Cossack village

Typical Cossack house

This morning we visited a replica of a 17th-18th century Cossack village. Most surprising was the typical house with a bench on the outside for additional warmth in the winter, a drying space, and sitting; white walls with pancake glass and a straw roof. Inside it was decorated with embroidery. The stove served for both cooking, heating, and a warm bed. It was also decorated with the tree of life, a flower for every birth and a cross for each death. The wooden church has 3 domes for the trinity and a balcony for the priest to address those standing outside the church (since the inside can be quite small and stuffy). Finally, they had a rich home with Ukrainian baroque decorations. They had the usual craft areas, blacksmith and a potter, where Mary fashioned a small pot (with a little help).

We went for a good tasting lunch in a restaurant out of town. We were served our first and only chicken Kiev, stuffed with dill.

That evening, we had our farewell dinner with Ukrainian folk music and lots of vodka. Mary was the life of the party since several non-vodka drinkers offered her their glasses. We started with horseradish vodka and wine? What did we eat? Chicken, it was good.

Farewell folk music

So how do I summarize this trip? It was good to go with friends: Bill, Flo, Ruth, and Emily. We ate together the whole trip and shared our impressions. We also met people from across the US and lets not forget Thunder Bay, Canada.

We'll say we went to Russia and Kiev, but it was all in one timezone out of 11, sort of like going from New York City then cruising the Hudson river, Erie canal and Great Lakes to Cleveland and call that seeing the U.S. St. Petersburg was as memorable as our first visit 11 years ago with better roads, more stoplights, and probably 5x as many cars. Moscow, especially the Kremlin was a surprise, who expected 5 churches and only 2 government buildings? The cruise was like going through the North woods of Wisconsin visiting villages and towns along the way. Kiev, we weren't expecting anything and found a beautiful city.

The highlight of the trip, however, were the speakers: university students, Daniel from Ukraine, and especially the World War II veterans and the engineer from Chernobyl. All in all a great trip - I know a lot more about Russian history, people, and the capital cities.

Cave Monastery, Ukranian history and life

Cathedral of the Assumption, Cave Monastery

The Cave Monastery was found in 1051 by Anthony about 3 km. outside Kiev. The original monastery was in a series of caves and later the buildings of the upper monastery were added beginning in the 12th century. Many come here on pilgrimage. The most imposing edifice is the Assumption of our Lady Cathedral. The original was blown up by the Nazis, so this is a reconstruction completed in 2000. Services were being held in the nearby Refectory Church (1895) where the monks prayed before their meals. The service is even stranger than a pre-Vatican II Catholic service. A lot of singing and chanting are done, while the Eucharist is conducted behind the iconstary. Most of the people both inside and outside the church seem to be in private prayer to various icons. They also write down the names of the living and dead who will be mentioned at the service. The caves themselves are used for services as well as a crypt burial space. 118 monks bodies underwent natural mummification and they are considered saints.

In the afternoon, our lecturer, Daniel, talked about Ukraine. All the Eastern Slav people were united as a country since the 7th century, called Kiev Rus. In 988, Vladimir the Great introduced Christianity to unite the country. In the 12th century, the mongols invaded all of Ukraine except the west. In the 15th century, the Poles conquered this western portion. They were defeated by the Cossacks in the 17th century. In 1654, the Cossacks signed a treat with the Russian Czar for protection against the Poles. This has resulted in western Ukraine being different than eastern and central Ukraine: Catholic vs. Orthodox, Ukrainian language vs. Russian, and a pro-European vs. pro-Russia orientation. In 1917, the Ukrainian people republic was proclaimed. In January, 1918 the western and central portions signed a unity treaty with the eastern portion. After 4 years of civil war, Ukraine became a republic in the USSR. In the late 20's, the Soviets started a de-nationalization campaign where they deported Ukrainians and imported other nationalities. In 1932-33, there was a manufactured famine, the crops were exported and over 10 million died. Stalin then proceeded to purge the intelligentsia in 1937-8 and over 2 million were killed or sent to Siberia. Today, 42% of the country is non-Ukrainian.

In 1991, Ukraine declared their independence. The political system seems to be stable with a 425 member Parliament, a president elected by the people (responsible for foreign affairs and with veto authority) and a judicial system. Daniel felt that the judicial system was confusing with multiple courts who can issue conflicting opinions.

