Volga River

The Volga River is the largest waterway in Russia and connects its five seas by a network of canals. We sailed through the Rybinsk Reservoir, White Lake, Onega Lake, Ladoga Lake and near the Baltic Sea.

Most of the river reminded me of our local rivers near Charleston where I worked riverboats after getting out of the Navy. Sometimes it was wide as the Ohio River and sometimes as narrow as the Coal River in West Virginia.

Half of Russia’s river cargo is transported on this system. Our ship had a draft of ten feet and some of the narrow channels were no more than fourteen feet deep. Many times we would pass other ships close enough to throw a rock across the deck.

The larger lakes were like sailing on the ocean. You could not see the banks on either side.

Here are just a few of the sights from the deck of the ship.

Catching the Ship

Marilyn was recovering rapidly so we left the hospital early in the afternoon. The mother ship was to berth in the city of Uglich that evening and it’s usually a four hour drive to Ulglich because of the heavy traffic in Moscow. It seemed like all ten million people in Moscow were on the road at the same time and I worried that we would miss the ship.

The city of Uglich is about 150 miles upstream on the Volga River and this would be our first sighting of our ship. Our Russian driver sped confidently along the country roads and it was refreshing to view the modest homes where many farmers would sell vegetables and mushrooms in little stands along the highway. Most of these homes are heated by either wood or coal and I often thought of early West Virginia life in the beginning coal mining years.

Our driver had us there in a record three hours and we ate in a local restaurant while waiting on the ship. Near the dock was a large red church with blue domes and we walked for a few minutes anticipating the arrival of the ship and re-uniting with our traveling companions.

Our journey towards St. Petersburg was now actually beginning and our perceptions of Russia would be more meaningful as we watched town after town pass slowly from the deck of the ship.

The Russian Hospital

After a short drive from the hotel, you can imagine the thoughts in our heads as we entered the hospital.

But our fears were relieved when the staff and doctors arranged tests and made arrangements for both of us to say a few days.

They spoke excellent English.

The “private room” was basic but very comfortable. A nice shower, bathroom, and a flat screen television were included among the furniture. They even brought in a light “cot” for me and furnished me with food from the cafeteria. Although different from American cuisine, it was very good and very tasty. That’s unusual for hospital food and it was very comforting for me.

Quite honestly, we received better care here than a hospital in the United States. Several blood tests were performed, liquids were started, antibiotics administered, an electrocardiogram performed and even an ultrasound of the stomach. They were attentive to every detail and very professional.

Marilyn’s illness turned out to be bacterial and not a virus. It was the result of food in the kafe near the hotel.

It happens to tourists all the time and why it bothers some and not others is a mystery.
Four of us ate the same food at the same table.

Our ship had already sailed and our current goal now was to meet it downriver several miles.

It would be a four hour drive on country roads to arrive at the next port.

I was impressed with the medical care in the “American Clinic”.

Moscow

Russia was a different country and it took some time to adjust to this interesting land. On a long trip, there is always the normal “jet lag”, where your body is in one time zone, and your physical presence is in another time zone, but for some reason it was particularly difficult on this trip.

Russia has a harsh climate and we were adjusting from nearly 100 degree days in West Virginia to nearly freezing temperatures in Moscow. It was going to take more time than we thought to adjust our biological clocks. It hit me worst on the second day, but Marilyn caught the brunt of it, on the third day, after eating in the local kafe near the hotel.

After arriving in Moscow, we rode one of the most modern “mass transit systems” in the world. The ride on the subway was fascinating. It was DEEP underground and very fast. I was amazed at the precision and the feel of the cars are they sped underground between the streets. We wandered around the city and then retired to our room where we prepared our luggage for the cruise on the Volga River to St. Petersburg.

And then things turned really bad for Marilyn.

That night she was violently ill and became very weak and very dehydrated. The next morning we rushed to the nearest hospital. We didn’t know if it was a virus or just simply bad food, but one thing for sure, medical care was TOP priority.

It scared the living daylights out of me….