our
hostessSvirstroy
Home visits have long been a tradition for GCT tours. Svirstroy is a very small town in the Russian north. We visited a lady of our age living by herself with a nice large garden. She prepared both meat and cabbage cakes for our visit. We learned a bit about how people live in this isolated part of the world. We found some local special handcrafts made from birch bark. They were certainly art pieces crafted with care and probably took long hours in the winter.
our
hostess
her
duplex on left
handcrafts
made from birch bark
We went through a few locks and sailed along the Svir river. It was both cold and beautiful, a strange combination.
yes,
ice on the bank!
At dinner time on the boat, the waiters and waitresses sometimes wore national costumes to work, which certainly increased everyone's enthusiasm. The following were our two regulars:
