Riga, Latvia

Hey, I am in the present time!

My last day in Moscow was very mellow. I took an early walk to a Cathedral of the Holy Savior. It is built on the scale of the great Italian Duomas. It was originally build around 1820 to commemorate Russia's victory over Nepoleon. It is enormous. But in 1935 Stalin tore it down. Then he built a community swimming pool on the spot. - Unbelievable! Then in about 1990 some people started to raise money to rebuild it and they did.

After that walk I found a French cafe, of the type we were trying to find in Paris- great coffee, great expresso (I had one of each.) and wonderful bread- I had something called a flute that had those hazelnuts and raisins in it, Also a Danish- spelled in Russian with those exact Cerrilic (sp) letters. I found out that they are a chain and my waitress thought that there was actually one in Los Angeles. I am certain that a cafe like that would do well almost anywhere.

I took the 9 PM train out of Moscow last night. It was great. I purchased one of those tickets with a sleeper. It is a typical Russian train, except in this case it was a Latvian train. All of the bunks are open. Basicly the train is nothing but sleeping sections and there is someone sleeping next to you, above and across the corordor. I was lucky enough to have a Russian young woman who spoke English as my neighbor. We chatted in the train for about two hours, then lights go out and everyone gets into their bunk and goes to sleep. I slept well but awoke at 6 AM. She is both a student and works for the statistics office of the Russian government. She is a smart cookie. Her mother and father are both Russian but grew up in Latvia and she was visiting her grandparents in Riga. I even met them. It is remarkable how much you can find out about a person after 16 hours on a train- really only 8 hours because I was sleeping for about 8. She has a boyfriend she met at her office. She loves him very much. He is shy and 12 years older. He just had an operation on his brain because of an annurism, but he is OK. Her mother lives in Malta, and married a man from Tunisa who is not so strictly Muslim. But according to Katya (her name) her mother has a terrible accent when she speaks English. I could go on an on. Because she was quite a talker, but I enjoyed it and it was a great way to spend a long train ride. I could tell you her life story but maybe you don't want to hear it and the time is running down on my Internet.

I am in Riga, Latvia now- beautiful little town and I am staying at a nice hotel. It is pouring rain on and off. I just had a nice tour of the city- just one to one because I was the only one to show up for the tour at 6 PM. It was a nice way to get a feel for the city which is very walkable- at least in the "old city". The city originated in 1201 but most buildings were built later because the city has gone through any number of attacks, from Poles, Swedes, Russians and Germans. The Germans bombed the whole center square in 1941, so building and churches that were 600 years old were destroyed, but most have been rebuilt.

I visited a museum dedicated to the Soviet occupation. There is still a prejudice against Russians here from the Soviet times. Yet more people speak Russian than Latvian- although I think that most speak both. The population is roughly equal between the percentage of Russians and the percentage of Latvian. This museum contains some Russian prejudice and I confirmed it with my guide today. I noticed that much of the text is in four languages, but when there are three- Russian is left out. The clincher was when I used the toilet and in three languages it said something like "Please do not throw paper in the toilet." or something like that. But there was no translation in Russian. So now when someone clogs the toilet, they can blame the Russians.

It nice to back to the Roman Alphabet again- but I only know one word in Latvian - OK, maybe I don't know one word in Latvian- I wrote it down "somewhere" now I can't find it. My guide was teaching me how to pronounce things- their c is like in Russian- most letters are straightforward- well "j" is like "h" like Spanish and their vowels have little squigglies in all kinds of places which change the sound- well maybe not so easy to read.

I am sorry, no deep insights tonight.

Trying to bring you up to date

I sit at a computer at the hostel in Moscow today. I take an overnight train to Riga, Latvia tonight at nine. I try to think of a way that I can update you with all of the things that have happened to me in the past week. I have only about five minutes left on the timer to do it.

Rest assured, my banking situation is better- emergency funds from Donna, then a very apologetic letter from citibank. It is as if all employees with brains left for holiday during fourth of July weekend and did not come back. So, the money front is good.

I spend four lovely days in Kostroma- a small city on the Volga with beautiful beaches, friendly people who do not speak English and two incredible Monastaries. It was also a time for me to rest a little after my trials.

I then went to the town of Vladimir- accent on the second syllable. It rained hard the whole time- There is a lovely little church built in 1200 where a woman gave me a tour all in Russian. She wouldn't stop. I could not understand a word. See you next time, gotta go.

Yaroslavl

(I have received monetary relief from my wife, Donna. Thank You.)

I believe that I left you in Rastov. I took a train to the next city, Yaroslavl. It is a big beautiful Russian city about 65 miles north east of Moscow. Though asking questions of some young people (maybe in there 20's) I was invited to visit one's flat having picked up some groceries at the local Supermarket. There were five of us and later - much later four of us, along with the groceries several bottles of wine.

One of them Olga spoke very good English. The others, not too much English and me not too much Russian. I was invited as is customary to the kitchen, where all the food was laid out and we ate. Then we played a well known card game in Russia called "Fool". Needless to say they are all very good at this game and I am very bad. But the evening continued on and on until I look at my watch, it is 4 AM! I took a cab back to my hotel and had a good sleep.

Pay No Attention to Time

I am standing over a group of fountains at Alexander Gardens near the Kremlin wall. I watch an endless stream of Russian tourists pose with a large bronze statue of an old man looking into the mouth of a fish. I think that I remember some of the story at least. The poor old man finally catches a fish. There is a conversation between the fish and the man and the fish makes the man a promise if the man will release him. The fish opens its mouth and there the man finds a gold coin. Perhaps you can fill in the rest of the story.

Each person poses with his or her individual gestures and arrangement. One holds the old man's arm tightly and leans forwards, another girl pretends to kiss the old man, another makes an obscene gesture for the two in the camera, still another jumps into the old man's arms. The old man's arm is worn and shiny, polished bronze from the touch of so many poses with visitors.

Two giddy teenage girls push each other close to the water. First their feet are in, then up to their knees in water, then they are swimming in the fountain. They are laughing and lightly jabbing each other with light-hearted arguing. A Moscow police man nearby eyes them coldly but quietly.

The girls get out of the water and disappear for a short time then show up below me, climbing to the top of another bronze sculpture of the fox and grapes. Some boys are photographing them. The girls twist and turn lithely up, up to the top of the statue then quickly down. They disappear again, shortly to show up at some small gentle falls that that are tiered in different levels. They take turns sitting on a flat wet tear making sexy poses of each other, laughing and taking turns. They disappear again.

Rastov, Yaroslavl and Rubinsk

The Kremlin in Rastov is magical, still in the midst of being restored it contains six museums. The major art or craft of Rastov is enameling, mostly of traditional Russian Orthodox images. Enameling uses metal oxides of different kinds to obtain color varieties. The images are painted with these oxides and then fired and the result is a beautiful shiny, bright, glasslike appearence. It is a technique that is over one thousand years old. The Enamels in the museum were mostly 200 years old to the present. My guesthouse host are enamel artists. They have modern musuem worth works in there house. Gotta go

Superfast Post

I have twelve minutes to post before the time runs out on this computer. Truckee, my son, called my time here a bit harrowing. If you are getting that idea. I must totally disagree. I am having the time of my life. Yes, it is sometimes difficult. Yes, it is sometimes challenging. Even sometimes I think, how will this ever work out? But I remember the movie Shakespeare in Love. When things are at their worst, the theater manager says "It will all work out." Someone says, "How?" He replies, "It's a mystery." It is truely the way I feel. I am having fun. I am in great physical condition. I am seeing a part of the world and meeting people I have never met before. It is a great experience for me. I know that sometimes my blogs my sound a little dramatic.

Now I am distracted. A group of girls from the hostle where I am staying just came in. One says to me, "Oh, you are a nateev speaker. I am happy to talk to a nateev speaker." Well, that is what I going to do next. Does that not sound like fun? My trip is full of experiences like these as well as being tongue tied at the train cashier, missing trains, walking miles with all of my gear and even losing my banking card. So, do not worry. I am fine and having fun. I am a bit behind in the blog. I am only in Rastov on the blog and have yet to talk about Yaroslavl, Rubinsk, Kostroma, Vladimir and now Moscow. So stay in touch- Donna claims I have fans. So fans, my time is running out but I've got a conversation to start.
Das Vadanya!

I missed my train in Moscow

I think that is where I left off, before my citibank insertion. I was to get to Rastov Veliky at 8:30 PM. I found some kind people at an Information desk at the train station. She wrote me a note to give to the ticket taker at Yaroslavl Station and this train would leave Moscow about 11:30 PM and arrive in Rastov at 1:30 AM.(By the way Moscow has eight major train stations within the city limits.)

When I bought my ticket at Yaroslavl station, the woman gave me a strange look. "Do you really want to buy this ticket?", she seemed to ask. And yes, it was a sleeper in first class for a two hour trip and I felt that I need that- 1700 rubles or $25. I got first class treatment, a cabin with bed all to myself and a two hour nap.

The train arrived as indicated at 1:30 AM. I took a cab- Always when you take a cab in Russia, you must ask the price first. But the problem is that when you ask for the price they hear your accent and double the price. The trouble is that there is no way arround this unless you get a Russian to make the request for you. So as usual I got ripped off taking a cab to the KORS Guest house in Russian XOPC (Pronounced HORST)At 2 AM the place was shut tight. I rang the buzzer, awoke the woman of the house and she told me to find another place.

Now in a strange city where I knew no one or nothing of the city, I was not about to trapes around with my luggage and try to find an open Gastonitza. I decided to lay down right there- in back of a protect large art sculpture that they created on the front lawn. I was immediately attacked by swarms of starving mosquitos. I opened my bag to look for my deet but it was too dark. Ah, my trusty ipod. I used it for light, retrieved my bug repellent and continued to drench myself and try to sleep.

I did not sleep. But I found that by four in the morning the attacks had stopped. Also it was beginning to get light. I left my gear in this protected place and proceeded to give myself a tour of the beautiful protected Kremlin. Rostov was a center for the government of the land around Moscow. It was a wealthy trade center for flax and linen. A city was built surrounded by walls as a center of commerce in the area. The walls only partially survive, but the buildings remain intact. Several multi-spired onion domes decorate the sky. A complex of buildings served the people of the area for about 100 years until Moscow took control of the government.

The city of Rastov is also located on beautiful little Lake Neri. It started to rain and I headed back to get my gear and hold up in a seller's stall that had been a hangout for the young drinkers of the town, the previous evening. A babusha came by to clean each stall and did not even bat an eye to see this foreigner with suitcase, bag and guitar sitting inside on of the stalls. I looked at my watch. It was 8 AM. I also saw the phone number of my guest house. I took about a half hour to use my dictionaries and write a semi-coherent version of my state. "I did not find Gastonitza. I was awake all night. Can I please come and stay at your place?" Imagine it all in bad Russian. They took mercy on me. Thus commenced my two day stay in Rastov Veliky. (Photos later)