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.