Blogs from Centre, Russia, Europe - page 8

Trains & things I remember my first train journey when I was about 9 or 10. Mum took Sandra and I to Edinburgh for the day. The train was a big event, as was the zoo and the present we got before we came home. I chose a “teenage doll”. She didn’t have a name as we were long before Sindy! Well, the Eurostar is right up there with that childhood memory. I was so impressed with the comfort and efficiency. We left on time. I was immediately surrounded by French voices. I hadn’t realised how much I have missed that these last few years. And it was so fast. Less than an hour after leaving Julie at St Pancras I realised we were in France. A few quick texts confirmed that we had made France ... read more

The Baltika Index - BI Definition : the price at which 500ml of locally produced beer of 5% abv strength can be purchased from a shop or hostel in a given location, expressed as a decimal fraction of the price of 500ml of Baltika 3 lager as purchased from the mini-bar in room 418 of the Hotel Vladamir, Vladamir, Russia in June 2009 (50 rubles or approx £1) I have this theory that the relative expense of town can pretty much be determined by looking at the price of a pint of lager, that's certainly been my experience in the UK anyway. After all, the post work pint/half litre of lager is a fairly common tipple amongst, for example, most "western" societies (I use the term loosely :) ). Hence, demand and supply (assuming there's a ... read more

Last Day - 11 May 2009 In the last 4-5 days I had visited the Red Square a number of times but somehow, had not yet stepped inside the GUM. On our last day n Moscow, we decided to visit the GUM and also the old haunts of Avi, namely Detskii Mir and the Bolshoi Theater. ‘Detskii Mir’ was to Russian children what the ‘Toys R Us’ to American kids. It is always a source of wonderment to me how fast children learn to recognize the ‘Toys R Us’ stores. My granddaughter Mitali used to point to ‘Toys R Us’ and insist that we go there when she was barely two years old, whenever we drove by it. Avi was a regular customer of ‘Detskii Mir’ (Again, I am talking of 37 years back.) because our ... read more

Victory Day - 9 May 2009 Every year Russians celebrate the Victory Day commemorating their victory over the Nazis. They won the victory at a very great cost. 27 Million Russians had lost their lives in the war. Russia parades her military strength in the Red Square on Victory Day. Select troops from her army, navy and aircraft goose-step to the tune of military band and the latest ICBMs and fast planes are exhibited. Since the admittance to Red Square on V-Day is only for VVIPS and we did not fall in that category, we decided to watch it on TV. When the planes flew on the Red Square, we could watch them on TV and just after few seconds could see them from our hotel window. The hotel was in their flight path. So it ... read more

Bolshoi Ballet and Pushkin Museum - 7 May 2009 Somewhere, somehow, I had come across a comment about the ‘Three penny Opera’ that it shows the viewers one penny-worth of music, one penny-worth of dance and one penny-worth of Corruption/Black Market/Exploitation. What is true of the Opera is also true about the Ballet and this time I myself unwittingly played a minor role in the ‘three-penny Opera’ that unfolded outside the Bolshoi Theater. No, the Bolshoi was not playing Bertolt Brecht’s classic. It was playing another classic, the ballet ‘Spartacus’ on 7th May and 8th May and I wanted to see it. However, the cost was not a meager sum of three pennies but cost several thousands of pennies. The lowest tickets were at 2000 Roubles. (About 4000 Rs. after currency conversion.) The previous day, I ... read more