What happened?

September 23, 2005

We awoke with the boat motionless in the water and surrounded by fog.   For the next five hours we waited for the fog to lift.   The result, to stay on schedule, the town of Goritzy was bypassed.   I am not sure what we missed.   Our guide said that Goritzy is famous for their linen.   We were not really interested in linen so nothing lost — but nothing gained.   It probably would have been interesting to see.

We are really behind schedule.   We were to be at this point about nine o'clock this morning.   It is mid to late afternoon.   This church, at one time, marked the departure from Lake White and the entry into the Sheksna River.   During the Soviet era when hydroelectric power stations were built, the church became a victim of the rising waters.

The Sheksna River is only 115 miles long.   The name Sheksna is thought to be derived from a Finnish term meaning a sedge covered tributary (sedge is a grassy plant found in swamps and on riverbanks).   Seems logical as we saw a lot of this grass.

Another church under restoration.   Years of neglect will take years to recover to their former character.

So ended the day.   Not much to do but to relax.

September 24, 2005

We went through another lock during the night that caused me to wake but not for long.   At that lock, we dropped 43 feet in elevation.   Then shortly after sunrise, we came to another lock where we dropped another 46 feet.   We have pretty much recovered from the fog and at this point are on schedule.   We are now in the Volga River which is Russia's largest waterway.   It is connected to the country's five seas by a network of canals.   Half of all of Russia's river cargo is transported on this River.   It is also used for irrigation of regions to the south.

Now on the lighter side.   This first photo is of the instructions on how to operate the heater in our cabin.   There is a slight problem — the illustration and directions on the top left apply to the knob on the bottom right.   Same but opposite applies to the other half.   Ventilation did nothing more than circulate the air within the cabin.   After we got the temperature set to our likings, it was comfortable.   There were two windows that could be opened so it was very easy to have fresh air.   The other photo of the toilet shows a design that was beyond belief.   Of course, it did not have an "X" mark — I added that to get across my point.   The portion that contained water was forward of the "X".   This means that the unmentionable dropped on the bowl where the "X" is located.   Not being submerged in water, a terrible smell was immediately produce and it was very difficult to wash clean by flushing of the toilet.   I thought that is might be an East German, that is where the boat was built, design that was an attempt to improve on the design of the West.   No, I later learned that such toilets are common everywhere in Germany.   This is not good.

In addition, the drainage of toilet and shower was not good in our cabin.   We thought more than once that there would be a nasty flood.   With each flush of the toilet, the drain in the shower would bubble and gurgle.   Water did not drain quickly enough while taking a shower that we worried that water would overflow its container.

Our last lock before arriving at Yaroslavl, I finally found the solution to my puzzlement as to why the vertical slots in the walls of the lock and the steel thing.   These were tie backs to assure that the boat stayed close to the wall of the lock.   The steel thing provided the hook and a float so it would rise and fall with the water in the lock.   At this last lock, we dropped another 46 feet

The towns were larger as we continued south.   Following is some samples of the sights along the river.   The published times for being at sights along the river was all mixed up so there was just no chance of knowing where any of this was.

Next   —   Yaroslavl