We awoke to be told that during the night we had joined the Volga River and were making good progress towards our next port of call.

Later that morning, we arrived at Uglich.

We toured the town on foot, visiting many of its fine churches.

Moored at Uglich

The church of St. Demetrius-on-the-Blood

The interior of the Transfiguration Cathedral

Last year I bought a lovely picture by a local artist. I was delighted when I saw some more paintings by him. I had to haggle the price up as I was not going to buy such a good picture for only US$10! He is a university lecturer, and has not been paid for months, like most public servants (and when he is, it is very poor pay). He said that he could not give up teaching, because the future of Russia is in the young, so in the winter he repairs cars and in the summer paints, to earn money. Most Russians are finding things very difficult; their roubles devalue so quickly that they have to buy things immediately before the value drops. When we arrived, it was 15 roubles to the dollar. When we left, it was 16.5.