What happened at the Orange Revolution? In 2004, four exit polls (other than the official one) predicted that the pro-European candidate had won, the opponent even conceded, then the official results were for the opponent. Over 10 million people protested wearing orange. The Supreme Court declared that a re-vote needed to occur, the protesters continued until the re- vote in 3 months. This was a historic change - the first protest against government, support for freedom of speech and the five TV stations actually stopped following the government line. An interesting fact, the next year the income tax paid by people doubled, people reported their previously hidden income. Ironically, the opposing candidate won at the next elections.

Independence Square, Kiev

The average salary here is about $300/mo. Four percent are considered rich, 12% middle class, and remaining near poverty level. Agriculture, natural gas, machinery and metallurgy are the primary industries. One of the problems is education, while 12 years of schooling is mandatory, there is a large gap between business needs and the university outputs, especially in science and business. Health care is free and quite good for most health problems. You call the hospital, describe your symptoms, and a doctor will make a house call. For serious surgery, there is a queue or you pay for a private hospital.

Overall, Daniel was hopeful for the future, "we have a lot of natural resources but industry must become more efficient. Most politicians are still former communists, but that will change with time. "

Center of Kiev and the Chernobyl Museum

St. Sophia Cathdral, Kiev

Kiev is a city of 2.4 million, originally founded in the 5th century. On one side of the Dnieper, the city is hilly, this is the old city built here because it could be easily defended. Legend has it that the city was founded by 3 brothers: Kyi, Shchek, and Khoryv and their sister Lybid. By the 7th century, Kiev was the capital of Kiev Rus, a predecessor of today's Russia. In 988, the Christian religion, Byzantine style was chosen as the state religion. Many of the buildings here are named after buildings in Byzantium (Constantinople, Istanbul). For example our first stop was the Golden Gate, a 1980 replica of the gate into the old city. The original was damaged by the tartars in 1240. Here we were introduced to Yuraslav the Wise holding a miniature of St. Sophia cathedral. He was considered to be the one who built the cathedral, but recent study of some of the graffiti in the church indicates that it was started by his father, Vladimir in 1011. We entered the Cathedral through it 1701 bell tower. On the grounds is a stone telling of Yaraslav's library of over a thousand books. Only one survives today, a bible used for the marriage between a Ukrainian princess and the French King, Henry I.
St. Sophia was originally built with 13 domes in a style similar to St. Sophia's in Byzantium. In the 17th century, it was restored and changed to a Baroque style and six more pear shaped domes were added. Inside are some of the original 11th century frescoes and mosaics. Dominating the church is 22 foot tall mosaic of the Virgin Mary in blue and yellow (flag colors of Ukraine). On some of the pillars graffiti is carved from the early centuries and tell us when the church was built and the day of Yuroslav's death.
Two other churches of note were St. Andrews built by Elizabeth I as a royal chapel and St. Michael monastery. We also saw all the usual government buildings and square typical of a European capital.

Chernobyl after the accident

In the afternoon, we visited the Chernobyl museum. The radioactive discharge of reactor 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear plant occured in the early morning hours of April 26, 1986. The radiation equivalent of 1500 Hiroshima bombs was released into the atmosphere. The nearby town of 50,000 was told it was a small accident that morning and life continued as normal. After 36 hours, they were told to pack their belongings and buses arrived for a 'temporary' evacuation. On April 29th, the Swedes reported nuclear fallout and began investigating its source. The USSR admitted to an accident, which became 1 paragraph on page 3 of the Kiev newspaper. Kiev, only 75 miles away celebrated May Day with the usual parades. Finally, 74 villages and 2 towns, 90,000 people were evacuated. Today there still exists an exclusion zone 14 miles in radius surrounded by fencing where no one lives. But 600,000 people, mostly soldiers were involved in the cleanup, shoveling radioactive material by hand with little protection other than jumpsuits and respirators. Half of them are dead today - 25 years later.
The most interesting part of our visit was asking questions to one of the plant engineers. He had worked at the plant since its construction 12 years before. On the morning of the accident he was called at 5 AM and worked for the next 5 days to shut down the entire plant. Afterwards, the engineers joked about how long they had left to live - best guess, 1 year. He and his family (wife and 2 children 10 and 4) have had numerous treatments and surgeries. His daughter is not a doctor treating victims of the disaster. He is head of the victims support group.
Why did it happen? "The nuclear industry tries to hide the truth. There had been previous minor incidents with reactors of this type, but while there were investigations, the design flaws discovered were clouded in secrecy even to the people managing the other plants. In 1986, an international conference held in Vienna laid the blame on the operating personnel. Subsequently there have been 7 reports issued. It is clear that the operating personnel were following a manager's directions to conduct an experiment. A combination of this experiment, the design flaws, and the secrecy around these flaws probably led to the accident. It is interesting that within a month, the design flaws were recognized and all reactors of this type were modified. The design of the graphite rods used to control the reaction were modified to react faster.
Chernobyl reopened after a cap was put on the destroyed reactor. I continued to work there on the other 3 reactors. We go through two decontamination checkpoints in the exclusion area to work there. It was shutdown in 2000, primarily for political reasons."
Our next visit was to Babi Yar. In the time of Catherine the Great, many Jews immigrated to Russia because they needed more farmers and were granted land. In the 1890's 40% of Kiev and 80% of Odessa were Jewish. Then the pogroms began, causing many Russian Jews to emigrate to the U.S., Canada, and Palestine. On September 19th, 1941 the Germans took Kiev. On September 28th, they called for all Jews to report to the Jewish cemetery with all the goods they could carry, to be transported. That night, they shot 31,771 and dumped them in the "Women's Ravine", Babi Yar. The location of this ravine was only recently discovered because through the 2 years that Kiev was occupied, 200,000 were shot and buried in a site nearby. That is where a large monument was erected in 1971 to memorialize the citizens of the Soviet Union who were murdered here.

