Due to the ice in Lake Onega we stopped for a tour in Vytegra, a ship building village during the years of Peter the Great.
We began our tour with a tour of a Russian submarine B-440 Foxtrot. It is a diesel/electric powered submarine that had a crew of around 80. The Foxtrot submarines played a role in the Cuban middle crisis as four of them were deployed by the Soviets. Three of them were forced to surface by the US Navy and one eluded us. They each could carry 22 torpedoes and could stay 3-5 days submerged.
After the submarine tour, we began our tour of the city. Vytegra's coat of arms has a picture of a ship on it along with the Russian flag. The guide said that the current Russian flag was the same one used before the days of red communist flag. The waterway we are currently on was started by Peter the Great in order to connect St. Petersburg with Moscow. During the 50's and 60's during the Cold War this village became a headquarters for Russian submarines and also produced many Naval admirals. For a village of 10,000, it had six admirals and their photographs are in a place of honor along a path that leads into the village. We again saw the orange and black ribbons, these represent the Order of St. George, which is the highest military order presented in Russia and people who receive it are heroes of the country. This village does not have a university, but it does have a technical school for the forestry industry. There is a lot of lumbering in the area with the trees harvested being mainly birch and pine. Re-foresting is practiced in the area. The city also has a fish hatchery. This is also a recreation area where people come to hunt and it was where the royal family came to hunt as the area has all types of game. 200 years ago this area was occupied by many rich families. When we walked around town, we noticed that almost every house had a garden, our guide said that the one crop they plant is potatoes as potatoes are second to bread for favorite foods.
Russia is divided into 83 administration areas, these sounded like our states. The region we are currently in has been called the Russian Venice due to all the lakes. Going back to the war, this town was not occupied by the Germans as it was 40 miles from the front, however it had two hospitals that cared for the wounded.
We walked by many tall apartments, these were built during the communist era and they were free for the people. At the end of communism they were given to the people, but the people were now required to take care of their up keep if anything went wrong. We also saw a child care facility. If a mother works for the state, she gets three years off, if she works for a private company, she gets one year off work. This facility charges 1,500 R per month, that would be $50. Other building we saw were a hardware store, bus station, vegetable street stand, and grocery store located in the lower level of an apartment building. I bought a candy bar and dish towel for $1, many others bought vodka, ice cream, and souvenirs.
The last thing we saw was the village Russian Orthodox Church of Intercession and wooden chapel. This church was built in 1708, was closed during WWII, but opened right after the war and was open during the communist era. It is in need of restoration as it was burnt down in 1963. The plans are that hopefully next year that will start reconstruction of this church. The village people have raised some money and they hope to get money from the state as this church was a traditional wooden church built without hammer and nails and therefore has historic value. By the church was a wooden chapel, it was locked, but there were carnations stuck through the lock in the door. There was a beautiful birch wood area by the church.