Tag Archives: Sights

2015

Day 37-39 Exuberant Brunnen, Zurich’s Blicks, & Lucerne’s Concerns

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After reaching near the halfway point of my travels, I am pausing to refresh and staying with friends in the Zurich area. The town of Brunnen lies on the shores of Vierwaldstättersee, which is basically a collection of four lakes that form Lake Lucerne. We took a lovely hike halfway up the mountain yesterday, and despite the blazing heat in exposed areas (of the land, that is), my friend Helena and I enjoyed a leisurely walk with breathtaking views of the string of lakes below.
IMG_8531 2
We chowed at the golf course situated halfway up the mountain. Being careful to avoid flying golf balls, we pondered the merits of golfing. I was reminded of my experience with Gee Kin playing for the first time in Napa, California. Neither of us had really played golf before but the Weekend package offered a free round of golf on the green. We hacked away and tore up the green, laughing so hard we ached afterwards. Despite trying our best, our shots were pitiful and were a sore reminder how much skill it takes to be good at anything. I don’t think we are going to be playing, or be allowed to play, for any time again, soon, or ever.

But…back to Switzerland where, regardless of the golfing, the idyllic landscape surrounded by dizzying heights and crystal clear waters waxes one poetic. See the featured photo above and some additional panoramas taken from the boat to Lucerne below.

The day before was spent at the Kunsthaus in Zürich. By now, you have seen many of these artists’s works in other museums I have visited throughout Europe, America, and Russia. See if you can identify the following famous artists from the collection at the Kunsthaus:

Artist 1
Artist 2
Artist 3
Artist 4
Artist 5

Some of the tags are left on the enlarged photos, but don’t look if you want to try guessing.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

And a couple of sculptors:

1.
2.

Sculptor 1
Sculptor 2

The point is that the Kunsthaus had a full spread of famous artists. It was thoroughly enjoyable and worth visiting. A few of my stray favorites here, the latter from the Sammlung Rosengart in Lucerne:

Destruction of the KreuzKirche in Dresden
Picasso and Daughter Paloma, trying to make heads or tails of her father’s artwork herself

I always notice any historical renderings of Dresden, so this one caught my eye right away. The Kreuzkirche was destroyed by Prussian cannonade during the Seven Years’ War around 1700, and this was a rare accounting of its condition.

The Rosengart Collection is a much smaller, focused gallery that specialized in two artists, Picasso and Klee.

The photo of Paloma reminds me of a cartoon that Gee Kin loved. It showed a kid bringing home his art project from school with a grade of F on it. He had drawn a face with a profile on it. What the teacher didn’t know is that the parents really looked like that (as in Picasso’s faces). the parents were looking at the picture and couldn’t understand what was wrong with the picture and why their son failed. Maybe Paloma had the same problem!

2015

Day 36: Zurich’s Riches

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Every city on arrival has inspired me. Everything is so fresh, new, and exciting. I feel like I am abandoning the children I left behind: the cities that were so sweet, quaint, and lovely. Each one had their unique qualities, but I can’t help but look forward to the adventures in the near and present future.

View along the Limmat River
View of the Limmat River
One of the many squares throughout Zurich

Attached are some photos of a do-it-yourself city tour I took on Saturday morning. It was unbearably hot by time 2pm struck–it was well over 90 degrees. The street parade was taking place, and by time I got to the train station there were floods of celebrators, mostly young and in costumes and wigs, ready to tackle hundreds of music venues spread throughout the city. Many of the party-goers appeared to be from within Europe–Italians, Dutch, Eastern Europeans, and the like. They were ready to PAR-TEE!!

St. Peter Kirch, with the largest clock face in Europe
Grossmunster Church, the center of the Reformation
Cranes everywhere, except this one straddles the street

A curious contingent of Asians were in one of the small squares with yellow T-shirts promoting democracy. I thought that was a bit strange but learned afterwards that students and residents of Malaysia were protesting against their prime minister and were demanding for his resignation. He apparently was dictatorial and had mis-managed funds. Another group in yellow T-shirts were just getting out early ahead of the parade and entertaining tourists on the street.

Swiss band
Uh-oh…
Truffes du Jour

Switzerland is frightfully expensive, so I am staying on the outskirts of town. The location feels South Peninsula-like, with many new internet and bio-tech firms concentrated in the area among spanking new housing. I noticed on my run this morning that new housing includes heavy metal louvers over each window as a standard. (even on my hotel window). It definitely helps provide shading and environmental advantages from the strong sun and temperatures here.

