I was in bed by about 11 pm last night. I think I fell asleep with the gently rocking boat as we were still at anchor. I next awoke to much heavier rocking and recognized that we were under way. It was about 12:30 am and for the next three hours I was unable to get back to sleep as the rocking was heavier and heavier as we crossed Lake Ladoga… Finally about 3:30 as we approached the eastern shore the boat settled down and I was able to fall asleep. I slept until almost 8 am.

After breakfast I attended a second history lesson which covered the Romanov dynasty and then a second Russian language course. We then arrived at what was intended as our destination for yesterday, Mandrogi Village. This is a purpose built tourist site that serves as a location for various artisans to ply their trades and provides a destination for the tour boats. Unfortunately due to the delay we only had about an hour to spend here. One could easily spend an entire afternoon exploring the village.

It was then back on the boat for lunch after which I started watching a documentary on the Tsars but ended up taking a nap. Later on we met our tour guide for a discussion about Russian geography and culture.

We then had a briefing from the captain explaining the weather that caused the delay and the resulting change in our itinerary. We were to visit the Kizhi island on Lake Onega and the village and monastery located there. However the transit across the lake and back takes about eighteen hours and as we are about twenty-two hours behind schedule we must skip this stop in order to maintain our schedule through the locks and arrival into Moscow.

After the briefing it was on to dinner and then back to the cabin for some rest. We’re transiting Lake Onega as I write this and the boat is rocking a good bit – though I don’t think as much as last night…