Russia Poland August 1, 1998, Saturday

At the breakfast table were two couples, one from Liverpool and one from Scotland on the west coast. They were at an age where they were still working and had to get back to their jobs when they reached St. Petersburg.

We boarded a bus for a short ride to the Kirill Monastery. The work started on the first wooden building in the sixteenth century. As time went on buildings were constructed of brick and a huge brick fortification wall with towers was built around the grounds. This happened after a failed attempt by the Polish soldiers to take over. There were several churches within the walls and some had been turned into museums where icons were displayed. The whole complex was enormous with millions of bricks on the construction. The state had given back a part of the monastery to the church but not the museum. We had a Russian-speaking guide so our guide was interpreted. At the souvenir stands I bought two pairs of amber earrings. We boarded and were on our way to Kizhi

At lunch I sat with a Scotch couple. The wife was a teacher in a small school. She taught four or five grades in addition to running the school. The man was an engineer. It seems as though it took two people working to support a household, especially if they had children in college.

At 6:00 p.m., Tatiana, a cruise director, told us about life under the communist regime. She had to wait four years for a two-room apartment, but she said some people waited 10 or 15 years. The apartments rented for about 200 rubles a month (about $33.00) and the average wage was about 500 rubles (about $82.00). Te problem with the Soviet system was the person who worked hard and the person who did nothing received the same wage. When the system collapse and the pay for no work stopped, many were discontented. She was afraid the old guard communists would win out and return to power.

My dinner companions were two couples who had traveled to the U.S.A. and had been to Los Vegas. I asked them if they had visited their London Bridge at Lake Haversaw. They said no.

There was a concert where the Russian players performed. The music was good but I kept falling asleep. Later then the Portuguese showed up on the dance floor I revived and did a little dancing. There were five women and a man at the table with me. The man was a lawyer. One woman was a doctor, one a gymnast, one a psychologist, and two were teachers. They were young, lively, and out to have fun.