Kizhi Island

Today we continued up river to Kizhi Island.  The area is close to the Artic Circle.  We were expecting cool weather and had a glorious short sleeve day. Dan and I continue to support the local economy and we are in good company with other people on our cruise. Kizhi is an area that they created and moved all the log houses to to create a tourist attraction demonstrating how Russians in the far north lived and subsisted. Winter is up to 25 Celsius below for weeks or months in end. The island sits in the 2nd largest lake in Europe, Lake Onega.  Everything on the island is created of wood including the shingles on the turrets.  Island churches were built without the use of nails and all the residents used summers to prepare for the long winters.  There are shuttles that bring visitors from neighboring islands to spend the day. This is part of the regional waterways that allows transportation of goods between Europe or Iran

We have only a few hours here enough to explore see some of the craftsman, the shops, and the church.  We have a sail away party with happy hour appetizers and champagne and of course Vodka shots since it is Russia.  Of note we did skip the on board Vodka tasting, but did do the wine and we were a little disappointed. No worries about shipping home a case of Russian wine that is for sure.