a flower garden.  What was tough for me though, were the old ladies meeting the boat selling bunch of flowers.  It is a tough life for the older people, whose pensions were slashed so severely by the downfall of socialism.  We walked off the beaten track to see what else the town offered.  There were some houses along the road that were stucco, and were built by German prisoners after the war.  Incidentally, when digging the garden, they will find spent shell casings. 

And there was an actual statue of Felix Dherzynsky, so I can say I've seen one statue of the guy.  He was a cruel man, and I was surprised to see his statue still in place.  His successors caused a great deal of fear and hatred in the country.  

Later.  John and I went to our rehearsal for the last night gala, and then to the captain's farewell dinner and cocktail hour.  I think the captain hates these things, as he has to dress up in his uniform and have his picture taken with a bunch of tourists.  Then, it was time for the Litvinov talent show.  As I mentioned, John and I were asked to participate – as swans.  Fortified with brandy and vodka, we did our dance, much to the delight of the passengers.  It really was a hoot.  When you are these things, you have to do something stupid once in a while.  John will probably kill me for posting this picture!

I can't begin to relate how peaceful this trip has been.  I had reservations about this trip, as this is the first journey I have taken without some work related endeavor in many years.  But the sky, the water, the unspoiled river banks, all have combined to make this a memorable experience.  Tomorrow is St. Petersburg , and we become a hotel, rather than a river cruise.

September 5

We were parked for a great deal of the early morning, as fog again limited navigation.  Once the sun burned things off, we worked our way up the Neva River to dock at the River Terminal at St. Petersburg, right on schedule.  Along with the flotilla of river boats.  In fact, they usually park three deep, so to get off the ship, you have to walk through several other boats.  Our first order of business was the final lecture in the series by Anatoly Utkin, on the future of Russia .  He outlined five scenarios: One World, North/South, Member states, chaos enhanced by transnational companies, and non-governmental organizations, and finally, conflict of seven civilizations.  All are way to much to explain here, so if you want further information on these, read the man’s book.  He was articulate, learned, and a very good speaker, even if his wife did occasionally have to provide a “voice from above” to keep him on track.  Plus, his closing rendition of “I Did it My Way,” spoke volumes of the Russian outlook.  In my opinion, the Russians need to spend more on developing commerce, and less on nuclear missiles.  But the later plays into their paranoia.  Then it was off on a bus trip to the high points of St. Petersburg .  We briefly saw “a 17^th century cathedral, a monastery built by Peter the Great, a tower by Ivan the Terrible, and a statue of Lenin, with a seagull on top.”  Actually, we saw several useless cathedrals, the Peter & Paul Fortress, many of the palaces of the former nobility, the really fantastic of the Church on Spilled Blood, the many souvenir shops, and the bronze horseman (that Puskin wrote his poem about), St. Isaac’s cathedral, and the Winter Palace .  We stopped at the original river front, with two large red pillars that were lighthouses for the shipping coming in off the Gulf of Finland.  There is a fleet of river hydrofoils that are used to take tours of the Neva River.  Of note was the fact that much of the old architecture has been restored or maintained, and the different levels had differing window ornamentation.

We also drove past the Aurora , the ship that fired the shot that literally changed the world.  It was a single shot from this cruiser in 1917 that started the Bolshevik Revolution.  

The bridges have much of the original ornamentation  restored in this city of 146 bridges, which isn't nearly enough for the traffic.  

We left the tour downtown, to meet with Zina, the guide I had hired last week.  She took us back to the Church on Spilled Blood, which was magnificently decorated  with huge mosaics, and built on the actual spot where Dimitri was killed by an anarchist’s bomb.  In fact, the actual cobblestones are still there, in a sacred spot in the church.  It is a beautiful building, faithfully restored, tile by tile.  The Bolsheviks originally wanted to tear it down, but thankfully it was saved, with whitewash covering the interior.  It was used during Soviet  times as a potato warehouse and a morgue, but restorers, using ink erasers to scrub off the whitewash, have made it a true work on art. 

The city itself has many canals, and is often called the Venice of the North.  But things look a little tired.  The buildings could all use a scrubbing, and just some maintenance.  Many building facades are undergoing restoration, and I wish I had the screening and scaffolding concession.  That guy has to be one of the 37 oligarchs.  We had an excellent lunch of pirogi in the local café.  Then, Zina took us past the ship building area, and out to Peterhof, which was the summer palace of Peter the Great.  Unbelievable.  

