storm, originally uploaded by Tary Allen (a bit AFK).

Portucalis

Do you know about this? It is called a fish spa. You put your feet in water and these fish eat your dead skin cells. I know it sounds really icky – but it is very relaxing! And you leave with smoother skin – it is a pedicure a la fishies.

The little fish come nibble on your toes and feet and calves. They create a vibration sensation. The spa will serve you tea and you just sit back and relax. It is good to know that the tanks hold different size fish and they all feel a little different. The larger ones were my favorite. It does tickle a little at first, but you get over that quickly.

I am sure it is all hocus pocus jibber jabber – but it was fun to try it once. Here is what they claim…

We did this while we were in Singapore. I understand these spas exist all over the world. I will definitely do it again.

We also went to the Butterfly Park on Sentosa Island. It was magical – very large butterflies flitter and flutter by you and might even land on you.

There were also other creatures like turtles, birds, lizards, and even some snakes (in cages).

There is also a tremendous insect collection inside the park. They are all pinned to boards – which sounds mean – but these are some big arse bugs – you will be v.e.r.y. thankful they are not alive and cannot move. And FYI, if you live in Colombia or Brazil, you might want to invest in some industrial strength bugspray and be very careful where you walk.

Who minds being stuck in traffic when the views are like this??

Brighton is one of Piers favourite places in England.  I would bet a fiver (£5 note) that it’s one of his top 5 places in the world. On 10th of October we headed south and east to the coast.  There are hardly any traffic lights in England (it’s all those silly roundabout thingys – which I almost understand!); however, there is one on the way to Brighton that causes traffic to back up for miles.  It was a lovely, lovely day (Manitoba had a snowstorm that day!) and I didn’t mind being stuck in traffic while there was so much beautiful scenery.  This was exactly what I had pictured the English countryside to look like.

We whizzed by the Brighton Racecourse with its spectacular views of the Sussex Downs and the marina.  I was fascinated that it wasn’t an oval track (North American perchance?), but rather oddly shaped with both left and right turns no matter which way they go!  I even saw some steeplechase jumps!  Piers has promised a day at the races, so stay tuned for that adventure.

Paul recommended parking at the marina (free!) and taking the electric train down to the pier.  We missed the obscure path from the parking lot to the train, but caught the bus.  When it was time to go home we purposely walked along the boardwalk which runs parallel to the electric train so that we’d know where to go on subsequent trips.  Parking is awful and this was a nice way to overcome that obstacle to a perfect day.

Banqueting Room

Our first stop (other than for my incessant picture taking) was the Royal Pavilion.  What started off as a modest farmhouse became the well-known magnificent vista of minarets, domes and pinnacles on the exterior.  The gardens were glorious and I’m looking forward to exploring them at a later date (on a later date?).  If the gardens and exterior are a 10, then the interior is off the charts!  My mouth actually fell open upon entering the dining room.  The chandelier is a dragon which would have had smoke from the oil lamps billowing out of its nose.  If it was breath taking to me in the 21st century you can just imagine the impact it would have had at the beginning of the 18th!

George IV

Charles IV, while being the Prince of Wales, ran up huge debts financing his extravagant lifestyle.  His physician recommended the therapeutic waters at the seaside.  He rented, and eventually bought, a modest farmhouse (that’s the word that all the guide books used) in Brighton.  His arrival with his friends made quite the impression on the sleepy fishing town.  From the official Pavilion site:

Brighton suited George who was a vain and extravagant man with a passion for fashion, the arts, architecture and good living. He rebelled against his strict upbringing and threw himself into a life of drinking, womanising and gambling.

It’s thought that he married a Mrs. Fitzherbert, a catholic (heaven forbid!), and lived with her in the farmhouse.  After parliament declared his father, George III, incapable of ruling, George IV became Prince Regent.  He ruled for many years in his father’s stead.  It was during this time that George Nash started to remodel (that word doesn’t convey the magnitude of what must have been accomplished) the building that eventually become known as the Royal Pavilion. He was very cutting edge for his time and the Pavilion boasted many modern conveniences and innovations.  George IV was so proud of his home that he often took his guests on a tour of the kitchen.  One such innovation was a mechanical spit that did not require a boy to manually turn the roasting fowl!  The kitchen is very bright even by the standards of today and I can’t imagine what the guests thought!

