Finally, A New Post

Man, have I been lethargic lately. Nothing serious, just a major case of jet lag. And when you are retired and don't really have to live by any schedule you just start living a bit strangely. Like getting up at 2:00 A.M. and having coffee then watching something stupid on television. Thank goodness for Hulu+ and its endless supply of cheesy horror movies and other weird stuff.  Of course we are in bed by around 6:00 P.M. I kind of feel like a zombie, too. Maybe all those cheesy horror movies. This week I think I am finally back to some kind of normal.

One night we had a vodka tasting aboard ship. Who could pass up something like that. Certainly not me.

In the Russian tradition of drinking, a plate of things to nibble on was available.

Nibbleables


It turns out that part of our tasting consisted of learning strange ways to drink your vodka.

Giving A Demonstration


Well, in for a dime, in for a dollar, I always say.

Drinking Like A Russian




Ah, Being Plied With Alchol


And, of course, there is more than one way to skin a cat or to drink a vodka.

Why Would Anyone Do This?





Ooh, More Alcohol


Okay, now let me get this straight, you balance the glass on the back of your hand and then you do what?

Drink It, Of Course






A Little More Vodka, Sir?


After the other, more convoluted methods of drinking, this one struck me as being positively genteel.

Like Drinking Out Of A Tea Cup








Well that was it for the drinking tricks. Now there was nothing left to do but settle back for a little nosh and a little more vodka.

A Perfect Ending


But that isn't to say Bar Man didn't pay a bit of a price the next morning.

What Time Is It?


And as a result of my vodka tasting I didn't see quite the same sights as the rest of our cruise did the next day. But that will have to wait for my next post.

Hurricane headed my way and it looks like it could be serious. I will keep you posted if anything interesting starts to happen.

A Brief, And Bloody, Break

Still a lot of stuff to post about Russia, but I have been been slow to adjust to the time difference. I think I am okay now though because for the first time since returning I took my morning dump in the morning after my wake-up cup of coffee. I am a pretty regular guy and there was that incident on the bus in Moscow one afternoon. Well, an eight-hour time difference will do that to you.

But, before getting back to Russia, I thought I would share these pictures of part of a kind of aborted barbecue on Sunday. For those of you who live on the East Coast, you know what kind of a Sunday we had. It was a torrential downpour. I did manage to smoke some ribs, a boneless leg of lamb and a couple of chickens, but it wasn't fun. And until my brother-in-law Jim showed up there were only four of us. Other plans and street flooding in Manhattan depleted our ranks.

Speaking of street flooding, every time I hear anyone talk about a hurricane evacuation plan for New York City I laugh so hard my belly hurts. Maybe if we had a month's notice we could get people out, but it doesn't take much rain to shut this city down.

Anyway, by the time my brother-in-law showed up the smoker was smoked out and I had promised to fix a yak heart for him. My experience with deer hearts provided me with a backup plan, though.

I Felt Like An Aztec Priest


While, the heart of rock and roll might still be beating, but this yak heart had had it.

Be Still, My Beating Heart


Heart is really quite easy to prepare in a rustic, camping-out kind of way. You just slice it cross-ways in slices about half an inch thick, and season generously with salt and pepper.

Ready For The Pan


I prefer a cast-iron frying pan, of course. I have a whole set of them that I got for an engagement present and I use them all of the time. Best of all, one day I found a set of pyrex covers that fit most of them perfectly. They were just sitting on the street where someone had thrown them out. Buut I digress. I heated up oil in the pan I had available to me and popped them the sliced and seasoned heart right in, a small batch at a time.

Yummy, Smelled Delicious


Note, when frying or browning meat, only put small batches into the pan at a time or you will cool down the oil and end up with gray-looking meat.

The heart was quite tender and tasted like most heart tastes but with just a hint of a liver taste to it. It was really very good.

And It Goes Well With Cake


And there you have it. If I had some fish I could say I served a meal that I put my heart and sole into.

