Goritsy

Saturday along the river




Today has been a peaceful day, sunny skies and moderate temperatures. We had a leisurely morning with a port talk on Goritsi that we were visiting at 1 oclock. They had to really rush lunch as we were docking and still had not gotten our dessert. It meant we had to rush back to the cabin to grab our stuff as we were only docked for 3 hours. We took the optional tour to the Kirillo-Belozerski Monastery. It was about a 10 minute bus ride from the docks to the next town where the monastery was. The monastery was really nice and had so many interesting churches and domes and towers. We really were rushed or it felt like it. We broke off from the group to do some wandering on our own and had to hurry to the gate to leave , though we had time as it turned out. The flowers were beginning to bloom and the green is showing on the trees. There were daffodils and some tulips too and it was very pretty scenery along the way. We were glad we had taken the tour as the town itself did not have anything except the souvenir stalls. And Natasha told us that this town was very expensive and she was right. The few souvenir stalls we stopped at were higher than where we have looked before. She has said that tomorrow is the best price place so I’m putting on my track shoes.

After we got back on board, we went out on the deck to take photos of the convent that was once there. Jim and I got separated at that time since they announced they were having the paint your own matryoshka dolls and I did not hear the announcements out on the deck. Jim went and found me just in time for me to go up and get me a set to paint. At least I have something to entertain me on the long stretches with not much to see! Anyway, we had fun doing it. The dinner was a Ukraine dinner and again, we were not too big fans of most of the food. Thank goodness for salmon and baked chicken-you can get those anytime. We had BLT sandwiches at lunch and we had to laugh-there was one small slice of a very small tomato and one half slice of bacon on the entire sandwich. What there was, we enjoyed. They always have coffee, tea and hot chocolate at the coffee bar on the first floor. Each afternoon they have cookies there as well. Otherwise, there is not much snacking! The rooms do have a refrigerator in them so we have been trying to buy Cokes (more pepsi here unfortunately) at a grocery or somewhere instead of buying them on the ship as they are much cheaper plus there are ice machines on two floors so we can fill the ice bucket and have them chilled and over ice and they taste so much better. Tomorrow we stop in Uglich and that is our last stop before Moscow. We don’t get to stay long but we are looking forward to it. After dinner tonight, we found an invitation to eat at the Captain’s table tomorrow night….guess we better show up for that!

A