No visit to Brighton would be complete without walking down the pier.  Many of the shops were closed despite the unseasonal warm day.  I imagine an October wind could be rather chilly (at least by English standards) on the pier. There’s a real carnival atmosphere on the pier, even outside the arcades.  Piers told me about the wonderful times he had with his father and a few pounds worth of pennies for the games.

Brighton is known 3 things: the Pavilion, the pier, and shopping.  And what shopping there was!  I was very restrained and only bought a few trifles (a Christmas bauble and a poster) in the Pavilion gift shop, but my mouth waters at the thought of going again.  The best thing about this part of the day was Piers stopped  prefacing thoughts of return with “If we’re still dating…”

We ended day with a stroll along the beach while watching the sun set.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

Als Sehenswürdigkeiten führen Gerichtsgebäude ein Schattendasein. Zu Unrecht. Einige Berliner Justizpaläste sind echte Highlights.

Ein wenig fühlt man sich wie in der Provence, wenn einem beim Betreten des Brunnenplatzes vor dem Amtsgericht Wedding der Duft von Flieder in die Nase steigt. Ein Schmetterling flattert vom violett blühenden Gewächs zu einer Rose über die Sonnenhungrigen hinweg, die auf den Grünflächen liegen. Wer es etwas schattiger mag, verweilt auf einer der zahlreichen Bänke und lauscht dem Plätschern des Brunnens in der Mitte des Platzes. Eine Oase in der Großstadt, obwohl direkt an der viel befahrenen Pankstraße gelegen, mit freiem Blick auf einen Elektrofachmarkt.

Wie ein Escher-Kunstwerk

Auf der anderen Seite des Platzes aber erhebt sich majestätisch die neugotische Fassade des Amtsgerichts. Mit seinen Zinnen und Turmspitzen scheint es mehr ein Schloss denn eine Behörde zu sein. Doch über dem Hauptportal mit seinen eisernen, mit Löwen und Adlern verzierten Türen wacht eine steinerne, mehr als drei Meter große Justitia mit Buch, Schwert und Schild. Hören kann man sie allerdings nicht, die Mühlen der Justiz, wenn man das fünfstöckige Gebäude betritt; hier herrscht Stille. Und eine ungeahnte Stimmung. Aufgrund der vielen ornamentalen Treppengeländer und dicht gestellten Säulen wirkt die Eingangshalle fast wie ein Bild des grafischen Täuschungskönigs M.C. Escher. Das verblasste farbige Glas der gotischen Fenster lässt nur einen verschwommenen Blick auf die Welt außerhalb der Weddinger Gerichtsbarkeit zu.
Es mag ungewöhnlich sein, Gerichte zu besichtigen – egal ob als Berlinbesucher oder Einheimischer. Doch ein Besuch in Justitias Hauptstadt-Vertretungen lohnt sich – und ohne Vorladung gestaltet sich ein solcher Ausflug ohnehin ungleich entspannter. Als Hort beeindruckender Geschichte und Architektur stammen die meisten monumentalen Repräsentanzen der dritten Gewalt aus der Kaiserzeit.

Freislers grausige Wirkungsstätte

Beispielhaft hierfür ist das Kammergericht, das höchste Gericht Berlins, im Bezirk Schöneberg. Ausgerichtet auf die Königskolonnaden im Kleistpark, der reichlich Rastmöglichkeiten bietet, beherbergt es hinter seiner pompösen barocken Fassade auch den Verfassungsgerichtshof des Landes Berlin, die Generalstaatsanwaltschaft der Hauptstadt und eine Bibliothek. In diesem majestätischen Gebäude erniedrigte und richtete der Präsident des NS-Volksgerichtshofs Roland Freisler ab 1944 Angeklagte. Auch einigen der Verschwörer vom 20. Juli 1944 wurde hier der Prozess gemacht. Nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg diente das Kammergericht als Sitz des Kontrollrats der Alliierten, hier unterzeichneten sie 1971 das Viermächteabkommen. Hinweise auf die ehemaligen Besatzer finden sich noch heute. So steht in der Treppenhalle eine dreisprachige hölzerne Termintafel, die mit „Allied Control Authority“ überschrieben ist.