There was also a playroom in this new housing development. American architects have studied ideal housing in Europe consistently, yet I still do not see this level of integration for children in public or private housing in the U.S. At the same time, it would be perfect if housing can incorporate activities for seniors such as a support system for day care within the same development. Time to consider this approach and how we can get it to happen.

As a contrast, as there always are, I had to beat it to the supermarket before 9pm last night. They are closed on Sundays. I guess Americans just look like a bunch of workaholics who can’t get their lives together to avoid the food shopping on Sundays. Or else we just eat so much we run out of food every day, and need access to the Sabbath for that last beer. Maybe we should establish a one-day-a-week food-buying moratorium to curb the urge??

2015

Day 28: Schonbrunn to Apfel Strudels

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Today’s adventure was to Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Hapsburgs. The featured image above is the SIDE of the palace, not the main elevation. That’s about 5 times the width of this view. As mentioned earlier, this tops Versailles in my mind. The Austrians, in the tour guide’s words: are “crazy”. The palace tour provided proof of the royalty’s propensity towards personality disorders. There were numerous amusing stories and morbid details. The guide repeated several times “don’t believe what you see in the palace—it’s all an illusion”, referring to the wooden chandeliers painted to look like solid gold, pictures of important dignitaries who were not present at an event, and elaborate settings that even the royalty couldn’t hack.

Schonbrunn Palace

Among the many amusing stories were those about hygiene and infestation. Thanks to the Catholic Church, the priests promoted the idea that bad men smaller than the eye could see existed in the water. They could get into your pores through water and make you die. For thats reason alone and for 400 years no one wanted to wash. They only took baths once or twice a year. Slowly through a catholic edit they were able to wash once a month.

For that reason, so much death and dying occurred. Infant mortality was very high; the queen and women spent many years bearing children, many of whom died in infancy. Out of 15-20 children, only 2-4 would survive. During this time, someone you knew either died of smallpox, influenza, or the plague before 35. The fact that some people, let alone royalty, lived to 50 years old would be considered our present-day octogenarians or older.

The concept of the “flea Market” comes from one of the few activities that both rich and poor engaged in. During that time, monkeys were used to deflea and delouse inhabitants. All people were living and breathing biosystems infested with organisms that bred on the human body. The average person’s idea of a spa day was going to the market where they could get deloused or be rid of fleas in public. The monkeys ate the lice and fleas, and everyone was entertained in the process. The royalty didn’t do it in public venues, but had their own monkeys trained to do the same for them. It made me itching to watch someone I know partaking in this purging and richly satisfying event.

The pompadours and hair styles of the royalty often weighed more than several pounds, as they were from many years of growth from their own hair. In order to wash their hair, it took a lot of planning, help from others and a full day’s activity. Like washing, this was another once-to-twice a year event, because of the difficulty in organizing the cleaning (there were plenty of other distractions and more interesting things to do than this). They also had to wait an entire day for the hair to dry—sorry, no Vidal Sassoon dryers were on hand.

Obviously, I was inspired and paid more attention to this tour than others in the past. I guess this one of gore and filth really appealed to me and reminded me that I didn’t want to be one of the royalty anyway. I gave the tour guide 5 stars, though.

Dinner at 8
Pram Prom

I’m attaching a few off-the beaten track photos I took while cruising the grounds.
image
I indulged in apple strudel at lunchtime and had that AHA moment. The dough is stretched like pizza to make it chewy, and they add breadcrumbs to the apples to soak up the liquid. I was reading the recipe from a cookbook I bought for that purpose and realized that I was eating what I was reading. So here it is to share with you. I am also attaching a recipe for Salzburger Nockerl for those of you who were wondering what I was talking about.