Kremlin Part Two - At Last

Busy days and horrific traffic have kept me from posting the last couple of days. Yesterday, for example, what was supposed to be about a 45 minute ride back to the boat after a canal tour here in St. Petersburg took over 3 1/2 hours. We had the same problem the other day after a city bus tour. And, the ironic thing, the streets where traffic just crawls could add a lane simply by eliminating the free parking curbside. It would be like if they allowed parking on the FDR or Westside Highway.

Okay, the cannon that was never fired. It was created in 1586 under the order of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich, the sovereign ruler of all of Russia at the time. It has a caliber of 890 mm and is, supposedly, the world's largest cannon. The cannon’s surface is decorated with cast iron figured friezes, memorial inscriptions and an equestrian image of Tsar Feodor Ioannovich. In 1835 the cannon was fixed on the carriage specially cast for it at the Berdt’s factory in St. Petersburg. Four hollow decorative cannonballs were made at the same time. Ir was never intended to be fired and was made for decorative purposes only.

Now, the bell that was never rung is a different story.

The Never Rung Bell


This bell was intended to be rung but it was not to be. The Tsar Bell was commissioned by Empress Anna, niece of Peter the Great, in 1737. At that time most of the buildings in the Moscow Kremin were made of wood and while the bell was still in its casting pit a fire broke out in the building above it. Water used to put out the fire seeped into the pit where the bell was still being cast and a huge piece, 11.5 tons, cracked off. The bell remained in the casting pit for a hundred years before it was removed and put on display next to the Ivan the Great Bell Tower where, I believe, it was intended to be hung.

The bell weighs 216 tons, is about 20 feet tall and has about the same diameter. It is approximately three times larger than the next largest bell, the tenor bell at Liverpool Cathedral.

Moscow, like Rome, is built on seven hills and the Kremlin originally was a walled city built on one of the hills with a command of the nearby river and surrounding area. It was, in essence, a fortified castle.

Views Of The Wall, A Tower, And The River Beyond






Well, that is about it for the Moscow Kremlin. Well worth the visit and gave me an entirely new perspective on just what the Kremlin is all about.

Okay, here is a Russian joke. And the mere fact that you can openly tell such a joke tells you something about how Russia has changed. What is the tallest building in Russia? It is the KGB headquarters, because from the basement you can see Siberia. And it wasn't too long ago that if you were ever hauled to that basement Siberia was probably your next stop. Or the grave.

You can sense how recently the repressive policies of a police state were eliminated. If you talk to younger people they are very open and helpful but if you approach an older person they often just turn away as if they are afraid to talk to you. A side note, the only statue or memorial to Stalin is in his home town, a relatively small village. All others have been removed.

Well, this was a bit of a short post but it will have to do for now. We are going to be heading out to catch our plane soon for the long flight home. I will be posting more about our trip after I return, though. I am going to miss having lox and sparking wine for breakfast every day.

The Kremlin

We are docked in St. Petersburg and I have some time before we head out to our tour of the Hermitage. Decent internet connection, too.

Before the Kremlin, I would like to clear up a couple of misconceptions people seem to have about Russia. First, someone was telling me how it is still a socialistic country with prohibitively high tax rates. Nothing could be further from the truth, those days are long gone. The tax rate on most individual income is 13% and the corporate tax rate is 20%, lower than the corporate tax rate in the United States. The tax on dividend income is 9%.

People can own their own homes and land or apartments, farms, businesses, whatever, just like in the United States. Most children go to school within walking distance of where they live unless their parents want to send them to a school with a specialized subject matter. There is eleven years of basic education, but children don't start school until they are six or seven years old so there is no kindergarten or pre-school. Children are expected to be able to read by the time they start school and it is the parents responsibility to teach them. After your basic education there are competitive exams and those who do well get full tuition at government Universities. Those who don't do as well can attend private colleges if they can afford the tuition.