Wem die Stunde schlägt

Nicht nur das stuck- und skulpturenbesetzte Äußere lässt auf das Gericht als kraftvollen Ort der Geschichte schließen, auch das prunkvolle Foyer aus hellem Stein mit goldenem Dekor und detailreicher Stuckatur vermittelt die Anwesenheit von Macht. Durch einen Rundbogen über der ersten, kleineren Freitreppe eröffnet sich einem die prachtvolle Treppenhalle. Deren Mittelpunkt bildet eine frei stehende, von einem mächtigen Geländer gesäumte Treppe, an deren oberem Ende eine Uhr mit goldenen Zahlen und Zeigern in die Wand des Obergeschosses eingearbeitet ist. Über den Köpfen der Besucher hängt von der kuppelartigen Decke zwischen zahlreichen Stuckarbeiten ein goldener Kronleuchter. Diese prachtvolle Erhabenheit zieht sich durch das gesamte fünfstöckige Gebäude.

Löwen, Eulen und eine blinde Justitia

Kontrastprogramm zu solchem Prunk bietet das Berliner Landgericht am Tegeler Weg nahe der Spree mit seiner kühl-grauen, an die Romanik angelehnten Erscheinung. „Suum cuique“, jedem das Seine, scheint ein Schriftzug über dem Haupteingang den eher unüblich nüchternen Stil rechtfertigen zu wollen. Darunter thront eine blinde Justitia mit Buch und Rutenbündel. Die zumeist schnörkellose Bauart setzt sich auch im Innern des Gerichts fort; im schmucklosen Erweiterungsbau von 1987 stellt sich beinahe Katakomben-Feeling ein. Die blassblaue Kuppel in der Eingangshalle wirkt da schon fast rebellisch. An den Wänden unter den steinernen Treppen stehen zwischen geschwungenen Ornamenten Worte wie „Wahrheit“, „Liebe“ und „Treue“ und „Neid“, „Willkür“ und „List“. Diese Begriffe in Beziehung zur Jurisprudenz zu setzen bleibt jedem selbst überlassen. Nur noch selten genutzt und deshalb ein Geheimtipp ist der Eingang auf der Rückseite des Gebäudes: Hier wachen zwei Löwenskulpturen, zwischen ihren Pranken jeweils eine Eule – ein Sinnbild für Macht und Klugheit.

Wo dem Hauptmann von Köpenick der Prozess gemacht wurde

Symbolträchtige Figuren finden sich auch in der riesigen Treppenhalle des Kriminalgerichts Moabit. Wahrheit, Lüge, Friedfertigkeit, Streitsucht, Gerechtigkeit und Religion säumen den Eingangsbereich des gleichermaßen einschüchternden wie verzweigten Justizpalastes der Berliner Strafgerichtsbarkeit. Sich hier zu verlaufen ist keine Kunst. Das einmalige Labyrinth aus Gängen schafft allerdings auch die Voraussetzung dafür, dass Angeklagte von der angeschlossenen Justizvollzugsanstalt zu den Verhandlungssälen ohne Öffentlichkeitskontakt gebracht werden können.
Moabit – wie die Berliner den Komplex aus Gericht und Untersuchungsgefängnis abkürzen – ist nicht nur wegen seiner außerordentlich opulenten Architektur besichtigenswert. Bietet sich die Gelegenheit, sollte man einem der öffentlichen Strafprozesse beiwohnen. Dabei ist jedoch nicht jeder so spektakulär wie der um den Hauptmann von Köpenick, der hier vor mehr als 100 Jahren stattgefunden hat.