Apfel Strudel
Decadence Defined
Salzburger Nockerl

A few of VV’s Random, Spur-of-the-Moment World-Wise Travel Tips:

1. The supermarket is your friend. Find the nearest one as soon as you can, and buy fruits and vegetables for salads to maintain your diet. It can at least balance the rich foods you will be pigging out on in the restaurants. Eating out is often cheaper than eating healthy, so you have to swim upstream on this.
2. Do your own laundry. After not having any options in Russia, I finally started washing my own laundry. I managed to avoid this for a long time, even on all my travels. But now I am borrowing Gee Kin’s tips to use bath gel or shampoo to wash my underwear and even my designer jeans. I finally resolved that it takes less time to do this on Day 1 of a five-day hotel stay and have plenty of time for the items to dry out, than searching for and going to a laundry. You will find creative ways to hang garments on clothes hangers, such as any door knobs or projections in the hotel room—even on lamp shades!
3. Take public transit. Forget taxis, unless you are in a jam. I love cracking the entire bus and mass transit system if there is one.
4. Stay cool. Stay in the shade whenever you are at those palace grounds, walking 3 miles to the gazebo. Wear a wide brimmed hat and check your path before you move. Don’t follow tourists who are notoriously stupid about these types of things.
5. Save a screen shot of your arrival point to the hotel. Its often easy to forget. If you are taking public transit your phone is not often connected to wifi at the train station or airport. You can also show these at tourist information counters where you want to go, and point to it if you don’t speak the language.
6. Get a phrase guide for the country you are visiting off-line on your phone. Use it to practice while you are on the road.
7. Use wi-fi only in the hotels and turn off your cellular phone coverage. Check your provider in advance for options to cellular access but only if needed.
8. Bring bandaids for sore feet.
9. Find the biggest, flattest royal grounds to walk or run 3 miles every chance you can get.
10. Can’t make it to 10, so it’s the Top Nine.

Some are obvious, some are not. The ones at the top are from the fact that I have battled with these for years as a world traveler, tried to avoid them, and then finally resigned myself to facing the music. No magic bullets. Some learn faster than others.

2015

Days 24-26: Salzburger Knockouts

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I’ve been trying to get my dose of Salzburger Nockerl, a famous local dish made from pure egg white meringue. Unfortunately, it has eluded me so far. I either wasn’t in the right cafe that serves it, or didn’t have the 20 minutes it takes to prepare it.

Despite this oversight, I finally struck gold in many other ways on my last couple of days here. I got it all and what I love about traveling: quality architecture, quality museums, quality music, quality food, and of course, quality people! The tag posts seem to tell it all.

I’m trying to reduce and concentrate the number of posts to only a few a week (Wednesdays and weekends) so I don’t flood your email boxes. Unfortunately, it makes the posts longer.

Here’s a spread of what this richly, well-endowed, and now much appreciated little city of Salzburg has to offer. To make it a little easier, I’m including a summary so you can skip to the parts that interest you:

1. Salzburg Fortress (Festung)
2. Mozart Houses (Birthplace and Living Quarters)
3. Performances (my raison d’etre for being here, but not necessarily the most exciting)
4. Food and People

Garden in front of cliff
Graves with Flower Beds
Beautifully honed Stonework, Salzburg
Fortress in Distance

1. The Salzburg Festung, or fortress, was very informative and an excellent excursion today. Gee Kin would be proud of me-I trooped up the hill and partook of the view from the top. Because Salzburg is so overrun with tourists, the city has managed to take tourists’ needs to heart. They provide excellent displays and explanations in English (for those of us brain-dead in German). They even had a electronic kiosk soliciting feedback at the end of the tour.

There were many architectural or design features I had not seen before. Those listed are not in any particular fashion. Follow the captions for specific items. You can hover over the photos now to see the captions.

Arch Description
Arches Exposed
Knotty Threshold
Crane Display
First Combo Toilet and Confession Booth
Turned Stone Columns?
Matching Metalwork

1. Stone columns honed in a fashion the way wood is turned on a stile;
2. Matching metalwork
3. Torture elements–aha! can anyone venture a guess what this contraption is?? (see below)
4. A wooden threshold that was so old and worn that it exposed the “knuckles” of the knots from the tree, like aged knuckles on a centogenarian
5. A section of real arches that shows how they were constructed.
6. A display of how they created cranes to haul stonework up the mountain.
7. A latrine that was one of the first of its kind
8. Romanesque arch construction displayed

And a few morbid items from the torture storeroom to remind us of our mortality.

