Kizhi Island
Aug. 4th, 2013 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
life_of_glamour(Note: Part of a series of entries from my handwritten travel journal.)
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Awoke at 5am this morning and the boat wasn't moving. Woke up again at 7am, not moving, lots of fog. We were put behind schedule by the fog so we won't land on Kizhi Island until 8pm, well past our scheduled 4pm stop.
It's "Russian Day" on board the boat (I thought that was every day, but no - this one is special!). I just painted a matryoshka doll, being on a cruise is like being a kid again - you have a snack, then a nap, then arts and crafts time. But with a way better bar than I had as a kid.
We've been walking around the deck for exercise, 11 times each day which we think is a mile, and we also got a tour of the ship's bridge when we were crossing Lake Onega this afternoon.
After our Russian Food dinner we finally got to Kizhi Island - in fact it pulled into view during dinner, luckily I was facing the porthole windows in the dining room so I was the first to see it and snap a pic as it sailed into sight.
It is like a fairy tale castle. The church there was built entirely of wood - not even a nail was used in construction. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are many of them on this trip, which was one of the factors that drove my decision to join the trip, but this one may be the most breathtaking.
The bottom half of the main church is currently missing - it was floating on a framework of scaffolding like a castle on a cloud today! It is undergoing restoration, like many of the attractions we've seen so far on the trip have been. I couldn't stop myself from joking about the Orthodox church having their cathedrals up on blocks in the yard. Nobody thought it was funny but me. Ha! I kill me!
I took many very nice pictures, as arriving late in the day turned out to be the best possible time and the light was really, really good! We walked all over the museum preserve, which houses several other wooden buildings brought there in the 1950s for preservation, but really it's all about the big wooden church with 22 cupolas made without nails!
Cathedral is up on blocks!
Gah! So picturesque!
The sleepiest Kizhi Kitty!
Hee! We're cute!
Russian kitties don't understand English!
Damned picturesque!
Sadly we had to leave, however there were a few souvenir sellers on the dock.
After we got back on the boat and changed into nighties (it was almost 10 pm!) they announced that there was complimentary champagne on the sun deck to watch the sunset as we left Kizhi Island. Free champagne?! So naturally we threw some clothes back on and dashed up. The sun was just starting to set and I got some spectacular shots of the island as we left.
And the bar was blasting dance music, including Moskau by Genghis Khan. Cathyn and I couldn't stop ourselves from starting the dancing for the night when that came on. So there was free champagne and crazy disco dancing, and I just looked at the glorious sunset over the glass-like water and thought again - Holy crap I'm in Russia and it's flippin' amazing!!!
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
Awoke at 5am this morning and the boat wasn't moving. Woke up again at 7am, not moving, lots of fog. We were put behind schedule by the fog so we won't land on Kizhi Island until 8pm, well past our scheduled 4pm stop.
It's "Russian Day" on board the boat (I thought that was every day, but no - this one is special!). I just painted a matryoshka doll, being on a cruise is like being a kid again - you have a snack, then a nap, then arts and crafts time. But with a way better bar than I had as a kid.
We've been walking around the deck for exercise, 11 times each day which we think is a mile, and we also got a tour of the ship's bridge when we were crossing Lake Onega this afternoon.
After our Russian Food dinner we finally got to Kizhi Island - in fact it pulled into view during dinner, luckily I was facing the porthole windows in the dining room so I was the first to see it and snap a pic as it sailed into sight.
It is like a fairy tale castle. The church there was built entirely of wood - not even a nail was used in construction. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are many of them on this trip, which was one of the factors that drove my decision to join the trip, but this one may be the most breathtaking.
The bottom half of the main church is currently missing - it was floating on a framework of scaffolding like a castle on a cloud today! It is undergoing restoration, like many of the attractions we've seen so far on the trip have been. I couldn't stop myself from joking about the Orthodox church having their cathedrals up on blocks in the yard. Nobody thought it was funny but me. Ha! I kill me!
I took many very nice pictures, as arriving late in the day turned out to be the best possible time and the light was really, really good! We walked all over the museum preserve, which houses several other wooden buildings brought there in the 1950s for preservation, but really it's all about the big wooden church with 22 cupolas made without nails!
Cathedral is up on blocks!
Gah! So picturesque!
The sleepiest Kizhi Kitty!
Hee! We're cute!
Russian kitties don't understand English!
Damned picturesque!
Sadly we had to leave, however there were a few souvenir sellers on the dock.
After we got back on the boat and changed into nighties (it was almost 10 pm!) they announced that there was complimentary champagne on the sun deck to watch the sunset as we left Kizhi Island. Free champagne?! So naturally we threw some clothes back on and dashed up. The sun was just starting to set and I got some spectacular shots of the island as we left.
And the bar was blasting dance music, including Moskau by Genghis Khan. Cathyn and I couldn't stop ourselves from starting the dancing for the night when that came on. So there was free champagne and crazy disco dancing, and I just looked at the glorious sunset over the glass-like water and thought again - Holy crap I'm in Russia and it's flippin' amazing!!!