Peter wanted to make sure it was better than Versailles , and he really accomplished something.  There are  146 fountains, all gravity fed through an ingenious system that uses lower diameter piping to provide pressure via the Venturi Principle.  There were trick fountains, which would spray the unwary and wonderful gardens. The grand staircase of fountains showcase the front of the main building, just as was intended over 200 years ago.

There were canals dug out to the Gulf of Finland, so that arriving parties could just sail up to the base of the main structure.  The museum itself was closed today,  as it is every Monday. 

These folks really have to get their act together in think in commerce terms.  If the tourists are there on Monday, then open the place!  Even back in one town there was a toy museum next to the bathroom break.  But gee, it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  On the way back to town, we were all pretty beat.  I have a return of my bus narcolepsy, which means as soon as the vehicle starts moving I pass out.  But we did get a flavor for the huge apartment buildings.  The Khrushchev slums are all walkups, with low ceilings, and all prefab.  And they are falling apart.  They are the cheapest real estate around, and are really the slum apartments.  The Brezhnev apartments are a step above, but the grandest of all are the Stalin apartment types, which are fairly solid and have some exterior ornamentation. 

We stopped at the World War 2 memorial, which was quite interesting.  It commemorated the 900 days of siege of St. Petersburg ( Leningrad ), and the holdout of the city against the Nazi army.  Built in the mid 1970’s, it was a sober look at the Great Patriotic War.  While there were plenty of chiseled references to the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics , at which Zina had more than a little cynicism, it was non-the-less an informative stop.  One display had a page of the diary of the city, and so today, April 5^th, we read about what was happening on April 5^th, 1942.  It gave the statistics of people dead from starvation, and dead from the battles.  It was sobering.  

From there, we headed back to the ship.  We’ll try dinner downtown tomorrow.  First impressions of St. Petersburg are less than we had imagined.  Moscow was more, this is less.  Things are crumbling and traffic is bad.  We have been repeatedly warned about pickpockets.  Perhaps we all expected too much. 

September 6

Today we departed early for our tour of the Hermitage, the Russian State Museum .  The vast collection, one of the world’s largest, is housed in the former Winter Palace .  It is said that if a viewer looked at each exhibit for two minutes, it would take nine years to get through the whole thing.  And only about 15-20% of the collection is on display at any one time.  Our tour guide was a classic Russian beauty, but her voice was overshadowed by the leather lungs of the woman following us.  I believe that somewhere in here past she was a Russian Spetznatz drill captain.   We were allowed in about an hour before the regular opening, which was good, as once the place opened, it was tour group city.  We were told that about 20,000 people come through the place each day! 

 The rooms of the palace were opulent, and pictures don’t do them justice.  The gilded ceilings and doors, the chandeliers, and the parquet floors are truly astonishing. The rooms were huge, as would be befitting a palace of the 1700/1800s, with two ton chandeliers, rare wood floors that mirrored the ceilings,  long hallways with bas relief ceilings, and tons of gold.  I wondered how long it took just to light the chandelier candles!  

I especially was taken with the mechanical Peacock clock.  The device would cause all sorts of movements, from the peacock spreading his tail, to birds singing and other movements with scattered figures.  Those sorts of mechanical toys have always fascinated me.  The palace is huge, and I had a great deal of trouble finding my way around, even though it is laid out in a square.  I think the problem was doubling back and double aisles in what appeared on the map as single corridors.  The map was not really complete – just a generalization as to shape and collection areas.  The collection was impressive.  Gauguin, Matisse,  Renoir, Michelangelo, DiVinci, Delacroix, Picasso, and a host of grand masters from every century were represented.  We stayed around after the tour went back to the ship, as John wanted to look at the Russian artists.  We found the Russian Culture wing, and were treated to some rooms that were again simply magnificent.  There was much attention paid to Alexander the First.  So there was a mixture of paintings, furniture, clothing and uniforms, and objects of interest.  As an example of the later, there was a military camp kit from the 1800s that featured silver and china eating and cookware, plus what appeared to be a pretty comfortable camp bed.  Some of display articles were amazing.   There were some spun silver filigree ornaments and gifts were unbelievable.  We had lunch in the museum, and then brokered a cab ride home.  While we paid more than twice what we should have, the ride was a definite E ticket for the women, but I thought it was just standard European driving.  

Later.  Professor Utkin was in the Kremlin Bar, answering questions.  I’m afraid we all kept him way past his bedtime.  It was certainly past mine before everyone called it quits.  He is a fascinating man, and has certainly been a highlight of this trip.  Tomorrow is our last day here in Russia .