Description of Torture Display
Always wanted those Armrests…
Hmm…

Since the fortress was built in the 11th century and over a period of hundreds of years, the museum was able to trace its construction history. It was an exciting architectural exhibition of walls, innovations and construction methodology. While most of the fortress was reinforced and expanded in the 15th century, it captures the various early periods from Romanesque beginnings to High Renaissance.
2. Mozart’s Birthplace and House:

Room in Mozart’s House
Stage Set for Festunghall
Costumes for Mozart Opera
One of Mozart’s Pianos

3. Performances:
Curtain Call for Werther with Angela Georghiou
Curtain Call for Iphegenie et Tauride with Rolando Villazon and Cecilia Bartoli

The star quality of these performances have been a bit mind-boggling. The interesting point is that my favorite opera star, Jonas Kaufmann, was not at the top of his game in Fidelio. The music was deep and entrancing, but his performance was weak. The opera performances shown here were much better. These performers can really deliver full-bodied voices and their skill and dedication really shows. Audiences were very responsive and clapped heartily.

Antipasti with Prosecco
A real pork cutlet
Lardery of Local Specialties
A table reserved for me!
My view outside

4. Food and People: On my last day here, I decided to go for the two-hour lunch instead of the evening dinner option. My lunch was celebrated at the Heimer Specery. I took my time, had a small antipasti plate of eggplant, sun dried tomato and roasted red pepper with Prosecco, followed by the house specialty, a succulent full bodied pork chop that comes from the establishment’s own piggery. Along with a glass of rose, this was the chef’s recommendation so it had better be good. And it schmecked, or tasted delicious! I had just told Gee Kin that I thought pork was often disappointing as a dinner entree. I often found it dry and uninspiring. After your third bite you wish you had ordered the branzino. Well, I wasn’t disappointed this time. This little restaurant around the corner from the Festival Hall delivered to demanding regulars and I was a beneficiary.

The night before, I took my place at another restaurant (the one I went to for lunch today was fully booked 2 nights in a row, thus the lunch decision). As I was about to hog a table for four all by my lonesome, another gentleman was looking for a single at the same time. He asked if he could join me, the very exact same time another woman came along and did the same! I was very flattered, and didn’t mind the company at all. I was even more delighted when I learned that neither of them spoke English!

The three of us ended up with a very friendly conversation, and I had a chance to practice my elementary German. It was frustrating as I could ask basic questions but never “got” the answers. They drifted to fairly complex conversations about what the two dinner partners thought of the Greek Crisis, Angela Merkel, and the operas they were seeing. The gentleman’s nephew was performing in the opera we were about to see (Angela Georghiou in Werther). He was a baritone and did very well.

What I like about traveling is connecting the dots. I was flashing on how non-English speakers must feel when they are asked questions. After a few pleasantries, a zero-tolerance policy toward any non-English speakers seems to drift into the picture. Native English speakers tend to expect everyone to speak English, even in non-English speaking countries!

Well, the tables were definitely turned here. I felt stupid, unable to respond to simple political and economic questions. While it made me more determined to learn German, it made me reflect on how hard it is for many people in many countries to master English. I certainly came to that conclusion as I realized I could only sit and muse as the two native German speakers became very engaged and animated in their conversation. Sadly, I could only plaster a smile on my face and pretend that I understood everything.

German women seem to like short spiky hair, blow-dried behind the ears. Subtle platinum highlights, or jet red. Less Gothic these days. The woman who joined me was of the subtler version, and very svelt. She worked for a pharma company in Regensburg, and drove two hours each way to come to the performances this week. The gentleman from Innsbruck was a retired German teacher. It was, despite my misgivings, really fun trying out my German with no English back-talk.

Here are a few random street shots. The urban planning and insight for local Salzburgers and tourists alike are appreciated and well used in high density pedestrianized areas borne out of necessity. Delivery trucks and taxis drive right over the fountains and gutters, and everyone shares the paths in a symbiotic way.

Public spaces in high density zone
River of Fun on Pedestrian street
Pre-School Field Trip

2015

Day 23: The Hills are Alive…

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Yesterday’s travel ended me in Von Trapp land. Out of curiosity, I googled it and got not only the history of the family from the Sound of Music fame, but also its website for their mountain resort in Vermont. I was just researching some places to stay for my upcoming Fall Foliage tour of New England and thought I’d check it out. The rooms start at $399, so I decided to pass this time around.

Austrian Countryside
Outside the Window of my rail car

Back to the ranch in the Austrian Alps. Salzburg is jammed with tourists, not just for the festival, but for its stunning beauty. This small little town around the size and shape of Sausalito is having a hard time keeping up with demand. Nevertheless, it draws a huge crowd every year for this annual musical event. It is laden with big names for opera and classical music. All my favorites are here, and I can see Jonas Kaufmann, the new Andrea Bocelli-like opera divan (is that the male version of a diva?!?)

