FUN-travel: Goritsy & Kirillov – Day 7 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 11, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Goritsy & Kirillov – Day 7 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 9 – Wednesday, July 9 – Goritsy & Kirillov – blue skies w/high, wispy clouds – low 80’s – turns cold later – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset – after 11 pm
What I LIKE
- 6:45 – typical morning wake up
- 8:30 – breakfast – fruit w/sandwich to go
- Turn in survey
- Suggest more food variety & flavor/spices
- 10:00 – arrive dock
- 10:30 – depart by bus to Kirillov
- Goritsy pop. only 600
- 10:45 – 1st stop – Belozerskiy Monastery
- one of biggest in north Russia Vologda region
- 10 churches & cathedrals inside walled fortress
- 11:45 – 2nd stop – wood working shop & restoration center
- Log houses are taken apart – rotten wood replaced & rebuilt
- Then taken apart again & moved to original location & rebuilt
- 12: 15 – 3rd stop – children’s art center
- See lace making & short performance
- 1:00 – 3rd stop – old house/museum
- Originally owned by town doctor
- Filled w/well preserved original furnishings over 100 yrs old
- Have tea & bread
- 1:15 – shopping – local market
- Stalls line both sides of walkway from ship
- Feels like 3rd world country
- $75 for knitted mink fur scarves
Mother Volga
- 2:00 – set sail for Kizhi Island
- 2:30 – lunch – salad bar & soup
- Mid-cruise survey response clearly heard
- Have added highlights – corn & bean salad
- 4:00 – Photo op – Krochino church
- Flooded when Volga was enlarged
- Thunder & lightning in distance
- Huge drop in temp & wind kicks up
- Nap time
- Late afternoon rain
- 6:15 – Excursion overview for tomorrow
- 6:30 – Vodka tasting – 3 different types
- Cranberry, traditional white & spicy (amber color)
- 7:15 – dinner – Butterfish w/spinach & polenta – very good!
- 11:00 – tired & don’t take sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- Really stretching to find excursions!
- Internet is slow & keeps dropping
- Probably why it’s free
- There is no sunrise & sunset!
- It’s light all the time now!
FUN-fact – The Vologda region is as big as the state of Florida or England proper.
More FF – Russia spans 11 time zones, 2 continents and ends less than 50 miles from the U.S.
FUN-travel: Yaroslavl & Cruising Lake Rybinsk – Day 6 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 10, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Yaroslavl & Cruising Lake Rybinsk – Day 6 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 8 – Tuesday, July 8 – Yaroslavl & Cruising Lake Rybinsk – blue skies w/big puffy, white clouds – high 70’s – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset after 11 pm
What I LIKE
- 6:30 – wake up – typical routine
- 8:00 – arrive dock
- 8:30 – tour departs by bus
- 8:45 – 1st stop – puppet theatre
- Rather large collection of beautiful handmade puppets
- some over 100 yrs old
- performances encompass fairytales for children & dramas for adults
- 9:45 – 2nd stop – Church of Elijah the Prophet
- Masterpiece of Orthodox architecture
- Lavishly adorned 17th century frescoes
- Yaroslavl founded in 1010
- Called the “Florence of Russia”(clearly by Russian standards & not Italian!)
- City center is UNESCO World Heritage site
- 10:15 – free time
- Walk thru local market several blocks long
- filled w/everything from fresh food to clothing to electronics
- 10:45 – Russian beer break – Yarpeevo – 100 rubles =$3
- 11:10 – bus back to ship – 15 mins
- Find out we have twice the ship board credit than thought!
- 12:00 – set sail for Goritsy
- 12:30 – lunch w/pizza
- 3:00 – massage
- 4:30 – nap
- 6:15 – Uniworld Cocktail Reception for previous cruise passengers
UNESCO Site
- 6:45 – photo op – grand statue – Volga Mother
- Just outside of lock #9
- 7:15 – dinner – more just so so food & wine
- Eat with nice couple from South Africa
- Mid cruise survey left on bed
- 11:30 – take sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- City not nearly as pretty as Florence
- Food is too repetitive & not up to Uniworld standards on their ships
- Not real pizza – Russian idea of it
- Russian massage way different than ever had before
FUN-fact – The Rybinsk Reservoir was the largest manmade lake in the world at 1737 square miles when formed in 1941.
FUN-travel: Uglich – Day 5 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 10, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Uglich – Day 5 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 7 – Monday, July 7 – Uglich – blue skies w/big puffy, white clouds – high 70’s
Frescoes
Transfiguration Cathedral
What I LIKE
- 7:00 – typical wake up routine
- No hurry!
