Sailing on Volga River 2

The boat ride was 2 hours so here I have more pictures to show you.

Do you know that if on land there are bus stops, on the river there was a"boat stop".

At first I thought we were already docking but I was looking and I couldn't see the land. We stopped and some passengers got off the boat and few got in. So it is a stop where you can wait for another boat/hydrofoil which goes to a different destination. It was very interesting for me because I haven't witnessed such thing before. Say it was like "a connecting flight".

Here is another. It's a boat transfer. I don't know how exactly things work, whether it is regular or not, if captains communicate or what but anyway, here's  what I saw at least. Two or three of our passengers transferred to another boat going to a different direction. This is another, after the boat stop. Boat transfer-funny eh?

Meanwhile inside our boat. Some people were judt chatting, others sleeping. I think it was only me who kept on making pictures, which obviously underlined that I was the only foreigner/tourist in the group.

 At this point, I was already standing trying to stretch my legs out. Our captain seem to be doing ok, he's awake and alert.

The beautiful nature on the shore continues.

The farther we drifted, the more there was a feeling of being on a vast river. It felt huge somewhere in the middle. I couldn't see the shore. The sizes of barges and boats were bigger ships were seen from afar.

There were some more interesting "road signs". I don't know how they should be called, "river signs"?

Later there were no more dachas (summer resthouses) but villages or small town.

This one's a small town, I'm sorry that it's  quite far but if you try to click the picture, you may see it a bit closer. I don't know if you can see the green dome - that's a church. I can't  really identify what the other buildings are. 

And here are Orthodox church and mosque.

A bigger town.

We weren't  heading there.

We were heading to a much smaller town - a very interesting...historical town. That will be in my next post.

Linking with:

Scenic Weekends

Activities in dacha

When people say, I'm going dacha and spend the whole summer there, it means they're  going to soend summer in the "relatively wild" place, indulge in gardening, fishing, swimming, tanning, boating, biking for kids, etc.

Some dachas are right by the beach. These are the new ones, bought mostly. 

Many people bring their rubber boats, others have much simplier boats enough to float around the river nearby.

Others even manage to swim...

or water skii.

Whatever activity can be done in the dacha areas, people would do. I've seen some playing beach volleyball too. 

In the musician street, people gather and play music or sing songs in the evening. It's almost like an orchestra or concert. It's great to live next to their street, you get a free great entertainment :)

Linking with:

Scenic Weekends

Look Down for Views

Since I already have posted the Ferris wheel and told you that I was once up there. I thought that I'd continue with the views down the wheel. Like I said I didn't  really look down. I was just sitting very still looking at what's on my eye level. But thankfully, I was with a bear... a kind of special Bear and he took all these pictures in this post.

 

There's  the road going to the city center. The Kremlin, commercial building, some residential and the beach Kazanka. 

Last time I've posted a sign that forbids people from swimming and some of you asked why it is forbidden. Well, you see there is a road that spans at the middle. Fumes, dust and maybe something else are brought about by every passing vehicle. The water is not really dirty. I have been there several times in summer and in winter too. There are no rubbish nor sewege from factories. There are no factories in the city. It's just not considered good for swimming. But you know some people still try like in those people in the previous post I've written about.

The Ferris wheel is a part of entertainment in Kurlai. It's  an amusemrnt park. I like being there in summer, not to take rides but to eat cotton candy :) 

Nah, I just like places where people go to enjoy. Kids, a lot of kids and their families could be seen in this place. 

Farther you can see a UFO. They land in Russia from time to time. Didn't you know that Russia and aliens are allies? 

:)

Of course I'm  joking. That's  a circus. I haven't been there. Another paranoia I've got is that animals could go wild and get loose...you know what happens next. (I'm  sorry I've got weird imaginings sometimes).

This is right below us. You can probably even see the shadow of the wheel on the umbrellas. It's a BBQ place by the way. They also have good kebab. Yum! Summer, hurry up please.

The park isn't open yet. They close from late fall to early spring. As soon as snow is gone, they'll  open again.

The river is still frozen, everything's covered with snow. Although it is already spring, our temperature today's nearly -10. 

Tomorrow's  gonna be -17...hopefully not. It is March 8 - it's  Women's  Day and I already mentioned to you before  that this day is widely celebrated in Russia. I am planning to go out and see around, make pictures if I  get a chance and later tell you about it.

I'm  linking this post to Scenic Weekends

Swimming

SWIMMING IS FORBIDDEN

But obeying is totally voluntary.

(Picture was from summer of 2011.)

Check out other interesting signs.