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Nearly everybody on the ship purchased at least one set of the matryoshka dolls. The traditional nested figures are of a round Russian woman and come in sets of multiple dolls enclosing other dolls. Allegedly the dolls were first created in 1890 by Sergei Maliutin and were inspired by a set of Japanese dolls representing the Seven Gods of Fortune. Since Perestroika, however, the figures include a wide variety of other figures including various Soviet leaders. A tourist store in St. Petersburg presented them at truly extraordinary prices while hawkers in the stalls in rural settings claimed that they were offering the exact same dolls at the very best prices available in the entire country.
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