Today, the Vienna Philharmonic, Ricardo Muti and Anne Sophie Mutter are sold out. The program includes Tsaichovsky’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and Brahms Symphony #2. I felt very smug to have ordered tickets before they were issued last year. It was so thrilling to see Mutter. Like others, I was sweating from holding my breath at the end. She was enrapturing and you could hear a pin drop as she reached a series of crescendos. She partnered with Muti to lead the orchestra as well as play beyond perfection.

IMG_7761She eventually earned a standing ovation, but not because the audience wasn’t sure. In true European style, the audience very deliberately withheld letting her know that they approved of her performance. And, in reply, she responded with a delayed second piece. Do you know how hard it is to get European audiences out of their seats? Unlike the Americans who are easy to please, the Europeans are very grudging with their compliments. You have to really earn your stars here.

Well, the well-healed (no typo, I mean there is alot of spa time going into this crowd) got up on their feet and gave her an ovation you would not believe. Maybe that was the reason for the delay. But that’s after they spend three minutes stamping their Bruno Maglis on the hard floor. Anne was lovely and gracious as could be. This was her kind of crowd, honed to perfection themselves. You could tell this was a huge honor to her.

Other observations of this thrilling performance…there are strictly Tattinger-sponsored champagne breaks here…no beer and pretzels. The Austrians tastefully dress to convey their age-appropriate super-wealthy reserved style. I think of myself as reasonably self-aware in my black concert dress but I felt like a slob. The 11:00am Sunday performance (ok let’s miss church today) gave the older crowd (hey, that’s me too) at least 12 hours sleep beforehand to stay awake, so everyone was frisky.

I think mine’s at the end….
Dirndls and Lederhosens Alive and Well…
Tattinger Break at Half-time

The aftermath of the concert consisted of weaving my way through the fleet of 30+ Audi S8s in front ready to whisk patrons away to an after-event. I looked for my name but they were only by number. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to retrieve the code beforehand.

2015

Days 20-22: Planes and Boats and Trains

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Such has been our busy week of flying from Moscow to Berlin, taking a hydrofoil to Peterhof from Moscow, and the train from St Petersburg to Moscow. We enjoyed the Sapsan train the best, which turns out to be the same as the ICE train I am taking from Berlin to Salzburg. We assumed the Russian premier long distance train was its opportunity to showcase Russian engineering, but it looked suspiciously similar to the German trains.
IMG_7686Yesterday, on Gee Kin’s last full day in Berlin, we took a day excursion by local train to Sans Souci Palace in Potsdam. We didn’t visit the palace as most visitors do, but took a three-mile walk between Sans Souci and Charlottenborg Palaces in the scant shade of 99 degree weather. A UNESCO world heritage site, Potsdam was the chosen site for the summer palace of King Friedrich. Here’s a Wiki link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanssouci

The event planners were preparing for the Sommernacht at the palaces the following day. It sounded like a wonderful celebration of German classical music in a beautiful venue, but unfortunately we were leaving. It would be worth coming back one day for the festivities and fireworks in this elegant location.

In our 36 hours in Berlin, we had launched our stay with a leisurely walk in the neighborhood of Potsdamer Platz, through the zoological garden in the middle of the city. It was calming and provided time for us to reflect on all the Siberian landscapes we had just traversed.

Those of you who know us are aware that we like long urban walks, 5-10 miles a stretch. This was yet another “walk in the park”. (For the curious, I have a website, http://www.crazyladywalks.com, that provides detailed information on Bay Area walks). It may seem pricey to go halfway around the world for a walk, but these are the most memorable and enjoyable ones to us.

We managed to balance the rest of our three days with local tours and attractions. We found a good Turkish restaurant in the more local area around the Zoo. Gee Kin slugged out on the museum track so we did a Young European concert with the Kiev Orchestra last night.

Sandwiched in between our morning walk and the evening concert, we visited the Reichstag dome. Being one of the hottest days ever in Berlin, we wondered how we got ourselves into this predicament. Masses of local tourists had come from all over the world to the Reichstag for their German civics lesson, on this one day. We not only fried at every pit stop, but then we were sous-vide under the dome, which resembled the George Forman griller.

