A leisurely start to the day with coffee in our room, then a delicious breakfast. We took several circuits around the deck to get our blood going. Marina gave us an introduction to the next few days, then we had a lecture by Lillian on Russian literature. She’s delightful, digressing frequently with interesting stories.
That was followed by a presentation on the various types of Russian “applied art”. Then a drill – going to our rooms, donning our life jackets and being inspected by the crew. We passed.
Lunch was another delicious meal and in the afternoon we hand an introductory Russian lesson. At 4:30 we disembarked for a walking tour of Uglich – two churches, a beautiful concert, wonderful icons and the story of Dmitri, heir to Ivan The Terrible, who was murdered there by lackeys of Boris Gudinoff. There’s a huge market here, but we bought only batteries for our alarm clock.
Then we were whisked
off to the home of Olga for dinner. She lives in an old apartment
building a few miles from the dock. Twelve of us crowed ‘round her
table and she served cabbage soup, potatoes, cole slaw, carrot salad,
herrings, sweet rolls and a great deal of vodka.
The Olga put on music and got us dancing Russian style in the small space left in her living/dinning room. Click for Video Of course we were late back to the ship and we delayed departure of the ship. Olga got quite a lecture. I hope she can continue to do it because I think it’s a good part of her income. She’s a single mom with a 7-year old son. The evening ended with a folk concert in the lounge. Very lively! Mary-Ellen reported that she checked with the social director and has been assured that last night’s hostess, Olga, is not in any trouble. Phew!
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