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Published: November 27th 2012
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Tuesday, September 7th—Cruising Lake Lagoda and Verchnie Mandrogi
We started our day with a buffet breakfast as we have had every day. Valerie and I both had eggs Benedict. I thought it was quite good except for some egg shells. Each day they have had a different hot cereal. This morning it was buckwheat, which I didn’t try as I don’t care for the sour taste. Yesterday, however, I did tried some millet cereal. It was ok–sort of looked like grits, but not as smooth in texture. After breakfast we went back to sleep as we were just crossing an uninspiring lake and we were really tired after the two days prior going full out.
At about 11:30 we docked with the other boats at the reconstructed village of Verchnie Mandrogi. It had been a real village that was destroyed during WWII. It has been rebuilt in the late 90's as a tourist site. Although it was mainly to sell arts and crafts to the river cruise people about 3 of the buildings were constructed as in the manner of the old homes. They were both home and barn in one log structure. In the bedrooms
were craft people making traditional crafts such as tatting, wood carving, glass blowing, and the painting of the wooden objects like the matryoshka nesting dolls. We bought a wooden egg for Mom’s collection from a woman painting wooden objects. We at least know it wasn’t “made in China.”
Really enjoyed the set up. Each house was like a museum with tools, kitchen utensils, and other items in the kitchens and bedrooms. They even had mattresses in the loft areas. The lofts were enclosed by printed cotton “curtains”. In the winter people in these villages slept around the chimneys for warmth.
It is really hard to believe that we are currently floating down the river in RUSSIA! Lenin and Stalin must be spinning in their graves to “see” all the tourists all over this country. We have just had lunch—Valerie and I had mutton stew with lentils–the lentils were not in the stew but instead were served as a side dish–we quickly mixed the two. Prior to that, we had a salad of napa cabbage, red bell pepper, chicken, and orange pieces, with a couple of tiny shrimp. After the salad we had a soup course–broth with meat balls
and potatoes and lots of dill. Dessert was fruit. The desserts in general on this cruise have been a disappointment--sponge cake and ice cream. Our table mate had a banana mousse that looked like mashed bananas in cool whip.
It is 4:30 and we are going through a huge lock. Looks like it generates electricity also. Lumber carrying barges/ships are passing through at the same time. We have also seen a lot of what looks like an oil tanker kind of ship. This morning several were “parked” by the side of the river we guess waiting for us to pass by.
There is a whole flotilla of tour boats in a line going down the river at the same time. It reminds me of going to the Bahamas on a cruise from Florida and looking at the ships all following each other in a line going forward and backward.
Up, up we go with the water rushing into the lock. Not sure how far but substantial in height–actually 14 meters high. Seems to be a lake here now—guess they need the water to run the lock. Long line of ships up here waiting
for something. Maybe to go down since only one ship can go through the lock at a time. We will go through 16 locks between St. Pete at sea level to Moscow at 162 meters(about 500 feet) above sea level. This is not a natural waterway but man-made by joining several rivers and digging a couple canals. We are on the Svir River now. Spent the rest of the day resting and traveling slowly down the river. Thick forests on both sides of the river.
Pretty, pretty day warm temps and enough clouds in the sky to make it interesting.
For a look at some of the sights along the waterway, there is a blog entry just before the Moscow entries that have pictures of some of the ships, locks, churches, countryside, etc.
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