Metalldetektoren sind Standard

Die Hauptstadt beheimatet zahlreiche weitere Bauten der Gerichtsbarkeit, die das Prädikat „sehenswürdig“ durchaus verdient hätten, darunter das Oberverwaltungsgericht Berlin-Brandenburg oder das frisch sanierte Landgericht in der Littenstraße. Bei aller touristischer Abenteuerlust sollte man nicht vergessen, dass Gerichte Behörden sind und entsprechende Öffnungszeiten pflegen. Ein Besuch am „langen Donnerstag“ verhindert, dass man bereits am frühen Nachmittag vor verschlossenen Türen steht. Zudem benötigt man selbst für private Schnappschüsse oftmals eine Genehmigung, die meist jedoch formlos unter Vorlage des Personalausweises ausgefertigt wird. Im Strafgericht Moabit ist das Fotografieren jedoch verboten. Mit Taschenkontrollen und der Untersuchung mit dem Metalldetektor sollte man in jedem Gericht rechnen.

erschienen hier auf FOCUS Online am 11. Oktober 2009

The Staten Island Ferry consistently tops lists of the best things to do in New York City. If you’re attending a conference here and can fit in just one outing, this one should be it.

This 5-mile, 25 minute boat ride from Whitehall Terminal in Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan to the historic city of St. George on Staten Island offers outstanding views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the city’s various bridges. In the waters closer to St. George you’ll enjoy a breathtaking panorama of the city’s skyline. Perhaps best of all, this simple pleasure is absolutely free.

The Staten Island Ferry is a working commuter ferry (no vehicles allowed) provided by the New York Department of Transportation to bring Staten Islanders into the city.

The ferry runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The fleet makes 110 trips each weekday and 64 trips each weekend day, making this an attraction that’s easy to fit into your schedule. Timetables are available in 7 languages.

Ferry history and tips for a pleasant trip (hint: wrap your camera strap securely around your neck or wrist) are available at http://www.siferry.com/

If you have the time, consider hopping off the ferry and taking a meal and a wander in St. George. The area right around the ferry terminal is a historic district sprinkled with architecturally appealing old buildings, including many large Victorians left over from the city’s heyday as a fashionable resort in the 1830s.

Dozens of movies have been filmed wholly or partly on Staten Island, and a recent influx of artists seeking affordable has also contributed to making ‘the forgotten borough’ a vibrant community well worth a visit.

by Carolyn Batt

Want to see 25 of Western New York’s greatest attractions—literally from A to Z in two hours? On Tuesday, December 1st, at 8pm on WNED, it will be possible as this special spotlights more than two dozen local cultural attractions, one corresponding to each letter of the alphabet. From the Albright-Knox Art Gallery to the Buffalo Zoo, get ready to be taken on a journey across Erie, Chautauqua, Niagara, Cattaraugus and Wyoming Counties.

Highlighted through a series of “video postcards,” viewers will be able to experience unique nearby places, including attractions that house pop art by Andy Warhol and original manuscripts by Mark Twain.

Best of all, for all you Buffalo fans out there, 17 of the 25 attractions are located right in the Queen City!

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Two years ago, I spent two nights in Paris, and it was a lovely few days. At this point I wasn’t deeply enough into the Affair of the Necklace to seek out the locations where it took place. We had a very short time–basically one day and a half. We went up the Eiffel Tower and into Notre Dame de Paris. We spent the next morning at Versailles, which was wonderful despite the terrible state of my feet, which felt like they were deeply bruised after a week of intense sightseeing in Germany. In any case, I hadn’t thought to plot out all the places that were involved in the Affair of the Necklace and besides I wouldn’t have been able to get to all of them. I’m not sure my mother, who I was traveling with, would have wanted to be dragged along to random streets, anyway. So, in short, I didn’t really get to see the locations of the Affair of the Necklace. I saw Versailles, but couldn’t figure out which was the Grove of Venus (I figured it out later–turns out I was staring right at it from the steps by the orangery). I saw the Palais de Justice/Conciergerie from the outside, and stood right in front of the Cour du Mai without really realizing that it was a very important place in the tale of the Comtesse de La Motte. As I said, I hadn’t gotten as deeply into the topic at that point. I had just begun to delve in.

Now that I’m back in Europe for at least another nine months, I will go to Paris. After all, it’s a quick trip to Paris from London. Other matters will interfere until at least January (schoolwork and a trip home to the US for Christmas), but I will get there soon. And when I do, I have quite the list of places to go.

1. The Rue du Jour and the Église Saint-Eustache. This is where Nicole d’Oliva lived before she was recruited into the service of the La Motte’s scheme. As she’s the main character of my novel, I’m interested in seeing the street she lived on. I’ve seen it on Google street view, but I want to see it in person. It seems a lot of the old buildings are there, but the ground floors have largely been converted for commercial use. Still, this is where Nicole lived! Interestingly, she lived across the street from a formidable old church, Saint-Eustache. It will be an interesting church to visit in its own right. The Rue du Jour is also very near Les Halles, another place worth seeing in its own right.

