Today was a lazy day on the Volga. Brad, Leslie, Ngaire and Ken played cards and the rest of us vegged. The scenery is really pretty with huge mansions on either side of the river. Tonight, we found out from our guide that they are really put up by the government for show and are owned by the state. All is not what it seems.

We arrived about an hour early in Uglich, a medieval town and our first stop on the Volga. The history behind this town centered around the death of Ivan the Terrible son's death in this town at age 7. The weather was hot and muggy and drops of rain sprinkled from time to time as we exited the ship.

Being the fast group we hurried fast past the market, quaint houses, the tank and headed for the cathedral where we enjoyed a lovely acapella rendition of a couple of songs by a 4 person male choir, who sang a lovely version of what else but the Volga Boat Song. Our guide was a cute little blonde - twice divorced - but she was 40. She led us through the palace and while her English was ever so good it was fun hearing her twist some phrases...instead of saying "you are all women of the world" she mistakenly said "women of the road".

Our next excursion was to a Russian Family's home for dinner. Off we went to Nina's home because I hailed down down Nina's van. Of course Brad and Ngaire said " this is all your fault to me.." before the evening had even begun....

We drove out of Uglich into the countryside and turned into a street with two little boys and a goat. On our left, there was a blue house with gingerbread trim. A thin blond woman met the van and said, "welcome, I am Nina" and introduced her red haired mama, Nina. We walked through her gate into her well manicured English garden surrounded by painted tires in shades of red, orange and yellow. A lean to had a Russian phrase on it followed by the words "just do it" which Nina explained were written by her teenage footballer son.

This was her summer dacha and she lived here with her family May to September. The rest of the year she lives in Uglich where she is a dance instructor for traditional folkloric dances.

We were invited to sit down at a long table which was carefully set. We were informed dinner would be a cabbage soup, homemade brown bread, carrot slaw, cabbage slaw, potatoes pickles which were all home grown and homemade! They were all delicious. Oh, I forgot. There was also the whiskey shooter, to be gulped and followed by the pickle. For dessert, mama Nina had made a homemade cake with a jam of blueberry and apricot. Not much was left as the food was delicious. We wished we could have brought the Nina's back on the ship.

Then, Nina the Younger asked where we were all from and brought out a wooden map of Massachusetts someone had given her and asked if anyone was from there. Two of us were and she asked us to point out where we were from and what we did. Then she told us she was a dance instructor. We asked if she would dance. On the music went and she selected one of the gentlemen and we all had a great laugh.

Nina then gave us a tour of the house and pointed out personal objects. What a fun time! Russian life is not an easy one, in fact it's brutal, tough and short, all with a beautiful (red ) facade.