People in the medical profession are required to work half of the time in government hospitals and medical facilities but are free to work the rest of the time at private hospitals. Generally the government hospitals have the more state-of-the-art equipment and are similar to our research hospitals. This is also where doctors and nurses earn advanced professional designations. Medical care is free at the government facilities but you can chose to pay more to go to a private facility where the care is more personalized. They don't have emergency rooms, as such. If you are in need of medical attention a doctor will come to your house and, based upon the situation, either treat you there or arrange for an ambulance to take you to a hospital. These visits are free.

I just wanted to clear up a few misconceptions that we seem to have about Russia. It might not be where you would want to live, but it is not nearly as bad as people seem to make it out to be. Their worst times seem to be behind them, although life during the time of Gorbachev and Yeltsen was no bed of roses with debilitating inflation, people losing most of their savings and struggling to survive. Interestingly, when Gorbachev ran for re-election he received less than 1% of the vote and is generally reviled these days. He now spends most of his time abroad giving lectures.

Okay, on to the Kremlin. As I mentioned, the word "kremlin" means castle (or fortress) and there are many of them in Russia. The one in Moscow started out as a walled fortress and was the city of Moscow. The first written records go back to 1147 and it was a Prince Yuri who is considered to be the city's founder.

Entering The Moscow Kremlin


In addition to the old buildings there are some newer ones. The one that is the most jarringly out of place looking one is this concert hall.

This Is The Kremlin?


This hall was built during the time of Nikita Khrushchev and, for a time, cost the Kremlin it UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. I think they got it back, though. Artists from all over the world have performed here. I see that Twisted Sister is going to be performing in Moscow, but not here, because the hall is being renovated. But what a juxtaposition that would be, Twisted Sister playing the Kremlin.

Kind Of Like A Potemkin Village


Potemkin, you may remember, wrote a story about a municipality in Russia that constructed just the facades of villages so that when some Czar or another rode through he would think that he was riding through a prosperous ares. Or something like that. Anyway, that picture above is just a painting on covering over scaffolding surrounding a building that is undergoing restoration. The building does look like a smaller version of the painting, however.

And, because this was a walled city, there were many churches inside the walls.

Either Many Churches Or Many Pictures Of One Church






Where has the time gone? This will have to be a two parter because I need to leave for my tour, but first a picture of a cannon that was never fired.

Just For Show


I will tell you more about it as well as about a bell that was never rung when I post again, either later today or, more probably, tomorrow.

The Kremlin Must Wait

Whew, between a vodka tasting the night before last and a beer garden near where the boat docked yesterday there wasn't much posting going on. But the gentle rocking of the boat does make for nice napping. Now we are on our way to St. Petersburg and somewhat in the middle of nowhere so the internet connection is spotty, at best. My posting about the Kremlin will have to wait until another day because uploading pictures is next to impossible.

We had a little talk about life in Russia and it was fairly interesting. No housing crash here. If you can get a mortgage at all the interest rates are around 15% and the length of the mortgage is only for three to five years. People actually save up to buy what they need. What an interesting concept. Russia also has the lowest national debt of any G20 country, 151.3 billion dollars or 6.8% of their Gross Domestic Product. The United States' is over 14 trillion, as by now just about everyone knows, and this is 98% of our GDP.

Okay, that is it for now. Time to go see a DVD of the high-lights of our trip so far. And I am sure it will be offered for sale. We never buy these, preferring our own distorted memories which are usually much better than reality. And, unlike the DVD, our memories just get better over time. In fact we are now starting to remember trips we have never been on.

Amusements and Moscow By Night

We are currently cruising on a river that I believe to be the Volga going from one city with an unpronounceable name to another. I will let you know more about them in a day or so, but for now I want to almost finish up posting about Moscow. Almost because I still have to post about our visit to the Kremlin.

Right across from where our boat was moored while we were in Moscow was an amusement park for children. It was quite nice in a retro-kind of way. Lots of little rides just the right size for the wee ones who seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Step Right Up And Win A Prize


I am not sure just what this ride, if that was what it was, was. I think it might have just been some kind of a series of tunnels and passageways for children to crawl around.