View from Street
Reichstag, Berlin
View of Ground Floor
Another view from Interior
Top of Dome
View of Interior

Nevertheless, it was still fun to see and experience Norman Foster’s masterpiece. Luckily for you, the photos can never effectively convey temperature. But I guarantee you, the open vents in the building were insufficient ventilation for the once-in-a-hundred years heat wave. My dead straight hair went curly and the wood on our paper fans are permanently warped from this day at the Bundestag.

Three activities in one day’s 99-degree weather may be asking for trouble. Gee Kin’s alternative was to go to some delightfully soothing, air-conditioned art museum and he picked this?? Granted, the tour to Reichstag was pre-booked. We had failed to do this a few years back on our first trip to Berlin around 2012. And I was a day off on the booked date. Being our last day, we were not going to forego these paid-in-advance commitments so we had no choice but to go. So our last day was a bit of a marathon but it was penance for our lethargy the first 48 hours.

As mentioned, we went to a concert at the Konzerthaus Berlin, in a renovated building in a lively area in the middle of the city. But that’s not saying much, as everything seems to be in the middle of the city. Rome and San Francisco feel intimate like this, but not Moscow or Paris. Those are honking huge BIG cities, that dwarf your existence. That may be due to the six-plus-lane wide ribbons of thoroughfares used for pomp and circumstance.

Gendarmerie Area in Berlin
Facade to Konzerthaus
Gendarmerie Area
Interior of Konzerthaus
Kiev Orchestra Curtain Call

I am at this very moment passing through Bamberg, where Gee Kin and I first discovered Cameron Carpenter. He is an amazing Curtis-trained contemporary organist who can do both classical and popular music. Some of you saw his performance at the SF Symphony Hall last year. He is one of our favorite new artists.

I am sitting in the dining car for lunch, noshing on bratwurst and cold potato salad. (See photo). IMG_7743The quality of food is less important to me thanthe total experience–environment, ambience, and PEACE. This was it, enough for me to write all of this discreetly in a maple-veneer and leather-lined carriage. Prices were reasonable by American standards. I had my .2ml wine (a bit more from the split bottle but you can measure if you want from the mark on the glass), entree and dessert with coffee, with a priceless view and free opera music via my IPhone to boot! To me, this beats a table at French Laundry.

Am heading to the Salzburger Festival and will post from there in a few days. Til then, stay wet (not dry
for SFers) and cool (for Deutschers). Clouds on the horizon.

2015

Day 19: Day of Reckoning

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We’re leaving Moscow today, heading for Berlin and the Western World as we know it. Russia feels more Eurasian and part of the Asian Continent than Europe in many ways. It has been a fascinating foray into the Russian culture, environment, and history.

Catherine the Great costumes–note trains
Jewelled Manuscript Cover

I am posting a few miscellaneous views of Moscow from the Kremlin Armoury and from on our last day here. Gee Kin has finally mastered his fourth word, uttering Hello! and Good bye! in one conversation. We are now aware of what it takes for foreigners to say “Ni Hao!” in Chinese, and the tables are turned. I am sure the Russians are wincing as we did when others spoke to us in elementary Chinese greetings.

State Historical Museum
TUM Department Store
View of Red Square from Kitay

Photos, above:
1. View of State Historical Museum, where some of the relics below are located.
2. GUM Department Store, a shining example of restored buildings in Moscow Center
3. View of Red Square from shopping street

Photos below, from inside the State Historical Museum:

Rare Double Mummy
Mongol Invasion, 13th C.
Map of Mongol Invasion, 13th C.
Early Stone Carving

We are sad to leave and feel woefully lacking in knowledge about any of Russia’s cultural treasures. Other than what we read in the local paper or magazine articles, we never pursued any information beyond the information we were fed. I suddenly discovered Wikipedia and Biography.com on this trip and have been using it regularly to search for all the Russian writers and composers that have been mentioned in guides.

I am passing a few on for those of you who are also curious: For Tsaichovsky:
http://www.biography.com/people/pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky-9503375#synopsis
It is interesting to note that Tsaichovsky was also a music critic. While he considered Beethoven a worthy composer, he was critical of Brahms, Schumann and Wagner. Anna Netrebko often sings in and promotes Tsaichovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” opera around the world.
For Pushkin: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pushkin
For Borodin (remember “Stranger in Paradise” from Kismet?):
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Borodin
Dostoyevsky:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyodor_Dostoyevsky
Prokofiev: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Prokofiev
I asked our guide about Baryshnikov. He made a face as if I mentioned a pariah. He is a persona non-gratis. Remember, he defected while on tour with the Bolshoi? Oops. No monuments to him, unfortunately.

