10-02-2013 Sailing and kuzino

10-02-2013

LAT Post

Today was a lost day for me.  Most of the day was sailing but they did stop in a village where there was a tour of a monastery and a visit to a viking sponsored school.  I did not go as my cold reared its ugly head and my stomach was on the blink, partially due to three rich meals a day that i am not used to.  I am going to be more careful but you should see the choices for the three meals.  My eyes seem to be bigger then my stomach.  Since I don't have any report I thought I would talk about the boat we are on.  There are three main floors that we spend time on.  The deck you come into when you enter the ship with the main desk and several state rooms and the ship gift store and library,  Next up is the floor with the with the dining room that is large enough to house us all at a meal.  It has tables for 6, 4 & 2's.  The next floor up is our floor on one end and at the other end the panorama bar that has windows that you can see forward and both sides,  The next floor up is the sun deck but has the bar that they do all the presentations in and that serves drinks most of the night.  The stairs between floors are treacherous very steep ..already had one guy take a dive down them..luckily he just broke a finger.  There is a doctor on board and the stairs I believe are why.  The meals are offered at certain times and breakfast and lunch you can order off the menu or do the buffet.  Dinner you can only order off the menu.  Dinner is four courses if you wanr, an appetizer, main course, like a cheese course and deserts.  Many choices in each course.  There soup is always on the thin or runny side and the veggies in the soup are only slightly cooked.  Main courses are geared to the region we are in like fish, reindeer, pork/chicken, however you can always order a chicken breast,  salad, a steak or a vegetarian selection.  The boat seemed to me to be under staffed and that was confirmed by the tour director one night during a cocktail party.  The rooms are small but really comfortable, the bed are very narrow we have TV although we don't watch it.  Lots of plug ins for our cameras, phones, IPAD's etc.  My cold is getting better and so is my stomach!!

LMR Post

Sailed most of the day.  Much different then previous Viking trips.  Long periods between stops.  I attended the Russian history from 1917 to 1985 class.  It was session 2 of the series.  Tomorrow we do Gorbachev years.  The instructor told some cute stories about the Russian leaders.

Had early lunch - so breakfast and lunch was very close to each other.

Outing was to Kuzino.  Visited a secondary school, saw kids crafts for sale and then went to Kuzino Monastery.  Lots of beautiful icons, but couldn't take pictures.

Part 2 of the outing was a presentation by actors playing a Viking.  Very nice souvenir shop-much better then the performance.

Dinner was Russian a menu, staff was dressed in costumes.  I took Russian language course again.  Instructor was calling on people and putting them on the spot.  Not good!!

Tomorrow is sailing all day again.  Don't leave the ship until 3 in the afternoon.