Babi Yar Memorial

Moscow to Kiev

The Bolshoi Theater

Our flight to Kiev isn't until 4:45 so we have the morning around Red Square. We found that the square was closed for some special delegation when we arrived. We skirted the square to take a look at the Bolshoi Theater, ran through the street vendors, and watched the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We spent the majority of the time in the Russian State History Museum which covers from pre-history until 1917. The best part was seeing some of the museum rooms which were decorated similar to Russian churches and palaces. After lunch in Gums, we headed for the airport for our flight. We made it to the Radison only a few blocks from St. Sophia's about 7 PM.

Great Patriotic War Veterans

Krushchev's grave

We started our day at the New Maiden Convent cemetery. The Russian Orthodox church didn't allow divorce, so the noblemen's wives would suddenly desire to be a nun, allowing their husbands to remarry. Several mothers of Czars ended up at this convent, so donations were plentiful. But after Peter the Great allowed divorce, donations went down, so the opened a graveyard for noblemen. Eventually this became the resting place for important communists: Gorbachev's wife, Boris Yeltsin, Andrei Tupolev, Nikita Krushchev, Andrei Gromyko, many World War II veterans, as well as singers, ballerinas, and movie stars.

Statue of Peter the Great

Our next stop was the statue of Peter the Great. Originally this was a statue of Columbus that Yeltsin was to give to Bush in 1992 (500th anniversary of Columbus discovering America). But the economy collapsed and Russia couldn't afford to ship the gift. Ever resourceful, in 1997 Columbus head was cut off and replaced with that of Peter the Great to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Russian navy. So there is Peter with his back to the Kremlin on a 15th century ship.

Our last stop of the morning was the huge Church of Christ, the Savior originally built from 1837- 1883. In December, 1931, it was blown up by the Communists. Their plan was to build a skyscraper here taller than the Empire State Building. World War II intervened ending those plans. Krushchev later turned the foundation into a swimming pool. The church was rebuilt from 1995-2000 to the original design, though the materials used were cheaper. It still is quite impressive.

In the afternoon, 3 veterans of World War II, the Great Patriotic War talked to us. Remember 27M Russians died during the war, 13 M of them civilians. Our first veteran was a pilot who trained other pilots. "We were very inexperienced compared to the German pilots from 1941-43, it was at the Battle of Stalingrad that the tide turned. Much of this was due to the goods and planes supplied by America's lend-lease program."

Our second veteran , eventually became a general. As a 16 year old, he had one month of training before entering the battle. "The hardest time was the five minutes before the battle begins. When you see a large squadron of tanks approaching, you become fearful, but behind us was our Russian homeland. In 5 days of battle, I was one of 12 who survived from my unit of 1200. Even as a 12 year old, I went to school for half a day and worked the other half in a factory. Our motto was 'everything for the front line, everything for victory'. "

Veterans of the Great Patriotic War

Our final veteran was a woman nurse, one of 800,000 women who went to the front. "I was first stationed at Stalingrad and we were bombed with logs, rails, and nails falling from the sky. I was sixteen and started to cry, everything around me was on fire. I saw a wounded soldier on a nearby tank, but I was too short to reach him. A tall Siberian helped me reach him and I dragged him on his coat to the hospital. Later, our hospital was surrounded and I became a POW. As women, we carried buckets of sand to build a road, our hands would bleed from the weight. After 6 weeks, we were put on a train to Germany. Some men removed the floor boards from our car, we jumped under the speeding train to escape."