The next chapter of my travels will focus on Germany, Austria and Switzerland until the end of the month. Now that the uncharted portion of my trip is over, I’ll be posting every few days instead of daily. If you are getting too many emails, you can adjust your settings to unsubscribe, and you can always check in after that by going directly to http://www.travelswithmyselfandothers.com. Please continue to send me your comments when something strikes you! I love hearing from you!

2015

Day 18: Snippits of St. Petersburg

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Costumes for Hire in Park
The shoreline for locals

As we leave St.Petersburg, I thought you might like to hear my impressions of this well-endowed city of approximatly 6,000,000 people (10,000,000 in the metropolitan area). Its jewels and pageantry are not lacking, and the glory of the Russian empire are embodied here. It feels distinctly Scandinavian in climate and culture, due to its position on the Baltic Sea. The city is perfect at this time of year.

Today, we took a break from the many museums and escaped from the city for a day by hydrofoil to Peterhof, the summer residence of Peter the Great. Peter chose this site around 1704 as a convenient location for his travels to and from other countries. Similar to Versailles, it has extensive gardens and palace buildings.

Gee Kin got a break from museum sickness, since it was a Monday and the palace buildings were closed. However, I did wrangle a quick, one-hour or less visit to the Treasury building. It was open and we were the only visitors in the tiny museum. Many of the gifts to and from other royalty were kept here.

The Admiralty, St. Petersburg
St. Isaac’s Cathedral
A Walk in the Park…

It was a lovely bright, clear and breezy day. Many families were in the Palace grounds spending the day together (along with the tour groups). On the way back, Gee Kin and I enjoyed the fresh marine air along the harbor, and stopped for a drink in the park near the hotel. We sat and watched local St. Petersburgers.

We found the Russian people very tidy, well-behaved and a very handsome people. Most of the young people dressed well, with just enough flair to be noticed. We couldn’t help but prefer their tailored look with the casual one in the States. But obesity is also a problem here, due to alot of bread and beer in the diet.

I still wonder why I hadn’t made a point to come here before. It is a long way to come, and unless you join a tour it can be expensive and the visa process is prickly. But it’s such a widely misunderstood country. There needs to be more direct interaction between the US and Russia. While this problem is also the case for China, it seems oddly apparent that more people have traveled to China and have greater awareness of its culture than Russia’s. Perhaps the sheer distance between the Russia and the U.S. has caused this poor link.

The other night, we went to a Russian folk dance performance. We were very surprised that we hadn’t seen one like this before. Their costumes, style of dancing, and mannerisms were new and intriguing to us. I vaguely remember seeing some dance troupe like this on the Ed Sullivan Show when I was growing up! How could I have missed exposure to this deeply ethnic and well-preserved culture my entire life?!?

In planning for this trip, I’ll admit that I was focused on the Trans-Mongolian Express and the journey more than the two end points (Beijing and Moscow). I wasn’t fully prepared for what I was going to experience at each end. It caught me by surprise, but in a very positive way. The Russian experience was very special, since I had not been here before.

The tourist industry is still relatively undeveloped. Despite the language barrier, the Russians were very friendly and polite to us.

Many local people do not speak English so it puts the onus on the traveler to communicate in the local language. Learning the Russian alphabet and survival words are somewhat essential. You won’t get English flipped back in your face if you struggle to utter a few words in the local language. This is a place where they really appreciate your efforts, so you will be warmly rewarded.

The Russian language is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, developed by the Bulgarians. They are very proud of it. It combines letters from the Roman alphabet, Greek letters, and a few of their own doing. I kept wondering why I felt like I was on Sorority Row in Berkeley. Gee Kin and I had a blast trying to decipher words in Russian. Here are a few to amuse you. See if you can guess what the words are. I’ll give you the answers in the next post.

1. PECTOPAH
2. NHTEPHET
3. MNHNMAPKT
4. CNTNbAHK
5. HYTOPNYC
(Note: I haven’t figured out how to add the Cyrillic Alphabet to my Keyboard yet. The N is written backwards).

All in all, I have thoroughly enjoyed our visit here. I hope you will consider coming and make a point to visit this fascinating country.