September 7

This morning the fun continued, as we headed out to the suburb of Pushkin and the Catherine Palace .  We finally took a portion of an unfinished freeway, part of which is the suspension bridge over the Neva River .  Construction seems a little haphazard, with portions all going on, not seemingly related to each other.  Once in Pushkin, we had to pass the main commuter station.  The railroad crossing had some plates in the road that raised up to prevent people from running the gates.  I don’t think I have ever seen that before.  But on to the palace.  Catherine finished this place in the mid 1700, and then had a few people over to show off her “little place.”  Her retreat had 300 rooms, and ran for about 300 meters.  Not to mention the gardens, outbuildings, lakes, ponds, etc.

Thirty of the rooms had been restored to the Russian Baroque style.  The place was designed by a French architect, and has mirrors, gilded ornamentation, and all the usual stuff you would expect from a place that had the wealth of a major nation behind it.  

Most of the rooms had tile stoves in them, but there was a huge fear (justifiable)  of fire, so eventually, a central forced air heating system was installed.  The restoration work has also rebuilt the famous Amber Room .  This room consists of twelve panels, all made of Amber and was presented as a gift by a Prussian king.  The original was spirited away by the Nazis, has not been found as of this date.  It is one of the world’s great mysteries.  The room was recreated over a 25 year period by Russian artists.  They had black and white photos, and had to guess as to the shading of the Baltic amber used in the reconstruction.  It is a warm and beautiful room, and larger than I had expected. One of the outbuildings was a bathhouse, and was also used as a home for the ladies in waiting.  I always thought that these people were basically servants to the king or queen, and in a sense they were.  But more than that, they were usually women of noble birth, but poor means, and were kept around so that the king or queen could marry them off or sue them as consorts to form favorable alliances.  In this case, the ladies complained that there home was always to damp!  We continued on our way and stopped in a small building (small, yea!) on the way back to the bus.  Featured here were floral arrangements in the style of the times, as well as a great sounding men’s quartet.  I popped for a CD.  The acoustics in the place were great.  I wonder if they will sound as good on disk.  From there it was a traffic fight back to the boat, lunch, and then a canal ride.  I succumbed to my previous European habit of falling asleep each time the bus starts to move.  I think we are all just pooped.  

The canal ride was so-so.  I could have skipped it, as we saw a lot of building facades under  netting for refurbishment.  I guess I’ll have to come back in a couple of years.  Maybe they will have done something about the parking and traffic, but I suspect it will only be worse.  Later.  We went to a Russian folklore concert tonight, featuring talented dancers and a men’s military chorus.  It was really very good, with some great costumes, dancing, and voices.  Plus I now have the tune of Kalinka running through my head.  We said goodbye to the tour guides.  They are all great – perky Dasha, smiling, laughing  Rita, teacher Svetlana, our waiter Vlad and our bartender Yura.  And I should mention Slavl the bartender as well.  When people ask me where I learned most of my Russian phrases, I should be honest and say, “From the bartenders.” 

September 8

We were all up at 2:45 AM today.  And off to the airport.  And so we start our journey home.  As expected the Airbus had no legroom or space.  We got a tour of Charles DeGaulle Airport by bus again.  It was brutal ride home on Air France, whom I shall never fly again.  The two French guys in front of us kept their seats back for nine freaking hours and wriggled and jumped and were just as annoying as the people on the way over.  But we got home into Chicago about ninety minutes late, and blew through immigration, which is the peskiest in the world.  The car was right where we left it, but I had to relinquish control about halfway home as I was just passing out.  Impressions?  It is striking how much lighter and airier things appear in Paris (or the West).  You just don’t know how grey Russian really is.  That is not to say it isn’t a beautiful place.  I have wonderful memories of the Neva and Volga Rivers , and of the unspoiled shores and lakes.  The people were all outstanding – friendly, helpful, and pleasant.  But the country really needs some work, both in physical infrastructure, and in the mentality of the people who grew up under socialism.  They desperately need a middle class, and the extreme between highs and lows is just a huge, huge gulf.  Our bartender Yura told us that he was actually a surgeon, who left his practice to work these trips for several months and make money.  His practice brings in $15 per month, and he can easily make $200 a month working the boat.  Or so was the tale he spun.  Is it true?  I don’t know, and probably have no way of checking.  But it speaks to much of what we read and heard about the economy.  And if that is indeed the case, things are seriously out of wack.  We are all glad we did this trip.  I could carry on for a long time about all we saw and the people we talked to.  But for the moment, we will all be glad to get home and be in our beds.