Advertisement
Published: June 25th 2017
Geo: 61.794, 34.3462
When trying to cobble together the logistics for the trip to Russia, I was left with the challenge of connecting two must-see places, Moscow and St Petersburg, and, although there are quite a few options, the one that stood out on Google was a river cruise between the two cities. River cruising seems to be a bit of thing these days but it does appeal to an older crowd so we weren't sure what we were getting into (the company we booked with prided itself on putting together groups of older like-minded Americans so it was a bit of an ordeal just to book passage- our home address was listed as Boston, Mass and we were never issued the name badges, most of them gold, that everyone else was sporting). After boarding we knew we would have to gear down a bit- the boat name was Rossia which I think is Russian for 'ambulance' and I suspect that any rogue power surges might have fused numerous artificial joints and set off pace makers all over the ship. That said, it was good fun to trade stories with people who made us look like travel virgins, and some of the
background stories were very colourful. There was a hanging judge from Casper, Wyoming, a couple from Austin, Texas who claimed to be 'former' CIA operatives (they did seem to disappear for numerous unexplained periods of time and spent a lot of time talking into their 'pens'😉, a tennis judge who went toe-to-toe with John McEnroe, and numerous teachers who had retired shortly after corporal punishment was abolished in the US school system.
After making a number of new friends, DH (where the 'D' stands Don't Dress Dancing bears in tutus) immediately, and passionately, called for a boycott of the Moscow Circus which, surprisingly, was part of our itinerary while we were docked in Putinville.... As we scanned the empty dining room later that evening we decided that social activism was not high on the list of older Americans (although the two vacant seats at the circus that night probably have the relevant Russian Bozo's rethinking the whole concept).
Desperately trying to get the crowd back on our side, we participated in the "dress Russian" theme night by invoking memories of the greatest hockey series ever played ('72 Canada vs Russia) and wearing CCCP hockey jerseys we
had picked up in town earlier. Oblivious to that particular series, most of our fellow dinners thought it had something to do with the Lake Placid Olympics when the U.S. won the gold. Sadly we decided that significant sporting events outside of the U.S. borders were not high on the list of older Americans.
A couple of nights later DH was 'surprised' with a Russian birthday song and cake at dinner (having told the staff repeatedly that this major celebration was coming up, I'm not sure 'surprised' is entirely accurate). Sharing the cake did get the crowd back on side and we have decided that chocolate birthday cake is very high on the list of older Americans.
If it sounds like mealtime was a big part of our time on the boat, there's a strong Russian connection. Pavlov was a Russian scientist of note (Pavlov's dogs) and I suspect that a similar set of experiments were being performed on us. Meal time was always preceded by a loudspeaker buzzer and a shuffling and drooling pilgrimage to the dining room would immediately start up. Every now and then a non-meal announcement would take place which always left you feeling hungry and
wiping your chin. Great food was doing nothing to help us shed our travelers bulges. Aside from excessive eating, we had stowed away on this boat for two big reasons- the first was the chance to see smaller Russian villages that might be too difficult to see otherwise, and the second was the chance to do a deeper dive into Russian history.
Russian history was never a big part my schooling but it turned out to be relatively easy to follow series of events. Follow along; first a loosely connected group of tribes was conquered and subjugated by invading Mongols/Tatars. After a long period of time the Tatars grew bored and simply left (numerous winters and a couple hundred years of sourpuss Russians will do that to you). That led to a series of Tsars and Tsarinas like Ivan The Terrible, Peter The Great, Catherine The Great, and Putin The Petulant (Peter was the first to use the Tsar title which came from 'Ceasar' the Roman Emperor- he wanted a title that went beyond the Kings of Europe). Over time even the Tsars grew tired of governing
a population that never smiled, and the last one abdicated leading directly to a civil war between the Bolsheviks and the White Russians with the Bolsheviks/communists eventually taking over (executing what was left of the royal family). After the Second World War, Stalin (who, arguably, was the only 'winner' in that historic tragedy and, also arguably, was only slightly less distasteful than Hitler) led Russia to a land grab of epic proportions, and the expanded Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc was born. Largely economic issues led to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 although Putin is doing his best to put some of it back together- in the meantime Russian Oligarchs steal everything that isn't nailed down. Oil wealth keeps the whole thing floating. History lesson over.
The villages we boated to offered us a surprisingly varied insight into a more rural Russian life. First up was the town of Uglich where the biggest sight (Church of St. Dmitry on the Blood) is also its best story. Not just because it was the site of the murder of Prince Dmitry (who was attempting to flee the bloody reign of his father Ivan the
Terrible) but because of the murder aftermath. Over 200 people were punished and the bell that sounded the alarm was thrown down from its bell tower, flogged in front of town's population, had its tongue was torn off (didn't know bells had tongues!), and it was later exiled to Tobolsk with documents saying “exiled heartless thing from Uglich ”. Only in Russia!
After recovering from the gratuitous bell violence, we headed to Goritsy where the big memory should be the Goritsy Monastery of Resurrection which was/is a Russian Orthodox convent with a tumultuous history. But Goritsy is also where Russian kids send Father Frost (the Russian Santa with a bit of a mean streak) letters, and a room full of nuns just can't compete with a nasty Santa that freezes bad girls and boys.
Kizhi Island is home to the wooden Kizhi Pogost, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site and although the restoration is not quite complete, it is also an amazing sight. Not so amazing was my performance in the ships fishing derby on Kizhi Island. I caught absolutely nothing and even the worms I was using as bait kept escaping.
Our last stop before St Petersburg was Petrozavodsk which
felt more Scandinavian than Russian. People here seemed able to smile but that may be because the town was used by both the Tsars and the Bolsheviks as a place of exile for St Petersburg's troublemakers (and for a communist, anyone who smiled must be a troublemaker).
I'm not sure we'll ever make the big leagues of river boat travel like some of our fellow passengers, but we really enjoyed our time following the guy with the blue flag.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 6; qc: 24; dbt: 0.0463s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Amanda
non-member comment
Nice beach