Lake Ilmen in the western part of Novgorodskaya Oblast is a lake with character and the eighth largest lake in Europe. Some academics have drawn a connection between the lake’s name and the Russian word “il,” acknowledging the multi-metre thickness of “il” — or “silt” — on the bottom of Lake Ilmen. A more widely spread explanation of its name is that Ilmen is a Finno-Ugric word. A version of it, “Ilmer,” used to be found in chronicles. Translated the word means “lake which makes the weather.” This translation is surprisingly accurate with regards to reality — Lake Ilmen plays an important role in determining the weather in the surrounding area. The old village of Vzvad is considered Ilmen’s fishing capital. Presenter Nadezhda Lebedeva visits to check out the town’s tried fishing practices and even casts a line herself. She also gets to touch the Ilmen glint – a geological formation which has the largest exposed surface area from the Devonian Period found on Russian land.