2. The Rue Saint-Gilles. At the time, the street was known as the Rue Neuve Saint-Gilles, and the La Mottes lived here during the greater part of the Affair of the Necklace. This is where schemes were plotted, forgeries were made, and probably where the diamonds passed through on their way to London. The number of the house where she lived is today No. 10 (at least, it was in the 60’s when Frances Mossiker wrote her book). Google Street view shows some construction going on (but the photos aren’t super up-to-date). As with the Rue du Jour, the ground floor of most of the street is shops now, but you can still see the buildings where the great intrigue of the Diamond Necklace took place. And this is where that complex and brave, greedy and sympathetic woman, Jeanne de La Motte-Valois, actually lived.

3. The Conciergerie. This is where the accused were kept right before the trial began. It is on the Île de la Cité, right behind and attached to the Palais de Justice. I’m actually not sure how much access there is, but I would love to see the place with my own eyes where Nicole and Jeanne de La Motte-Valois were imprisoned, Nicole with her newborn baby.

4. The Palais de Justice. Here, the Parlement heard the case of a Cardinal who believed he had been told by the Queen to buy a massively expensive diamond necklace on her behalf. The prisoners gave testimony and the verdict was rendered here in the Great Hall. In the front courtyard, the Cour du Mai, Jeanne de La Motte was whipped and branded with the letter “v” on both shoulders (for the French word for thief). This was her punishment for having orchestrated a grand theft (that and life imprisonment–she escaped, though).

5. Place de la Bastille. The prisoners in the Affair of the Necklace trial were kept at the Bastille for most of the months they were imprisoned before the verdict. It was here that Nicole was dragged to from Brussels, and here that Jeanne de La Motte was brought from her home in Bar sur Aube. It was, of course, stormed on July 14, 1789 by revolutionaries and no longer stands. The revolutionary fervor wasn’t a direct result of the trial, but the trial certainly contributed to the growing (and ultimately fatal) disrespect for the monarchy. It’s an important place to visit in Paris, whether or not you care about the Affair of the Necklace.

6. Versailles. I mean the town of Versailles. It was here in the Place Dauphine that Nicole was lodged around the time of the Grove of Venus scene. She was put up here by the La Mottes, and it very well might have been their own residence. In any case, it’s a short walk from the gates of the palace, which means it was easy for the La Mottes and Nicole to walk to the gardens, where Nicole pretended to be the Queen in order to fool Cardinal Rohan.

7. The Chateau de Versailles. This is where quite a bit of trickery happened. Jeanne de La Motte orchestrated a few clever illusions–for instance, the Queen sometimes nodded to people at random. She convinced Cardinal Rohan to wait for that nod as a signal of the Queen’s favor–because the Queen couldn’t come out in public and actually say she favored the Cardinal. The Queen nodded to the crowd, and Rohan believed she was giving him a sign of her favor. Also, out in the gardens, just to the left out the back of the palace and near the orangery, there is the Queen’s Grove, which got the nickname ‘Grove of Venus. ‘ It was here that Nicole d’Oliva played the part of the Queen, handing a flower to Cardinal Rohan and saying to him, “You know what this means.”

8. Palais Royale. This is still a public place, very much in the spirit of the place in the 18th century. It mingled a sordid underworld of prostitutes and crooks with the grandest people in Paris going to see Operas or the art collection. It was owned by the Orleans family, who had some delusions of grandeur. Here, in the summer of 1784, Nicole was approached by Nicolas de La Motte. This was Nicole haunt, and La Motte found her there, noticed she resembled the Queen somewhat, and decided she was the perfect person to fool Cardinal Rohan.

The Palais Royale today

That’s the list. A lot of these places can be glimpsed through Google Street View, but there’s nothing like seeing them in person. Maybe sometime within the next two months, I’ll be able to post my own pictures of these places.