2015

Day 13: Moscow Camera Roll Continued

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Yesterday’s events yielded far too many photos to post. I have chosen among my favorite children and am posting them for your viewing pleasure below. Moscow has been an amazingly inspirational visit–far too few Americans have been here to partake in its rich history and treasures. I feel badly that I didn’t come sooner.

The Bolshoi Theater, Moscow
Interior skylight of the Metropole Hotel-Art Nouveau vintage similar to the Sheraton in SF
KGB Former Headquarters Sober
View of Moscow Skyline
Russian Engineering-Outcomes of Triumph and Failure

And for Moscow by Night, here are a few shots of Moscow after a brilliant performance of “La Traviata”, the ballet, we caught. Moscow is totally safe in the tourist areas we walked at night, in beautifully balmy summer, late light weather. The lights really showcase the architectural detailing of each building in its pride and splendor.

La Taviata Ballet Curtain Call
Shopping Mall Exterior
Architectural Beauty at Night shown in earlier post
One of many plaza areas of Moscow City Center
Beautiful Facade by night

And finally, for the foodies, our dinner menu. We tried the Holodet, an aspic of chicken and duck with dill that was delicious! Apparently, it is a local creation. You can read about its history on the menu page.

Menu from La Gastronomie
Holodet Appetizer

It’s probably worth mentioning that I have been revising and cleaning up the early Day 1-10 posts. I renumbered the days in successive order from the beginning, added photos that should have been in the posts, and fixed typos or information that was incorrect.

If you see any major bloopers, please email me and let me know! The website should be more stable going forward, once I am in Europe and the States, so hopefully you won’s see the fits and starts from the beginning of the trip. Once again, my apologies to those who may have been confused by incomplete information.

Thanks to all for the comments and support. Once Gee Kin returns to the US, I will be traveling on my own. It feels like you are all traveling with me, especially when I hear from you! It keeps me motivated and I keep you in mind when I am looking for interesting things to post. I hope they capture your attention too!

2015

Day 12: Moscow Tour Time

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Red Square
Red Square
St Basil’s in Red Square
Tym Dept Store-A Turn of the Century Gem
Calligraphy on Sign
Neighborhood Restoration
Locks on Trees at bridge
KGB after a bottle of vodka
KGB after a bottle of vodka

Yesterday was a busy “play tourist” day, covering most of Red Square including the Eastern Orthodox St. Basil’s Cathedral, with its colorful onion domes; one of the most beautiful parks in the world just outside the Kremlin walls (see header if it is current); and Tym Department Store with its turn-of-the-century splendour (it has an enclosed galleria like the one in Milano).

Vegetarian lunch
Kamchatka King Crab with Roasted Vegetables, Caviar and Sour Cream on Blinis, and Prosecco in Arbatskaya

Meals have been incredibly exciting and contrary to stereotypical notions of Russian food. Like most big cities around the world, you can find state-of-the-art contemporary food for nouvelle tastes. We found a great lunch place near the hotel called “Fresh”, with inventive vegetarian dishes. I had a salad of quinoa, avocado and greens, and Gee Kin had one with buckwheat, tomatoes, grilled spinach, sweet potatos, and mung bean sprouts. Both were served with olive oil and a delicious miso/rice vinegar, soy sauce, and mint dressing.

For dinner, we ventured into the Arbatskaya area and landed on an original crab-and-caviar menu with Prosecco for under $50! From Kamchatka, the crab is Russia’s equivalent of the Alaskan King Crab. Gee Kin thinks perhaps the oil boom brought on alot of high end quality food demands but the ruble devaluation has made the prices here a bargain. Come soon while Russia is on sale.

See pop-up captions above to sights we visited today.

Follow up to my own question the other day: why does it seem so long to lunch time on the TME and always an hour away?

Take a look at the up to six time zone changes, from Beijing to Ulan Bator in Mongolia, then across Siberia to Moscow. Many of the westernmost cities such as Kirov, Novgorod, and Ekaterinaburg along the train trip follow Moscow time to avoid confusion. However, as the crow flies westward, the time zones are less dramatic on a train than those when flying. Jet lag is reduced, but the time warp messes with your brain and metabolism like a slow drag. Also notice how tidy (and tiny) our US times zones are compared to those in Russia. Russia visually looks and feels alot like Canada somehow when you compare the two countries on the map.

World Time Zones
World Time Zones