When I was a child I had already liked the melody of the "Volga Boatman Song". I just had not dreamt that one day I would see this river in person. When I saw the sailors running back and forth doing their job, I thought of this song. There was a day originally scheduled for the tourists going by group to the captain's deck to observe their operation, which would be something new to a lot of cruisers. But, eventually it was cancelled due to the miserable weather condition.

The ship was not all the time on the Volga. Sometimes it entered another river, and for 3 days it sailed in White Lake, Onega Lake and Ladoga Lake, each bigger than the last one, like an endless ocean. I didn't bother to take my camera out.

Everyday we were informed around what time the ship would pass by certain landmarks. However, the estimation could not be calculated precisely. I missed the Mother Volga statue because we passed by there at dinner time. I also missed the inundated church because I was listening to Yunona's piano performance.

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