The general liberated a concentration camp near Berlin - only women remained, wearing wooden shoes with thing faced, many had been infected on purpose. All the men had been marched to the Baltic sea to be sunk on a barge. What impressed him most was the order of the Germans, the piles of shoes here, hair there, and suitcase in another pile. "Nearby we encountered German women and children torn from their homes by the war, we fed them with our supplies.

They went on, "In our day, everyone volunteered to defend the Motherland, regardless of politics. Today's generation is brought up by the media more than their parents. They see rich and poor people, this wasn't the case during Soviet times. Today they are fighting to get a good education because education brings riches. Most are envious of America".

Tretyakov Gallery

Portrait of young Tolstoy

Our primary visit today was the Tretyakov Gallery with a collection of a 1000 years of Russian art. We concentrated on the art from the 18th and 19th century. This museum started as a private collection in 1856. Tretyakov concentrated his collection on portraits of contemporary nobles and artisans as well as historic Russian works. Pavel Tretyakov became the biggest patron of the arts in his time. He paid to have portraits done of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and his tastes in art actually influenced the art of the time (he liked dark works with little sunshine). He actually built a museum next to his house for his collection and donated it to the city in 1892.
Russian art changed significantly during the time of Peter the Great. Previously Russian art was religious icons, where originality was discouraged. Peter saw the oil paintings of the Dutch masters and encouraged arts to learn these methods. Elizabeth I established the first art academy in 1757, later Russians learned from the Italians and French, starting a true school of Russian art in the mid-19th century.
In the evening we went to the new Moscow Circus. The communists created circus schools and circus building throughout the country. Most families take their children regularly to the circus. What we saw was a cross between traditional circus and Cirque du Soleil. Laser lights and both rock music and traditional circus music played by an orchestra. The acts were animal: dogs, cats, donkeys, alligators, lizards, and monkeys; human: trapeze, rope acrobatics, high bar gymnasts, and clowns; and it all finished with a walrus act in water. All on the one ring stage. It was thoroughly enjoyable.

The Kremlin

Cap of Monomakh

The fist Moscow Kremlin (fortress) was built in 1372. The current Kremlin is from the time of Ivan the Great, 1485 who unified Russia and freed them from the Mongols. The Kremlin has 1 1/2 miles of walls with 12 towers. We started our vist in the Armory. Here are the treasures of the Czars and noble families: liturgical vestments made of canvas, embroidered with gold thread and outlines in river pearls. Next were the imperial thrones made of simple wood underneath. Ivan the Terrible's throne in veneered in carved ivory and has been the coronation throne ever since. The throne of the early years of Peter the Great when he shared power with his brother Ivan is interesting since it has 2 seats in front and a screen with a seat behind it for the "power behind the throne", the regent Sophia. Numerous crowns were on display including the sable-trimmed Cap of Monomakh, as asian-style crown used since the 13th century for the Czar's coronation. The next room is filled with court carriages, five from the time of Elizabeth I plus the sled she used to get to Moscow from St. Petersburg to be crowned. Also interesting were some small carriages with mica windows used by Peter the Great as a child. Another room had an icon cover of gold with 2 large emeralds which the Spaniards took from the image of the Inca God. This icon cover was from Our Lady of Vladimyr in the Church of the Assumption. There were also a number of bible covers, the most impressive was for Catherine the Great, gold with over 1000 cators of diamonds, enamel portraits of the evangelists in the corners and in the center an enamal of Christ, whose face is the likeness of Catherine. We ended our tour with the Faberge Easter Eggs. Two were made each year for the royal family, each one contained a surprise. Ten of the 54 known eggs are here. For example one of the eggs celebrates the opening of the Transiberian Railway and inside was a miniature train.

Transiberian Railroad Egg

After leaving the Armory we had our biggest surprize of the day, Cathedral Square. Most impressive is Cathedral of the Assumption (Dormition), built by the Italian architect, Fiorvanti in 1475-79. This is the coronation church, covered with frescoes inside. Here we also ahve 3 pews: a small one for the Czar's wife, one for the Patriarch, and the Czar's with beautiful scenes carved in wood from the time of Ivan the Terrible. Around the square we also see the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the Palace of the Facets, the 11 domed Church of the palace, the Church of the Depositions of the Virgin's Robe, the Cathedral of the 12 Apostles, Ivan the Great belfry and bell tower, and the Cathedral of Michael, the Archangel, the burial spot of the early Czars.

The Churches of the Kremlin

Around the corner is the Czar bell, (200T) cast in the 1730s. As it was being carved and polished a fire broke out in the scaffolding and the bell cracked from the heat. Then comes the Czar cannon, the largest caliber in the world, but it has never been shot. We ended our tour with the office of the President of Russia. The Kremlin definately was not what I expected - more churches than government buildings.

In the evening we attended the Russia National Show in one of the large hotels. While there was lots of good dancing, it reminded me of Lord of the Dance with it pre-recorded music, which sometimes was Russian music with a beat.

To Moscow

John and Mary at Red Square

We spent most of the day traveling to Moscow. We had an open question time with the program directors. The stories of the tough times during the Yeltsin years - the older directors lost their jobs and weren't sure how they would live. Misha chanced into a job with the BBC which paid well and he was able to support his family and his parents. We heard the usual distinction between favorable view of the American people after them, versus the American government. Misha had been a tour director during Soviet times and to him it was clear that some of the tour guides worked for the KGB at the time. He became very nervous when a school group stayed with families when his itinerary showed them staying in a hotel - would he be fired?

1930 Moscow subway station

Moscow is a huge city, 18x20 miles with a spoke a concentric ring road system. Many of the rings are former locations of the town walls. The city was founded in 1147 because it was at a crossroads for trade. A lot of new buildings are under construction though the economic collapse has slowed construction recently (unemployment is 10-11%). But we could also see several large Wedding Cake Buildings, built by Stalin from 1948 to 1953.

We began our tour at the World War II memorial, a monolith with St. George on top. From there we took the metro to Red Square. The first line of the subway was completed in 1935 and each of the stations has an elaborate and unique design. Marble walls, granite floors, murals, statues and chandeliers are common sights. We emerged at Red Square. The Gum department store, filled with brand names, occupies one side of the square. Built in 1893 with sculptures and glass ceilings, it was once the largest in the world. On one end of Red Square is St. Basil's Cathedral, built int he time of Ivan the Terrible. He changed the standard church design of 9 domes (1 central, 4 large, and 4 small in the form or a cross) to have each dome be a colorful and unique. Opposite Gum is Lenin's tomb and the Kremlin wall, site of the military reviewing stand on May Day. Opposite St. Basil's is the State Historical Museum built in 1883. The museum has been closed after the various revolutions to change history because "Russia is the only country in the world which has an unpredictable past" according to our guide.

St. Basil's Cathedral

Uglich

Church of the Spilled Blood

We're visiting the town of Uglich, a city of 24000 founded in the 10th century on the Volga. Here is our second Church of the Spilled Blood, where the 7 year old son of Ivan, the terrible was murdered, which eventually led to the end of the Rurikid dynasty, since no heirs survived. The murder is depicted as murals in this tiny church. Also in this former Kremlin (fortress) is the Church of the Transfiguration, a 15th century palace and a museum where we heard the Kobyet vocal group.

In the evening, we had the Captain's farewell dinner, entertainment by the crew and our singing of the Russian song, Kirtinke. The highlight was the crews version of the Apollo fountain - 4 waitresses in togas with water pitchers and a male cook in the center. We were waiting for them to pour the water on him, but instead they slowly took a drink from the pitchers, and then proceeded to spray it from their mouths on him. The evening ended with champagne and fireworks on the Sun deck. Who would believe we would celebrate the 4th of July on an American ship in the middle of Russia. Yes, the world has changed.

