Russian river cruise enjoyed by several of our band members.....

From Vicki Sims....

Our contingent consisted of 14 people: the 4 couples with band connections, another couple where the husband plays in the Richardson Community Band with Shirley, a couple who have a home in Plano but live in Oklahoma (the wife is in Shirley's and my book club) and two women Shirley has known since kindergarten. One lives in Colorado and the other in Nashville. There were 200 people in all split into 6 different groups.
Basically, we spent several days in Moscow; then several days on rivers, lakes and canals between Moscow and St Petersburg; winding up with several days in St Petersburg.


Joe and Judy, Sept 2
Our stop today was at Svirstroy where we had a very pleasant morning tea at the home of one of the locals. The hosts for our group, split into manageable numbers, were a grandmother, daughter and grandson. 18 of us squeezed into the dining room and enjoyed their warm hospitality. Outside we marveled at their wonderful garden with beautiful fall veggies (stuff that won’t even grow in hot Dallas) and came across a gentleman who had been out picking wild mushrooms.

Bob, Aug 30
After another fabulous lunch we had a Russian Folk Instrument presentation and any one who wanted to could sign up to learn to play the balalaika. Bob Sims of our group signed up. He and four others played together in the talent show at the end of the cruise.


Bonnie and Brittain, Sept 1
We arrived at Kizhi around 2:00pm and made sure we had on good walking shoes and coats. Kizhi is one of 1650 islands in Lake Onega, the second largest lake in Europe. There were wooden walks, dirt roads, and the wind was very brisk. The town is famous for it’s all wooden church (being renovated inside) built without a nail. It is amazing and beautiful with its 22 domes – built in 1714.



Jim and Shirley, Aug 31
Jim and Shirley elected to stay in Goritsy while most of us went to the Kirillo-Belozersk Monastery. Shirley bought dog food and wandered through the town feeding all the local dogs. Also, she and Jim were invited into the home of one of the local craftsmen.