Full of it...
This is my first post since February so am a little full of news and am likely to go off on some tangent forgetting completely the point of a particular experience or venture because a really great detail gelled in the old(er) head space while explaining something else… but here it goes from the end (backwards)…
Italy
Yesterday we arrived back from Bari (Southern Italy) where we spent the bank holiday weekend trying to catch some sun and lay on the beach, unfortunately the rain played havoc with our plans and we only managed a hour or so for the whole weekend – but no matter still managed to get sun burn after applying factor 200 sunscreen! Bari is the resting place of St Nicolas (Santa for the coke-a-cola generation), whose tomb is quite spectacular especially when there is a whole group of monks in there sing/chanting traditional songs of parse! Needless to say there was no sign of elves, snow, reindeer or mince pies in the place!
The tomb is recognised by President Putan (Russia’s President) as the official resting place of St Nicolas (which is a good seg-way to our Moscow trip – I’ll get to it in a second) a very important recognition as I would hate to be entombed in a place that was not recognised as my official resting place by a foreign government… the embarrassment would be too much to bear… I would just die! Bari has some of the best sea food I’ve eaten (yes that includes Matt’s home and family Fish ‘n’ Chip shop – although I did only have a warm sarsaparilla) and great olives. A real holiday…
Russia
This trip involved flying Aeroflot, stying in an old soviet apartment, drinking lots of vodka (especially at breakfast time) and visiting the official tomb of Lenin (as recognised and paid for by the Russian Government). The Lenin tomb is only open for three hours a day 3 days a week at which time the whole of Red Square is shut and a large line of local people form down one side of the Square. The line was extremely long and it would have take more than the allocated three hours to get to the head and in to see the perfectly preserved remains of one of the fathers of the revolution.
Aside: During the glorious revolution there appeared to be a need for symbols of the new order to be integrated in to every day objects such as the façades of buildings, labels of vodka bottles, car badges, AK-47 assault rifles and telephones. You may notice some pictures of the objects to which I refer surrounding this text or some place in this posting.
The heart sunk at the thought of coming all this way, being dumped out in the suburbs in a soviet style apartment (admittedly it probably would have housed an entire family of 10 in the two rooms it had at the height of the revolution) and being fed salmon roe as if it were sturgeon, and not being able to view the preserved remains of a real revolutionary!
The new Russian Federation to the rescue with Capitalism fully embraced and an understanding of how the Middle Class mind of a western pocket comrade works we were approached by an ‘official’ guide who offered to take us both straight through to the front of the line and in to the tomb (a private viewing (if you don’t count the 18 or so guards standing around)) for a mere 1500 rubles (about 30 pounds or 85 Australian dollars) – an offer which was quickly snapped up!
I’m certain if Lenin were alive that day and met with us knowing that we had just paid 30 quid to see his preserved remains ahead of the hundreds on normal everyday Russians waiting around the Square he would have keeled over. But hey that’s the new Russia for you… tough, changed and chav (meaning rich bogan in Australian English) to the max. There is little evidence of a middle class evolving yet (hence we stuck out like dogs balls – money to buy the stuff in the shops but more interested in how the shops worked when there was no stuff to buy) and learnt a lot from the experience.
Did you know that Stalin is buried behind the tomb of Lenin? I didn’t until last month… but I also didn’t know that Gorky Park (not the movie, but place) was a crappy ‘Wobbies World’ style amusement park which plays Bon Jovi music from behind the carved stone head of Stalin (see picture) which adorns the grand entrance gate… who would have know that Gorky Park (the one in the movie) was actually in Finland?
Paris (France) and Gerona (Spain)
Other places we managed to budget airline our way to in the past months have been Paris on the Eurostar (train) for a cheap weekend away and meal which the guide book said was a secret, but when we sat down and looked around we noticed that everyone else had the same book (including the mice (yes more than one!) and that it was a tourist restaurant – but a learning experience all the same.
Gerona was a great little romantic get away which Mrs St James’s Park loved as she does all Spanish shoes and traditional restaurants. For some modern tappas I would suggest a small local bar on off the square on the northern side of the river as they have some of the strongest microwaves I have ever experienced. For a more eatable feast we did the traditional stand-up order everything on the menu… bier to boot!
Still have not gotten to Scotland but once the SB is transformed in to the ST all that will change… watch this space (on an irregular and some what well spaced basis)!
Next, the English Maid (a boat on the river not far from the Park) and the Dog for an acknowledgement session on 5 May… not the day Jimmy Hendrix died in 1970.