Or The Setting For A Sci-Fi Movie


No Amusement Park Is Complete Without A Ferris Wheel


And A Merry-Go-Round


I remember going to the Minnesota State Fair when I was just a wee Bar Boy. I was too young to ride in the bumper cars by myself but I was allowed to ride with my older cousin. Every time he turned the wheel to ram another car his elbow hit me in the eye. Ah, yet another fond childhood memory. The bumper cars here were actually bumper swans floating in a large pool. But, of course, the objective remains the same, ram another swan.

Bumper Swans


They must like swans here because they also had a swan-themed merry-go-round.

The Dreaded Black Swan


It really was a nice little park and I am sure if I was a kid I would love to spend an afternoon here. There is a subway nearby so it would be easy to get to as well. The Mysterious Chinese Woman and I were thinking about taking the subway somewhere but the weather looked threatening and rain had been predicted. The amusement park probably would have been more crowded otherwise. Plus it was still extremely hot for Moscow, so I think a lot of people preferred staying home. There was quite a downpour shortly after we got back on the boat.

Later in the evening there was a bus tour of Moscow so we could see it at night. Most cities look much better at night, or at least more interesting. Certainly that is true of New York, and Moscow was no exception.

Christopher Or Peter


I am not sure if I have the story about that statue completely right, but this is what I kind of heard. Apparently the statue was to be a gift to the United States and was supposed to depict Christopher Columbus. We, for some reason, turned it down and so the head was replaced with one of Peter The Great and now it commemorates his turning Russia into a great naval power. Of course Russia, at that time, had no access to anyplace to launch a navy, but that was a small inconvenience. They simply went to war with Sweden and captured a fort that ultimately became the location of St. Petersburg.

This is the University of Moscow. If you can qualify for admittance your education, including board and room, are completely paid for by the government. The University was built during Stalin's rule, so he wasn't all bad.

Moscow University


I was mentioning some of the newer, and quite spectacular, construction that rivals that of the new City Center in Las Vegas. You can't see the full extent of it, but this picture gives you some idea of what it is like. There will be no gambling, of course.

Moscow's City Center


We went back to Red Square and the Kremlin was all lit up, something that our guide said was unusual. And the GUM department store was all lit up as well and looked like a Christmas village.

GUM, All Lit Up


And The Kremlin


Okay, The Mysterious Chinese Woman just left for a cooking class where we are going to learn how to make a blintz or something, and I best join her if I know what is good for me. I will finish this post later and check it for typos as well. Consider this as a first-cut only.

Okay, back again. It wasn't blintzes or whatever, it was pelmeni. And what, you might ask, is pelmeni? Kind of a Russian version of tortellini. Which means they are heavy and served with sour cream and don't have a lot of flavor. Some onion and garlic and salt. The chef said you could spice them up if you made them yourselves with maybe some ginger or hot peppers but that, literally, most of the people in Russia don't even know what those are.

Our Illustrous Chef Demonstrating The Art Of Making Pelmeni






Audience Participation


I guess this would be a good time to let you know that we are having a bit of an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness, better known as gastroenteritis, onboard. The Mysterious Chinese Woman has already succumbed to this, but is well on her way to recovery, as you can see.

Who Cares If They Washed Their Hands?


The little notice we got about gastroenteritis said that it is usually not serious but can have more serious implications for older people, which would include about 90% of the people on our boat. From the length of the lines at the luncheon buffets it doesn't as though too many people have been hit with it yet.

Okay, that was the short intermission, now for a few more shots of Moscow at night. And don't ask me what most of these buildings are, because I don't know.

Well, Except For The Enchanted Castle


And The Entrance To Red Square


Unknown, To Me At Least, Buildings








Moscow is quite a lively looking city at night and, again, it would be nice to see more of it. Our guide said we should all come back and visit again, but given the difficulty of getting a visa, or even getting a few extra days tacked on to the one we got for this trip, I doubt if that is likely. I hope they change their policy in time for the 2014 Winter Olympics that are to be held in Sochi, Russia.

Next up, the Moscow Kremlin. Must remember that in Russia the word "kremlin" means castle and you need to specify which one you are talking about.