- Tour doesn’t start until 4:30
- 9:00 – breakfast – swing out w/egg white omelet
- 10:00 – cruise overview lecture
- 1:00 – lunch – salad bar & soup
- 2:30 – room R&R – nap
- 4:30 – walking tour of Uglich
- founded in Middle Ages
- Uglich means angel
- Harbor offers picturesque panorama of architectural monuments
- 1st stop – Transfiguration Cathedral
- largest building w/5 domes visible from every part of town
- 2nd stop – Church of the Prince Dmitry-On-the-Blood
- 10 yr old son of Ivan the Terrible mysteriously died here
- church built where body was found
- filled w/magnificent frescoes floor to ceiling
- painted by finest imperial icon artists
- Fabulous Orthodox choir performance by 6 men
- Have nice stroll thru town
- 6:45 – back on ship
- 7:30 – set sail for next stop
- 8:00 – dinner
- Midnight – finally fall asleep!
Church of the Prince Dmitry-On-the-Blood
What I DON’T LIKE
- Waking up at 4 am and not falling back to sleep
Church Flooded by Volga
- Don’t want to keep taking sleeping pills
- Free internet is slow and drops a lot of time!
FUN-fact – Uglich is one of Russia’s Golden Ring cities. That recently coined term evokes a heroic distant past. Located northeast of Moscow, the Golden Ring is composed of some of Russia’s oldest cities.
More FF – We have gone through a total of 7 locks since we left Moscow.
FUN-travel: Moscow to Uglich – Day 4 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 10, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Moscow to Uglich – Day 4 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 6 – Sunday, July 6 – Moscow to Uglich – blue skies w/big puffy, white clouds – 80’s – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset – after 10 pm
New Maiden Cemetary
Inside GUM
What I LIKE
- 7:00 – typical wake up & cappuccino
- 9:00 – breakfast – the same
- 10:30 – take walk on waterfront
- & thru park across from ship
- 11:30 – return to ships
- FREE INTERNET ENTIRE CRUISE!
- 1:30 – lunch – salad bar & soup
- 2:15 – boutique on ship
- have lots of ship board credit!
- find traditional santa ornaments
- 2:30 – room R&R – nap
- 5:30 – set sail
- 5:45 – safety drill
- Ship mates in hall tell us Red Square was closed due to bomb scare
- So glad we didn’t go downtown today!
- 7:00 – Captains Welcome Reception
- 7:30 – dinner – Beef Tenderloin – almost always guaranteed the best meal is reception night
- 11:00 – sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- Bus to town leaves @ 9:30 & returns @ 2:30
- Don’t want to stay that long
FUN-fact – Moscow is the sixth largest city in the world with 10 million people.
More FF – GUM is a three-arcade structure with three tiers of all worlds’ brand stores and cafés.
Red Square
FUN-travel: Moscow – Day 3
July 8, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Moscow – Day 3
Day 5 – Saturday, July 5 – Moscow – blue skies w/ occasional big puffy clouds – 70’s – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset – after 10 pm
Church in Kremlin
What I LIKE
- 7:00 – typical morning
- 8:00 – breakfast – nice fresh fruit
- make sandwich to go
- 8:45 – bus departs for Kremlin tour
- No traffic!
- 9:30 – 1st sop – Armory museum – priceless collection of opulent treasures including weapons
- gem-encrusted armor
- gold & silver wares
- coronation thrones
- jewel studded crowns
- sable fur trimmed hats & capes
- ornate gowns w/pearls, silver & gold thread
- carriages
- & Elizabeth’s coronation sleigh (pulled by 23 horses)
- 12:00 – 2nd stop – Kremlin Regiment – changing of the guard – held only on Saturday’s in summer – includes both mounted Calvarymen & foot soldiers
- 12:30 – walking tour of grounds includes world’s biggest bell weighing 202 tons and biggest cannon never shot because the cannonballs weigh 1 ton each
- 1:30 – bus back to ship
- 2:00 – lunch
- 2:30 – nap
- 7:00 – dinner as usual
- 11:00 – sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- Having hard time getting over jet lag
FUN-fact – Kremlin means fortress and is a self-contained medieval city with palaces, armories, and cathedrals. It is enclosed by high walls 2.25 km long with 20 distinctive towers.
More FF – The Easter egg collection by jewelers Faberge each open to reveal amazingly detailed miniature objects – most famously a clockwork trans-Siberian train made of gold, platinum locomotive and ruby headlamp created to commemorate the completion of the Moscow-Vladivostok line.
