Vacation 2004: Towards the Unknown

July 2nd. This day started early, very early. We had an uneasy task to get from Vladimir to Kineshma railway station by 10 am, having no timetables for transportation, no enough money to take a taxi for that long trip, no any clue if it is at all possible. Slava took us to Vladimir bus and train station by 4:30 am - sun has just raised and threw beautiful light on cupolas of orthodox churches - and we started to wait for a minibus that might go to Ivanovo - next big town on the road to Kineshma. We waited 2 hours, but it did not appear, so we were forced to use normal bus instead. It was more comfortable, but much slower than minibus. When we arrived to Ivanovo, we could catch the bus to Kineshma, but it would arrive there one hour later than we needed. So we found a minibus driver who promised us to get to Kinechma by 10 am. And so he did, but what the hell trip it was :) At 10 am we met people who were also aiming the same island as we. We managed to buy a train ticket to Moscow for a way back in two weeks, and loaded ourselves into the bus that took us to Yuryevec - smaller town on banks of Volga river. Then, a boat transfered all the people in two parts to the island. On the photo you can see me watching the Big Land disappearing. I was going towards the Unknown. I did not know what to expect, and I did not know almost anyone on the boat except my wife...