BOAT STOPS

We travel along the Volga Baltic waterways through what are known as the Golden Ring cities and towns then through the two largest lakes in Europe called Onega and Ladoga. We embark in Moscow and end up in St Petersburg.

Day 1) Moscow transfer to the ship . EMBAR.CATION on MS Tolstoy
Day 2) City tour, Red Square and Metro. Visit the Tretiakaov Gallery then Optional Moscow by night
Day 3) Kremlin and Armoury Museum. Optional Pushkin Museum or Novodedvichy Monastery . Leave Moscow and sail up river to UGLICH.
Day 4) UGLICH . This is an ancient town on the Volga 136 miles North of Moscow. We take a city tour.
Day 5) KOSTROMA . another ancient city with the famous wooden architecture museum.
Day 6) YAROSLAVL 155 miles M of Moscow. An old walled city
Day 7) GORITSKY a typical peaceful farming village Medieval.
Famous monasteries associated with Ivan the terrible Built around 1391. These monasteries are known as one of the seven wonders of Russia s.We are now on the tributary of the Volga called the river Skeksna. A lot of history is associated here with Ivan the terrible.
Day 8) KIZHI At the northern end of Lake Onega Near St petersburg. A town known for it preservation of Russia’s wooden architecture . 14 Century coplete wooden churches were built on the island of Kizhi
Day 9) MANDROGUI A reconstructed Russian village built to illustrate the life –style and traditions of Russia’s past. Artists and craft people from all over Russia live here producing the famous Matryoshka dolls and ceramics . (The Vodka museum is a must)!!!!
Day 10) St PETERSBURG City tour, an evening ballet performance at the Hermitage Theatre.
Day 11) St PETERSBURG tour of the Hermitage . Evening folklore dancing and show
Day 12) ST PETERSBURG An excursion to the Palace of Peter the Great (Peterhof) on the gulf of Finland about 20miles north of St Petersburg.
Day 13) DISEMBARK

Wow Nain ! Looks like a beauuutiful Cruise.

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Thanks Gwynie! sounds like a fun book. I would love to tackle some Tolstoy and really should before our trip, just need to find a quicker read than War and Peace!

By the way gals, i'm hoping to buy a film camera before next summer partly because i want to film this trip! xxx

Verdict on the Night Watch

So I just finished reading the book - and immediately watched the movie The Night Watch that I had downloaded on my computer. I have to admit, both the book and the movie are definitely kind of silly. But I really enjoyed the pure cheese of the plot - and it definitely puts you into a Russian frame of mind - seems like a violent culture.

The Night Watch - by Sergei Lukyanenko

Fantastic! I can now contribute to our wonderful Russian blog -Thanks Meggie. So I thought I would bring the literary discussion down a notch with my latest book purchase - a Russian fantasy novel called The Night Watch (one in trilogy also including the Day Watch and the Twilight Watch). I ordered in on Amazon after a friend recommended it to me (it arrived all the way out here in Tadoussac in only 4 days!) and I am almost as enthralled as in the last Harry Potter. Apparently, it is one of the latest big hit novels in Russia (with the younger generations), and it was recently made into a very popular action movie, which I am going to try and download. I would describe it as a cross between a Russian Philip Pullman (Golden Compass) and the movie the Matrix. Sounds good eh? Can't say that the writing style is top-notch, but the imagination is there and boy, is it ever full of suspense. In the pile of books beside my bed, I also have one called Natasha's Dance - A Cultural History of Russia. It seems a little more dense, but readable. I think I might give it a whirl when I feel more academically motivated. I will finish with a question: Russian uses a different alphabet? Who knew?