The Volga River Expedition arrived in the large city of Yaroslavl, Russia (population 591,486) today. The made their way up a small tributary, Kotoros. They were met by yet, another, kayaking club led by their coach, Valentina. Once again, communication with Valentina was great, on my end. She doesn't speak and English and the boys don't speak Russian but the common denomination being "paddlers", they are able to communicate what they each need. Please visit their website here. (If it comes up in Russian, open it using a different browser such as Google Chrome and it will translate to English. IF I'm the only one that didn't know that, sorry)
Yaroslavl is very Austin-like. It's a young, hip, vibrant city with people walking, rollerblading, cycling, etc. It is old but very very clean. The team went under several of the nicest and largest bridges they've encountered since beginning the expedition.
They paddled 36.8 miles today. I will have more to update later...we got cut-off.
--Barbara
