May 16th. Our tour today is in the village of Rostov or Rostov the Great as it is known to the Russian people. It was first mentioned in 862 as an established trading settlement. The towns most important landmark is it's Kremlin. This Kremlin is considered to be the finest outside of Moscow. The Rostov Kremlin was commissioned by one of this cities metropolitans and he had a vast fortune for that time (probably comparable to billionaire status) and hundreds of pe...

Happy Birthday to Me!!! Surprise, Steph brought me coffee in bed and then gave me an unexpected birthday gift, a Russian towel to embroider. This morning we had three briefings, Russian history, Russian language, and disembarkation information. I had minestrone soup, turkey fillet crusted in almond with orange sauce, corn blinis, and ice cream with fruit sauce. My next surprise occurred when the family lured me to Gary and Evelyn's room for wine and sweets and my...

Colorful does not adequately describe Goritsy. The little gingerbread styled homes in this village come in every color that you can imagine. This tiny village was once very rich as it was home to the nunnery where Ivan the Terrible sent his aunt Yefronsinya to a life of seclusion so she could not support her son as a successor to the throne. However even being in exile didn't help her (Ivan was very paranoid) and several other high-born nuns at the convent as Iva...

May 15 - Our port for the next two days is Yaroslavl. This town of 640,000 covers 130 square miles. Yaroslavl was founded in 1010 when Prince Yaroslavl came to this part of the river to establish a church. The mascot of the city is a bear. The legend that led to this is about the time when Prince Yaroslavl came to this area to protect his father's merchant ships from the pillaging pagans, he ventured ashore to reason with the marauders. They captured him and th...

I went to a matryoshka doll painting class this afternoon, paid 250R for the wooden doll and use of the pattern, brushes, and paints. Unfortunately, we only had an hour to finish it. This was fun but I wish we would of had more time to get it done as mine needs at least another hour to finish the base coat and add the decorations. So here she is before she gets dolled up, a little girl dressed in blue jeans and holding a heart. It isn't nearly as artistic as the...