We stayed up after I did the blog last night for the novelty
of having an actual sunset and some comparative darkness. Of course this didn’t happen till getting on
to 11pm but we still enjoyed it.
The doctors cough lozenges had worked and so I managed to
sleep quite well without people in other cabins wondering why there was a dog
on board.
So it was an early morning arrival into Uglich, with brekkie
done and us ready on the pier at 8am.
Off we set for a walking tour of this little town.
This town has been settled for longer than the town we were in
yesterday, so well over 1,000 years. The
name Uglich means ‘bend’ or ‘elbow’ in Russian and it sits in the bend of the
Volga River.
The town became well known for an incident that happened there
in the 16th century. Ivan the
Terrible only had two surviving sons – one who was said to be a half-wit the
other only (Dmitry) a very young child.
Dmitry was exiled to Uglich and some years later when he was 7 he was
murdered. The most likely instigator was
Boris Gunudov who had organised his sister to marry Ivan’s eldest son. This meant the only thing that stood between
him and the top job was Dmitry. The boy
was found dead. The whole incident was
covered over by the witnesses being tortured, the whole town punished, and the
church bell which had rung out that something terrible had happened was exiled
to Siberia. So Gunudov did come to power
but was very unpopular. He was very
friendly and had many dealings with Poland.
Eventually Gunudov was killed burnt to ashes and the ashes loaded into a
cannon and the cannon fired in the direction of Poland. The guide who told the story said she had
been asked if that was the first Russian Canonisation. Anyway the church we visited was on the place
where the boy was said to be murdered.
It seems in early Russian times if you wanted a new church built just
get a VIP murdered there and the church will soon follow – it may also account
for why there are so many churches in Russia.
We were shown the town centre and we were off on our free
time. We were looking for a shop where I
could by some ‘Throaties’ or such like.
Fortunately we came across one of the guides from the boat and she
walked us there. We never would have
found it. Definitely off the tourist
track. The staff on board are wonderful
– they are so very willing to meet any need.
We then walked back in the direction of the boat. There was another lacquer box display in a
quaint building. We went in and there I
found a box like the one I fell in love with yesterday. It is of course a little different but by the
same artist and beautiful. Den insisted
that I should buy it, so who am I to argue.
So I am a very happy girl.
Back on board we had some time for a coffee and a sit on the
sun deck as it is another warm day. At
noon the boat headed off again our next stop will be Moscow.
After lunch was just free time – sleep time, sitting on the
balcony reading, just watching the Volga glide by. There are many people camping in tents by the
river. The weather is perfect for them
and for us.
Tonight was “the Captain’s Farewell Reception”. We still have a few more days left but from
tomorrow when we arrive in Moscow we won’t be moving around anymore. It was a special dinner followed by a concert. Some of the passengers had made a choir and
sang a Russian folk song, and others were volunteered ‘Russian style’ into
taking part in a play – both were great fun.
I was thrilled and stunned when they announced the winner of the painted
matryoschka doll was mine. The judging
had been done by popular vote – Arty said it was amazing 84 people eligible to
vote and they counted 126 – he said it reminded him of one of the leaders who
said ‘it doesn’t matter how you vote it matters how we count’. Anyway I was presented with a lovely book of
Pushkin’s Fairy tales. It was then time
for some dancing and then up to the roof deck to watch the sunset. Tomorrow Moscow.