Crew's version of the Apollo Fountain

Russian History, Goritsi, and vodka tasting

Our Russian history lesson continued this morning. Why did the Bolsheviks succeed in taking over? At the time, 85% of Russians were peasants, 14% factory workers and 1% the rich. The Bolsheviks, promised what people wanted: land to the peasants, factories to the workers, and peace to the nation! After the October, 1917 revolution , a civil war, ensued between the reds and the whites, but the whites had various aims: back to the Czars, democracy, etc. By 1921, the reds were in control with Lenin as their leader, but he died in 1922. Leon Trotsky was the heir apparent, but Stalin, a relatively quiet Georgian, planted discontent among the politburo (fear for their position if Trotsky was selected). Trotsky was exciled and by 1928, Stalin was in control. He started the Five Year Plans: industrialization, collectivisation, and cultural revolution. The land was taken from the peasants to form collectives and those who protested were arrested and sent to the gulags. This provided the labor for industrialization: hydropower plants, canals, mineral extractions, steel factories, etc. Meanwhile the cultural revolution was encouraged by a huge propaganda machine - how rich Russia was and how Stalin was serving their best interests. Stalin executed anyone who opposed him (2 million). Our guide, Misha's mother remembers cutting out former leaders from the history books with scissors after they were purged.
Of course, World War II had huge effects on the country - 27 Million died (1/2 of all World War II casualties). 16M were civilians. While Russia signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in 1939, on June 22nd, 1941, Germany attacked and soon were surrounding St. Petersburg, and in the suburbs on Moscow. In August, Russia was able to resist and stopped the advance. When Stalin learned that Japan would attack the US, not Russia, they moved troops from the east to the west and began their counteroffensive on Dec. 5th, 1941.
In 1942, Germany concentrated on winning the oil fields near Stalingrad (Volgograd). With help from tanks and airplanes provided from America's lend-lease program, Russia held Stalingrad. The tide turned. With the agreement of Roosevelt at the Yalta conference, Russian regained Eastern Europe which they kept after World War II.
Stalin died in March, 1953. Soon after Khrushchev began de-Stalinization, the gulags were closed in May, private apartments were quickly built (300-500 sq.) ft. and people were allowed small dachas with gardens.
In 1963 Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev. This was a time of stability, but consumer and agricultural goods were in short supply. The chicken generation began, their primary meat was chicken since other meat was rationed at 4 lb./year. Over 80% of the economy was military. Brezhnev died in 1982 and the USSR went through at series of leaders (who quickly died) until Gorbachev. Gorbachev was famous for "Glasnost"- openness and "Perestroika" - restructuring. Glastnoss, however, quickly suffered when the Chernobyl nuclear disaster was hidden for days, until the Swedes detected the radioactive cloud. Gorbachev also started an unpopular anti-drinking campaign, so while his foreign policy was well-received abroad, he wasn't appreciated at home. In August, 1991, there was a Communist coup, but the people rebelled, resulting in the dissolution of the USSR. Russia was ruled by its president, Yeltsin. The Yeltsin years turned democracy into a curse - the ruble was devalued by almost 10000 to 1 in a few months, state industries were privatized and given to Yeltsin friends and soon mafia war broke out between factions for control of the industries. In 1993, the Parliament tried to impeach Yeltsin, but he surrounded Parliament with tanks and dissolved it. In 1996, he was re-elected, but the election was most likely stolen. A favorite joke of the time: "it doesn't matter how you vote, it's how we count the votes." In his last term, Yeltsin was often seen drunk in public, times were so taught that life expectancy in Russia, dropped to the late 50s. In 2000, Putin was elected and he cleaned up after Yeltsin - pensions were increased 50-70 times to make up for inflation as one example. Even today, Putin enjoys 70% approval ratings. As Misha says: "we really don't have a democracy, but we're happy with our benevolent dictatorship". Life is improving.
Our stop today was the village of Goritsi. Here is a nunnery built in 1554, a place which served as a place of imprisonment for Ivan the Terrible's 4th and 7th wives. This area is also called the "Land of the Blue Lakes". We visited the Karill0-Belozersk Monastery, built in 1397, the larges in Russia. Home of up to 200 monks, today it only has 5. Probably the most impressive portion was the 16th century frescoes at the main entrance. We encountered lots of people swimming in the lake since our day was sunny and warm. The favorites saying here is "In winter we have 9 months of anticipation for summer and in summer, it's 3 months of disappointment". (The last snow was on June 10th and the first freeze is usually late August.)

