Don Curry in the Birch Kingdom

Don Curry associates certain tree species with various countries: the German oak, the Italian cypress, the Lebanese cedar. Of course, these countries also have other trees, but a certain tree species seems to be particularly typical; the cedar has even made it onto the Lebanese flag. Don Curry associates birch trees with Russia. He has certainly seen them on his journey through Russia, but they did not stand out particularly. That was about to change today.

Don Curry started the day with the well-known breakfast buffet at the 'Volkhov' restaurant in the 'Volkhov' hotel. Today, in addition to the already familiar offerings, there was fried cabbage. Don Curry had never had that for breakfast before, and it went well with the omelette pieces and the raw vegetables. Satisfied and quite content, Don Curry left the hotel to catch up on something: the Transfiguration Cathedral. Yesterday, it was closed, but today it should be open.

Indeed, that was the case, and Don Curry could devote himself to the sparse but expressive remnants of the original frescoes from the 14th century, which had been created by a once highly famous Byzantine artist and represented his only surviving works.

But this church was not everything. On the northern outskirts of Veliky Novgorod, there was another ancient church from the 11th century, the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin. Architecturally it was well preserved, but its frescoes were created in the 17th century.

But Don Curry had a very reconciling encounter with the local older cashier first; apparently, he had wished her a 'Good Morning' and then requested 'a ticket' in Russian convincingly enough to make her believe he was a local and want to let him in at the local price - a fraud in his favor and also a balancing act of justice, thought Don Curry. But he insisted on paying the foreigner's surcharge of 80 rubles (= 1.10 €) to contribute a little to the preservation of these wonderful cultural treasures. And this church proved to be truly wonderful.

Don Curry had never seen an Orthodox church with almost complete wall paintings in the Baroque style, but here he could admire exactly that. In the choir area, there were even some old frescoes in the classic Orthodox style to admire. What fascinated him the most in the narthex was a depiction of the divine Trinity surrounded by hundreds of angel faces - a truly fulfilled kingdom of heaven!

Now he continued northwards, essentially following the course of the Volkhov River. Shortly before it flows into Lake Ladoga, there is the small town of Staraya Ladoga with its great history. Because here, the Viking warlord Rurik founded his first fortified settlement in the territory of present-day Russia. Later, 200 km downstream, the first city, Novgorod, was founded. Staraya Ladoga remained primarily a fortress over the centuries, which was constantly renewed and expanded to compensate for technological progress in siege weapons.

Within the current city walls, there is a small medieval church with beautiful frescoes and an even smaller wooden church that serves as a museum. Unfortunately, the stone Church of St. George was closed, probably to protect the delicate paintings from the damp weather.

So Don Curry soon continued, first along the southern shore of the huge Lake Ladoga, then further north through the wide area between Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega. The landscape had changed noticeably, as had the vegetation. This was the land of extensive forests, countless lakes, and gentle hills. Everything looked very Scandinavian, after all, Finland is not far away.

The forests were formed by massive dark coniferous trees, but also by birch trees with their light foliage, which were becoming more frequent. However, they were much larger trees than Don Curry was used to from his home. There, birch trees were rather delicate and didn't make much of an impression, but here they grew tall, with correspondingly massive trunks - and they appeared in abundance: no matter where Don Curry's eye fell, everything was incredibly birch-rich.

After a total of over 500 km of travel, he finally arrived tired and hungry in Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia. Here, his pre-booked hotel, Karelia, was located almost directly on the shore of Lake Onega. The guidebook 'Lonely Planet' had described the building as having the charm of a 'private clinic for the wealthy'.

The tall box was indeed a typical Intourist hotel from Soviet times. It had since been renovated and brought up to the latest technology. Don Curry was quite pleasantly surprised, also because he was given a very good room assignment. He got his booked apartment on the 9th floor, the second highest, which promised grand views of Lake Onega. The apartment turned out to be a fully-fledged vacation rental: a living room with a separate kitchenette, a balcony with direct lake views, and the bedroom also indulged with a panoramic wall-to-wall window that looked out onto the lake and parts of the city. In addition, everything was heated because the outside temperature had now dropped to 8°C.

What Don Curry needed now was something hot, like a hot soup. Surprisingly, the 'Karelia' restaurant in the 'Karelia' hotel specialized in Karelian cuisine. So here, Don Curry could first enjoy a Karelian fish soup called 'Pride of Onega' with plenty of freshwater fish from the lake of the same name as a source of warmth. Then he craved wild boar steaks with cloudberry sauce, potato purée sachets, and Arctic berries; the sachets turned out to be a kind of phyllo pastry filled with mashed potatoes, onions, and Karelian mushrooms, which were crispy fried. Delicious! Although the cloudberry sauce was somewhat limited.

Don Curry enjoyed a draft Russian beer as his multi-digestive: Heineken is Russian, the waitress was convinced - the only alternative would have been Guinness - and that would have been even less Russian. As his digestif, Don Curry chose a trio of Karelian schnapps in the gentleman's version - all in sizes of 0.05 liters:

- vodka with wild strawberries and cranberry leaves

- a herbal liqueur based on medicinal plants and homemade wild berry drink

- and a classic bitter with lingonberries

All enjoyable, but not specific enough to leave an impression. So Don Curry left the Karelian restaurant satisfied but not euphoric to take a walk to the shore of Lake Onega.

He even discovered a sandy beach, marveled at the high waves of the water, and found himself in the little forest between the hotel and the lake, once again surrounded by birch trees. Don Curry was indeed in the birch-rich Birch Kingdom.