Kinerma village

After the previous night's banya, I woke up feeling very refreshed and ready for another day of exploring. Breakfast was porridge, fried pancake, sausage, cheese, breads and jams.

And a colourful picture of flowers.

We met some friends who had been to the north pole and were on there way home. They were playing with their new toy...a drone.

And then it was a tour around the village and the oldest house in the village e]which i still lived in which dates from the 1790's.

Then it was a visit to the local church.

The inner vestibule.

There is a special icon here. It was found by a soldier returning to his village who had a dream and he was told to search in a particular field and he found an icon. The villagers in his own village erected a chapel to house the relic. There was a massive storm and the chapel burned to the ground.

The next day a farmer found the icon in his field so it must have been a miracle for the icon to have fled from the fire. A new and larger church was built in the 1760's which is the building seen today.

A replica of the icon...the original is in the Petrozavodsk Museum.

The local village museum.

Our guide, Igor, one of just five people who live in the village all the year round with his family tree which dates back to the eighteenth century

Replicas of the original wooden amusements built for the children of the village.

Then it was time for a master class in the making of traditional Karelian pies and the fire had been lit...

...and a picture of me writing my diary as we waited for Nadia our host to come and start the class.

Me with my apron on kneading the dough.

Nadia and me kneading dough.

and more kneading...

And then it was lunch of soup and pies.

Then it was a long drive back to the city for a tour of the city  starting with the museum. The cast iron rails of the first railway in Russia cast in 1788 used to move heavy items around the iron works that were established here.

The factory also made cannot and shells and eventually metal consumer items until it was transferred out of the centre of the city and now it makes parts for atomic reactors.

Some more photos of the railway tracks.

One of the massive shells that were made here with my guide Tolina to show how big the shells were.

Some of the cannons that were cast here.

The Wedding House on the shores of Lake Omega.

 A small pavilion over looking the lake and along its shore...

 are a number of avant grade sculptures donated to the city from its twinned cities throughout the world such as this lady from La Rochelle.

 Or sixty one columns which have no meaning.

 A culture called Fisherman although the locals have renamed most of the sculptures and this is also called The Terminator and his wife.

 Another view of the Fishermen and appropriately a fisherman fishing underneath it.

The largest open air gym that I have ever seen donated by a local businessman to promote his business of selling gym equipment which sells throughout the world.

And of course a statue of Lenin.

 The Opera House.

 The Museum.

 And the flame of the unknown soldier, and then it was tie to catch the overnight train to St Petersburg.