Frescoes at the Monastery

In the afternoon we participated in vodka tasting. Originally vodka was a medication, similar to rubbing alcohol. Today, the best vodka is based on wheat, not potatoes and is sipped straight, not mixed in cocktails. In the late 19th century, Mendeleev (who invented the chemical elements table) standardized vodka as 40% alcohol and 60% dilutant, mostly water, possibly with some flavoring. We tried pure vodka, one flavored with honey and peppers, and another with birch buds. None had a smell of alcohol, and almost no burning sensation. You'll remember that Gorbachev tried to tackle the drinking problem: he halved the production and outlets of vodka, you could only purchase 1 bottle at time between the hours of 2-6 PM daily. Misha remembers being in line for 4 hours to buy a bottle of vodka for his father.

Kizhi Island

Kizhi island: Belfry, Transfiguration, Intercession

The Church of the Transfiguration stands out on Kizhi island (4 miles by 1/2 mile) with its 22 cupolas. Built in 1714 out of pine wood with birch shingles in an octahedron, the interior is under restoration. We were able to go into the Church of the Intercession (the winter church since it is heated) with its wooden icons.

Church of the Transfiguration

Most of the other building on the island has been brought to this island as examples of life in the 19th century. Most interesting was a large farm house with its large brick oven in the center. All the family would live on the ground floor in winter with the snow 5 foot deep outside. In the summer, all the rooms would be utilized. The horses and workshop were on the 2nd floor, where we saw their lathe and forms to bend wood for sled runners. The grounds had several other examples of farm houses, a windmill, and the 17th century Chapel of the Archangel Michael, where we had a bell concert.
The rest of the day was spent sailing Lake Onega. In the afternoon, we had our first of two Russian history lessons: The Rurikids Dynasty lasted from 862 to 1598. They were the first to bring all the Slav peoples together in what was called Kiev Rus and their original capital was Kiev. Vladimir was a key ruler, because he decided that the best way to unite his kingdom was to have a state religion. He chose Byzantium Christianity because they provided divine sanction for his rule and he could marry the sister of the Byzantine emperor. He was baptized in 989 and gave start to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1237, the mongols invaded Russia. They ruled loosely for 250 years, demanding tribute each year, but allowing the Czars to continue. The biggest effect this had was to severe any ties to Western Europe for this entire period. The capital moved from Kiev to Moscow during the Mongol occupation. Ivan the Great, freed Russia from the Mongols in 1480. Unfortunately, his grandson, Ivan IV became know as Ivan, the terrible, who purged anyone who threatened him including 2 of his 7 wives and several of his offspring. The years 1598-1613 became known as the "time of troubles": great famine, many false claims to the throne (from supposed sons of Ivan), and war with Sweden. When it was clear that there was no heir from Ivan IV, in 1613 Michael of the Romanov family was chosen by the nobles. This became the royal dynasty until 1917. The memorable leaders from the Romanov family are: Peter the Great, who defeated the Swedes, built the capital of St. Petersburg, was the first Czar to have travelled to Western Europe and thus starting changing Russian society to reflect more of European norms including building an army and navy. Catherine the Great, who was a German princess, married to Peter's grandson, who defeated the Turks gaining the Crimean Peninsula to Russia She was also a great patron of the arts. Alexander I who defeated Napoleon in 1812. And Alexander II who freed the serfs in 1861. The end came with Nicholas II, who was a weak ruler, he had lost the Russo-Japanese war, and people were starving due to World War I.

Enough history! In the evening we went through 6 locks on the Volga-Baltic canal with a beautiful sunset at about 11PM.

Sunset on the Volga-Baltic Canal

Petrozavodsk

Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia. The name means Peter's factory, it established to build cannon during the war with Sweden. Today, it is a town of 260,000 people with 2 factories: one for making paper machines and another for tractors. But the tractor factory just closed. The city was occupied by the Finns during World War II and most of the early wooden buildings were destroyed. In the 50's many stone buildings were built with 50 meter square apartments (500 sq feet). We toured the town, not for its artistic value, but to see a small Russian city.
In the afternoon, we talked with two University students attending one of the 2 Universities in town. They enjoy free schooling plus a small stipend since they had high grades on their exams. Dorms are spartan with unisex showers. These 2 young men were studying English with ambitions for a high paying job in the area - possibly interpreters or a tourist guide. Teachers here make $400/mo, a high paying job is about $1300/mo. though salaries are four times higher in Moscow. It was very clear that this is a male dominated society since they clearly were expected to be the breadwinners (can't afford to teach). They also noted that most Russians ignore politics, particularly in comparison to Americans they meet.
Before dinner, we attended a Karelian folk show. Lots of blond singers and dancers and an interesting square string instrument called a kantele.