Singapore is a fascinating mix of several cultures – Chinese, Indian, Malays, Eurasians, and Arabs. English is the primary language – although each group uses their own language too – so there is also Chinese, Tamil, etc. English being the universal language makes getting around super easy. Singapore’s population is around 5 million and 80 percent of the people who reside there live in government flats. Our taxi driver told us that they are all the same – 3 bedrooms, kitchen, family room, balcony, and I think two bathrooms.

There is a slight “big brother” feel in Singapore – you are not allowed to bring gum into the country or to chew it (you can smoke however – I know, huh?).  Littering brings a $1,000 fine – your second offense is $2,000. Cameras line the roads and no one crosses the street until the pedestrian light says it is ok to do so. Getting a taxi is easy – you just get in a queue until it is your turn – single file, no cutting, and no bumping. All of that works together to make an organized, efficient, and very clean city.

If you come from Delhi, Singapore will seem like a little slice of very clean heaven. There is little pollution, the sun shines or dances behind a few clouds (don’t forget your sunscreen), and no one honks their horn. Cars even stay in their own lanes. And even though there is traffic, it is not bumper to bumper – it flows nicely.

Because Singapore has so many different cultures co-existing, they seem to celebrate everything. On Friday, a lot of stores were closed for the Muslim celebration of Hajj – the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. And Orchard Road (the famous shopping district) was decorated for Christmas -  Christmas music played in all the stores. It was all sorts of loverly to see all the trees and reindeer smiling along the way.

It was a little funny to be walking in shorts in the high temps and to see this snowman. He did make me smile though.

All in all, Orchard Road was a great place to visit. We found the prices to be pretty high but you could visit any store you might be missing. It’s all here.

So last weekend I was in Moscow. Because I thankfully managed to avoid dying in a tragic train derailment on my way back, I can now share more photos with you than you will be interested in seeing!

St. George, patron saint of Moscow, slaying the dragon...on top of a gigantic stained glass globe, on top of a gigantic mall!

I got to go on this trip at last minute, thanks to someone from the American study abroad program dropping out. Also, it was free! Totally great.

We left on Thursday night on the train. Mostly everybody takes the train from Petersburg to Moscow. It leaves at like 11 or so and gets in at 6:30. If you are a student, this is the perfect interval to get really superdrunk and completely avoid sleeping, even though you get to sleep in a bed on a train, like you’re in some kind of old fashioned movie! Because I am not a student anymore, but am now an adult, beds are more of a novelty to me than alcohol is, so I didn’t party all night.

Which was a good thing! The trainladies wake you up at 5:45 or so to get ready to arrive. That is one early hour. We took the Famous Moscow Metro to our hostel, dropped our bags off, and to the great surprise to all the still-intoxicated students, went  straight to breakfast and a walking tour because on no planet can you check into a hotel at 7am.

Number one surprise of the walking tour: Moscow has hills. How long has it been since I’ve walked up a hill?  Nearly three months. Got none of those in Petersburg, got plenty of them in Moscow. Luckily, I still knew how!

Moscow is actually a really nice city for walking in. It grew, like most European cities, in concentric circles defined by the city walls. Now those walls are gone and have been replaced by boulevards with parks in the middle. There are dozens of churches hiding everywhere in the city center and in general they look quite different from Petersburg churches, which might as well be Catholic by the looks of them. We went into one of these churches to discover that they were actually having, you know, church in there, which was a sort of amazing thing to see. Thus ends my two-year quest to see an Orthodox service (sure it could have ended earlier–its not like I’ve ever lived anywhere far from an Orthodox church). Also: it was the first time I’ve ever seen an actual religious service.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the  Red Square and surrounding areas:

Marx Monument. Every red square's gotta have one.

The back of the Historical Museum (or some military building?) and a statue of a WW! (?) General, Zhukov (I think?)

Oh, hey, what's through that little archway?

Lenin's Mausoleum: Inside you can see Lenin's embalmed corpse, although it was a subject of debate whether any actual flesh remained. Apparently he looks very waxy.

I didn’t go into the Mausoleum. The hours are very limited, though I can’t figure out why. Don’t they want people to see him? Behind the Mausoleum there are many Soviet leaders interred in the Kremlin Wall, including Stalin, for whom that was a serious post-mortem ego-blow.

St. Basil's. Also didn't get to go in here due to weird hours.

