Day  9.    Kizhi   to Svirstroy

Once again we travelled all night and arrived in Svirstroy  at 11am and were off the boat for our tour at 11.30.We walked about 500mts to a local home where the hosts provided a light morning tea consisting of pastries biscuits and piroschy(?) - a pastry filled with onion, cabbage and maybe a little meat.They then welcomed our question re their life in the village. They have one daughter and one grand daughter(the birth rate in Russia is 1.7) and have a rather large garden with flowers in the front and veggies in the back. They have lived in their home all their life in this village.The house was built in1947 by the Germans after the war.As in all parts we have seen along the river most houses need repair.We have also seen lots of disused factories along our route just rusting away?The average life span for a male is 68yrs.If in the military,retirement is at45yrs with a pension and 55 otherwise.We then looked over the souvenir stalls on the way back but everyone had to scatter when a heavy shower came.At night we had our farewell Captain's cocktail Party and Dinner followed by a concert with items from the crew and passengers (a good laugh).our evenings end quite late with entertainment starting at 10pm.  The entertainment is not as lavish a on the big liners.