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Last night as we sailed from Nizhniy Novgorod towards Kazan we had a full moon, and it was beautiful the way it reflected off the water.

Today is Saturday the 16th of August and the 8th day of our Cruise.  After breakfast we had a busy morning.  We went to the bridge at 10:15 where we met the captain, and he gave us a tour of the bridge, along with some interesting facts about our voyage, such as distance we'd be traveling (approx. 900 miles), the number of locks we'd pass through, etc.

The bridge was quite spacious, and there were several officers monitoring intently our
progress down the river.  The captain of course spoke through our guide interpreter.

The controls for the engines and for steerage were surprisingly simple.  Even though
everything was written in Russian, I think Pete and I could probably handle it.  LOL

This was followed at 10:45 with a lecture by our guide Liana, about Gorbatchev and Perestroika.  It's amazing what you can learn about people and politics when traveling in a foreign country, and hear their version of things.  I find that it rarely matches up with the version I got back home in California.

At 2:30 PM we arrived at Kazan.  But before our arrival, we passed through another lock.

This is looking to our stern.  We were traveling down stream.  The gates of the locks are different.  The upriver
gate, which you see here, actually raises and lowers.  The ship passes over the top of it as it enters the lock.  The
gate on the down river end of the lock opens inward once the water level equalizes with the river on the downstream side.

Here you can see the upstream gate after it was raised to the level of the river up stream, and in this photo, taken from the stern, the water has nearly reached the level of the river at the downstream end, so we're about to leave the lock.

This shot is taken from the bow of the ship, and you can see the gates opening inward.

We disembarked from the ship and headed for the tour buses for a very interesting day ashore.  Kazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan.

As you can see from this map, at Kazan we are about midway between Moscow and Volgograd.  The river, and the sights along the way have been beautiful and interesting.  This is proving to be a great way to see a broad spectrum of Russia.  The people are wonderful.  So much like us in their lust for life, their energy and ingenuity.

More than 70 nationalities live in Kazan, a city with a thousand-year history, and a current population of 1,200,000 inhabitants, with approximately equal numbers of Tatars and Russians.  The city was a crossroad of ancient trade routes from Scandinavia to Iran, joining Europe and Asia.  It is a very diverse city religiously speaking.  There are twenty-three mosques, sixteen Orthodox temples, Lutheran church, Catholic chapel, Jewish synagogue and others.  The two dominant religions are Muslim and Russian Orthodox.

This mosque was our first stop on the tour.  We did not go inside this mosque.

Kazan is one of the largest economical, scientific and cultural centers, as well as one of the most ancient cities of the Russian Federation.

This is one of the many Orthodox temples in Kazan.

The inside was decorated as ornately as most Orthodox temples we saw.

Looking up at the inside of the dome.  Seeing all this ostentatious decor,
I couldn't help but wonder, what is the point.  It certainly inspires awe, so perhaps that IS the point.

This is clearly the ornate carried to the extreme.  But this is what you see when you visit a country that
has a culture dating back several thousand years, compared to our culture which dates back
a mere 300 years, if you count it from the time the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

This is the Spassky Tower at one entrance to the Kazan Kremlin.  This fortress emerged a thousand years ago and was built to control merchant vessels sailing along the Volga and to ensure the safety of foreign merchants arriving from towns of the Baltic region, North-West Russia, and other lands to the famous Boulgar fairs.  The Great Volga Route was a northern branch of the Great Silk Road.

This photo (not taken by me) gives a better perspective of the size of the Kazan Kremlin.

Inside this Kremlin there were several newlywed couples (three couples in this photo alone)  They were so young, I wanted to go up to them and say "Don't you want to live life a little before you settle down with kids and responsibilities?"  Funny how biology trumps wisdom.

Not a bad chariot in which to sweep your princess away to some romantic hideaway.

This is probably the most beautiful Mosque I've ever seen, both inside and out.  It is the Tinichlik mosque.

We were not actually allowed to take photographs inside, but I couldn't resist.
Besides, there were flashes going off all around me, so I risked taking this one shot.

Across the massive grounds of the Kazan Kremlin from the Spassky Tower is the Söyembikä Tower, which used to be one of the so-called leaning towers.  By the early 20th century, its inclination was estimated at 194 cm (6 ft 4 in).  Diverse stabilization methods were used to straighten the tower in the 1930s and 1990s.  That says a lot for Russian ingenuity.  I think the Italians are still struggling with the leaning tower of Pizza.  At least they were when we were there in 1995.

In my photo it looks like it is leaning, but it's not.  It's an illusion, coupled with my poor photography.  LOL

After leaving the Kremlin we stopped at this museum.  It was very interesting inside, but again, no photography was allowed.

This elegant structure we thought must be some huge hotel.  It happens to be the home of a wealthy Russian businessman.  Yes, there is BIG money in Russia, for a few folks at least.  We thought it was built long ago, and they were just renovating it.  Our guide said that the construction began just 3 years ago.  Amazing!  This view is from the museum above.

Another view from the museum is this shot of a big housing development.  The homes were built for some special event a few years ago, to house the visiting dignitaries.  When the event was over, the dignitaries all went home, and the homes have remained vacant ever since.  Is this the Russian version of capitalism?  It seems like such a waste.  Sort of like the FEMA trailers for the Katrina victims which had to be vacated because of toxic levels of chloroform.  Don't get me started on FEMA.  Grrrrr!

Our last stop of the day was at a walking street where we could do some shopping, and get some rubles from an ATM.  But we had had plenty of walking, so all we wanted to do was relax and have a beer.

A VERY BIG BEER!

And so ends the 8th day of our cruise.  At 7:30 PM we set sail towards Ulyanovsk.  On the way back to the ship we did pass by one more beautiful church.

This is the Tihvinskaya church.  The gold domes were very beautiful.

This is another view of the stunningly beautiful Tihvinskaya church.  A masterful use of brick.  This building  was build in 1798-1799. Tomorrow morning we will arrive at Ulyanovsk, but I'll save that for Chapter 4.