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Here beginneth the Russian part of the travelogue. I plan to talk about Russian travel and cruises in general, make a few comparisons between our last summer trip to Murmansk, Solovetsky
and Archangelsk, and also compare this trip with the Russia we saw in 1993 when we took a course with a Michigan State group of art
teachers working on their Master's Degrees in Art Education. (We got credit for the course that year too.)
This year's cruise through the Russian waterways was wonderful!!!
We met MANY very interesting people (which was not the case last summer). Here is an example. I have already received a 24-page
travelogue from one of our "fellow travelers", a woman who brought her laptop computer along with her and kept a journal on it every day. I can't figure out how she did it. During this trip we were doing something just about every single minute, and were so wiped out with the heat that when we did have some free time, we retired to our cool cabin to rest. (Actually, Bill did that.Ipreferred to just sit on the deck and watch the river,the countryside and the clouds.
Cruising is the way to do it. First of all,you get to see things
you probably would never get to see otherwise. Second, It's safer than
the train. Also, you can unpack your stuff, and don't have to pack it
again for 7 days or more, and it,s relaxing and comfortable.
Aside from Russia,the best thing about the trip was the company. This
was a Smithsonian study tour, and, as I mentioned, we met many very interesting people which was not the case last summer when we traveled with a Wisconsin alumni group.
A note on the weather. It seems that Russia was having a heat wave during our cruise. I have heard two versions. "It hasn't been this
hot for over 100 years". and "The last time the temperature was this high was in 1973" Take your choice. I also heard someone say
that it was 38 degrees Celsius (which has to be 100 degrees Fahrenheit). This happened on the day we reached the furthest north point of our trip in the Kizhi Islands.
There we visited the oldest (and most beautiful) wooden churches in Russia. All built without nails 300 years ago. The cathedral is too
rickety to enter, and someone said that it had been nailed together
temporarily a few years ago until someone from Unesco figured out how to restore it. Nevertheless, it is the most gorgeous,flamboyant piece of wooden architecture I have ever seen... 4 or five stories high with 21 domes at different heights, 4 grand entrance ways, so that no matter which direction people approached the island from they would always view a facade with 4 or 5 steps of pointed wooden arches as well as the domes, of course. Anyway, it was so hot that everybody was suffering from the onset of heat stroke because there was practically no shade the island. Because of the surrounding water, it was very humid everywhere we went. In
fact, It reminded me of Taiwan.
The island has always been a religious center even in pagan times.Our guide says it is some kind of "magnetic, mystical center", perhaps because it is made of black rocks an unusual phenomenon in the area. I can tell you one thing, the dust turned my feet pitch
black even though I was wearing stockings (because of the poisonous vipers which infest the island.) All the stuff I love...Mystical vibrations,
serpents, and steamy atmosphere. This island and its architecture was the high point of the whole trip for me.
But I digress. We were talking about weather. Although the heat
doesn't bother me much, after a couple of hours walking around,
outside on our various excursions, getting back to our freezing
cabins on the boat could be a real shock to the system. A lot of the folk
aboard had sore throats and flu-like symptoms. My morning shot of
vodka upon awaking saved me again. Believe me, it's the best way to stay healthy while traveling. The other thing, of course is not to drink any water except from bottles you watch being opened. Beer's good too, if you don't mind the bloat.
One last weather note. It did rain once during our trip. Right at
the beginning while we were in Moscow visiting the Kremlin. When we
were there in 1993, you couldn't visit any of the churches of the Kremlin. (There are three magnificent ones all clustered around a large open square.) At that time ('93) they were all covered
with scaffolding and surrounded by fences, being restored. This trip they are all open, but we only got into one of them. While we were waiting outside to enter, the heavens opened and we were all drenched. We couldn't get into the church for shelter because the crowds of tourists already inside refused to come out, and there were more mobs waiting to get in, but only one half of the double doors was open. Actually, the rain was refreshing, and only lasted 20 minutes or less.
This brings me to another observation. The incredible increase in
the number of tourists in Moscow and St. Petersburg in the past 7 years, AND the incredible amount of institutionalized gouging of the tourists. A couple of examples: Although our tour paid for
entrance fees to the sights we saw in Moscow, we checked the prices we would have paid as individuals. Just to get inside the Kremlin walls - $8.00. Then to visit the Armory, the fabulous museum with the Fabrege eggs, the most magnificent carriages in the world (Catherine the Great had one that was so heavy that it had to be pulled by 16 horses. Nevertheless, it made the trip from St. Petersburg
to Moscow in less than 3 days. Since the horses had to gallop, she
used more than 800 of them in order to get there.) The one sight I remembered the most vividly from our previous trip was Peter
the Great's boots. He was a huge man, and his boots would come up to my chest!!!. They and the carriages were what I remembered from my first visit in '93. This time I also admired the wonderful collection of
coronation dresses of the various empresses of Russia. Well, it would
have cost us another $10.00 each to visit this museum. Then each of the churches has a separate entrance fee of $6.00. $36.00 per person to visit those main attractions! And on and on it goes.
During our cruise we were able to visit some glorious Orthodox
Churches. Since they were used for other purposes under Communism (when they weren't blown up by Stalin), they were neglected, and almost all of them are now either newly restored or in the process. I know that this costs enormous sums of money, but somehow it seems sacrilegious to me to charge $5.00 or $6.00 just to go in. What really gets me is that in most of the churches they let you take pictures of the delicate frescoes and the golden icons - if you are willing to pay $l0.00 or more for a camera permit. Then there is the music - usually male choirs who offer a few liturgical selections as part of the church visits. They are, without exception, wonderful singers, and the music is so moving that it often makes strong men weep, and invariably me. BUT, all of these groups have CD's and cassettes for sale after their little concerts, and the prices are $15 or often $20.00 for the CD's! In the Russia Market in Poland you can buy all kinds of CD's (pirated or genuine) for $2.00 apiece. It just sort of takes the shine off of the religious fervor which is apparent and genuine in "the new Russia". I guess that capitalism and the laws of supply and demand are still in the process of being learned. Maybe I'm wrong and the demand is there, but it doubt it.
If still have energy left after all this, I have an update prepared, but it is full of "Problems" of the sort that one has when one is a perpetual ex-pat. If you have time to let us hear from you, pleaseanswer, but if you want to read the update, you'll have to ask for it. I'm not about to inflict more of my verbosity on you unless you are a glutton for punishment.