After that another Bank Holiday to find some elves…
Italy
Yesterday we arrived back from Bari (Southern Italy) where we spent the bank holiday weekend trying to catch some sun and lay on the beach, unfortunately the rain played havoc with our plans and we only managed a hour or so for the whole weekend – but no matter still managed to get sun burn after applying factor 200 sunscreen! Bari is the resting place of St Nicolas (Santa for the coke-a-cola generation), whose tomb is quite spectacular especially when there is a whole group of monks in there sing/chanting traditional songs of parse! Needless to say there was no sign of elves, snow, reindeer or mince pies in the place!
The tomb is recognised by President Putan (Russia’s President) as the official resting place of St Nicolas (which is a good seg-way to our Moscow trip – I’ll get to it in a second) a very important recognition as I would hate to be entombed in a place that was not recognised as my official resting place by a foreign government… the embarrassment would be too much to bear… I would just die! Bari has some of the best sea food I’ve eaten (yes that includes Matt’s home and family Fish ‘n’ Chip shop – although I did only have a warm sarsaparilla) and great olives. A real holiday…
Russia
This trip involved flying Aeroflot, stying in an old soviet apartment, drinking lots of vodka (especially at breakfast time) and visiting the official tomb of Lenin (as recognised and paid for by the Russian Government). The Lenin tomb is only open for three hours a day 3 days a week at which time the whole of Red Square is shut and a large line of local people form down one side of the Square. The line was extremely long and it would have take more than the allocated three hours to get to the head and in to see the perfectly preserved remains of one of the fathers of the revolution.
Aside: During the glorious revolution there appeared to be a need for symbols of the new order to be integrated in to every day objects such as the façades of buildings, labels of vodka bottles, car badges, AK-47 assault rifles and telephones. You may notice some pictures of the objects to which I refer surrounding this text or some place in this posting.
The heart sunk at the thought of coming all this way, being dumped out in the suburbs in a soviet style apartment (admittedly it probably would have housed an entire family of 10 in the two rooms it had at the height of the revolution) and being fed salmon roe as if it were sturgeon, and not being able to view the preserved remains of a real revolutionary!
The new Russian Federation to the rescue with Capitalism fully embraced and an understanding of how the Middle Class mind of a western pocket comrade works we were approached by an ‘official’ guide who offered to take us both straight through to the front of the line and in to the tomb (a private viewing (if you don’t count the 18 or so guards standing around)) for a mere 1500 rubles (about 30 pounds or 85 Australian dollars) – an offer which was quickly snapped up!
I’m certain if Lenin were alive that day and met with us knowing that we had just paid 30 quid to see his preserved remains ahead of the hundreds on normal everyday Russians waiting around the Square he would have keeled over. But hey that’s the new Russia for you… tough, changed and chav (meaning rich bogan in Australian English) to the max. There is little evidence of a middle class evolving yet (hence we stuck out like dogs balls – money to buy the stuff in the shops but more interested in how the shops worked when there was no stuff to buy) and learnt a lot from the experience.
Did you know that Stalin is buried behind the tomb of Lenin? I didn’t until last month… but I also didn’t know that Gorky Park (not the movie, but place) was a crappy ‘Wobbies World’ style amusement park which plays Bon Jovi music from behind the carved stone head of Stalin (see picture) which adorns the grand entrance gate… who would have know that Gorky Park (the one in the movie) was actually in Finland?
Paris (France) and Gerona (Spain)
Other places we managed to budget airline our way to in the past months have been Paris on the Eurostar (train) for a cheap weekend away and meal which the guide book said was a secret, but when we sat down and looked around we noticed that everyone else had the same book (including the mice (yes more than one!) and that it was a tourist restaurant – but a learning experience all the same.
Gerona was a great little romantic get away which Mrs St James’s Park loved as she does all Spanish shoes and traditional restaurants. For some modern tappas I would suggest a small local bar on off the square on the northern side of the river as they have some of the strongest microwaves I have ever experienced. For a more eatable feast we did the traditional stand-up order everything on the menu… bier to boot!
Still have not gotten to Scotland but once the SB is transformed in to the ST all that will change… watch this space (on an irregular and some what well spaced basis)!
Next, the English Maid (a boat on the river not far from the Park) and the Dog for an acknowledgement session on 5 May… not the day Jimmy Hendrix died in 1970.
After that another Bank Holiday to find some elves…
posted by St James's Park at 10:47 AM
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