The Way to Russia: May 2010

Monday, May 31, 2010

Volga River Cruise

Volga River Cruise
The weekend of May 22-23, I embarked on a cruise of the Volga River. The Volga River is the largest river in Europe in terms of length. It flows through central Russia, and is viewed as the national river of Russia because eleven of twenty large Russian cities are situated on the Volga, including Moscow. Overall the cruise of the Volga was going to take 5 hours to Kostroma, then 6 hours to Pluis and then 9 hours back to Yaroslavl.

At first the thought of being on a boat in which no one spoke English was a bit nerve racking, but lucky for us our Captain (Captain Nicholas) spoke English. He is a native Russian speaker, but as a sea man he learned English, English being the common language of all sea goers. In fact, he invited us up to the Captain’s deck. He then should us how the boat was run and let us take a few photos.

After we visited the Captain’s deck, we proceeded to lunch. The food was excellent. We were a bit nervous with the food, because we just did not know what to expect!! Sometimes it’s just a shot in the dark! Overall the food was great. There were a few instances of guessing what we were eating such as liver. Yes, I did say liver, not liver paste! At first we thought it was mutton, but after further investigation we came to the conclusion of liver. After that point, we had enough of that meal!

Our fist day on the boat was spent sun tanning because first, we had 5 hours to kill until Kostroma, second, the weather was 80 degrees, and third, typical American past time. Leave it to the American’s was the motto!

We eventually made it Kostroma and had 5 hours to spend walking the town. After walking for awhile, I was struck how much Kostroma reminded me of Nice, France. The town had a feeling of a Mediterranean landscape and old European city. It was breathtaking how beautiful the city is. I could have stayed there for the entire weekend!

Elizabeth, a new volunteer, practices Russian Orthodox. So, we attended a Russian Orthodox Service with her. It is something I have never seen. When walking into the church there are no pews, members stand facing the Altar. Then throughout the Church, there are Icons adorning the walls. Each member can then worship/pray to their Icon. When in the process of worshiping, there is chanting going on behind the Altar and the members standing cross themselves and bow. This represents a member’s right to pray in any fashion. It is a less constricting type of worship; it allows the member to express their own form of worship. Then the father comes around with incense as a form of blessing. It is quite fascinating to have observed this religion.

After our adventures in Kostroma, we got back on the boat and ready for the Disco Tech party on the boat. It wasn’t much of a disco tech; it was on the back of the ship and we (volunteers) were the only ones to attend save for an older woman and the live music entertainer. The older woman, however, was fun. She got out and danced with us. It was a late night!!

In the early hours of the morning we arrived in Pluis. Pluis is a much smaller town compared to Kostroma, but extremely beautiful with its view overlooking the town and Volga River.

Due to the fact we were on a River cruise, we never took into account it being spring and warm the thought of Mosquitoes. They were horrific and unyielding. Bug spray just wasn’t enough to keep them away, nor was our layers of extra clothing. We looked like we came home with pocks of some variety. Horrible and Miserable!!!!! But, I would definitely to the Volga River Cruise again.