They were building a gigantic New Year's Tree and ice skating rink that morning.

They’ve done this all over St. Petersburg too, in addition to putting up fancy lights on every streetlight and across all the major streets. According to Hardie, there’s a law that says the city must have finished New Year’s decorations by December 1st. It’s sort of surprising to me that they’d get on it so early, being as New Year’s isn’t for over a month still, but who am I to complain about the holiday spirit?

GUM - Gosudarstvennyi/Glavnyi Universalnyi Magazin

The mini-GUM-like red roof below is part of the skating rink. GUM (pronounced G OOO M, not like gum) was the main department store in Moscow until the revoltuion, when it was nationalized and became known as the GUM which stood for State Department Store. As the GUM, all of its stores, in Soviet style, could only sell one thing pretty much, so there was like, a sheet music store and a science book store, but none of the glamorama of today (this according to Bryan). It was one of the few places you could actually buy things in the ’50s and beyond and had extremely long lines. Also, it briefly served as an office building and after Stalin’s wife Nadezhda committed suicide, it was used to display her body (ref Wikipedia).

Stuck in the GUM

It is the epitome of turn of the century opulence in architecture. After the fall of the USSR it was privatized again, as the Main Department Store, so conveniently it could still be called GUM!

Nearby there is another old department store called the TsUM, probably for Central (Tsentralnyi) Department Store (imaginative!). Bryan said he worked on their website years and years ago when they were just going online. Apparently, they mis-transliterated their own name and bought the domain www.cum.ru, perhaps thinking it would be more friendly for Western audience.

One more for good measure. New Years Tree completed! I also love that right across from Lenin's tomb there's a gigantic department store that's bigger than everything else on the square.

Also, I autocorrected all these pictures and iPhoto made it seem like the weather wasn’t as completely miserable as it was. It seems in these pictures like it was 3x sunnier than it actually was. It was fucking freezing! Of course in Petersburg that weekend there was a warm spell…

More on Moscow to come!

So sonderbare Orte sucht man nicht auf,
man wird dorthin verschlagen.
Zum Beispiel auf der Suche nach Nahrung.

Jeder Individualreisende in touristisch wenig erschlossenen Gebieten wird die Situation kennen: Die letzte Ortschaft, in der ein Restaurant oder Café aufzutreiben gewesen wäre, liegt kilometerweit hinter den Reisenden.

Was dann folgt, ist das große Nichts.
Allerhöchstens geschlossene Stätten, an denen es zu anderen Uhrzeiten vielleicht etwas zu Essen geben mag, aber mit Sicherheit nicht jetzt, wenn es Dir, Fremder, danach verlangt.

Die estnische Küstenstraße entlang des Peipussees ist keine Gegend, in der sich Supermärkte finden lassen. Allenfalls kleine beschirmte Stände einheimischer Bauern, an denen Kartoffeln feilgeboten werden, sicherlich schmackhaft. Oder Zwiebeln. Noch mehr Kartoffeln und weitere Zwiebeln. Roh. Vielleicht noch rote Beete.

Die Hoffnung heißt Kallaste, ein Fischerort, 1.152 Einwohner.
Doch zu Essen findet sich um diese nachmittägliche Uhrzeit: Nichts.

Vielleicht war es ein Sonntag,
aber vermutlich nicht.

Dafür findet sich etwas anderes;
etwas, das den Hunger vergessen lässt.

Ein Friedhof mit Blick aufs weite Wasser.
Baumbestanden an roter Steilküste.
Russisch-orthodoxe Kreuze und Gräber,
fremd für den lutherisch-geschulten Blick.

Die unmittelbare Nähe des Wassers, der sanft-monotone Wellengang, das Rauschen der Blätter, alles zusammen unterstreicht die Ruhe des Friedhofes – ruhet sanft, ungeschützt den Kräften der Natur ausgesetzt.

Ein Ort, der Reisenden sowohl die eigene Endlichkeit vor Augen führt und diese gleichzeitig mit einem geschärftem Gespür ihrer Lebendigkeit entlässt.

Das der Peipussee nicht irgendein kleiner See in Estland ist, sondern ungefähr achtmal so groß wie der Bodensee ist (und die Grenze Estlands und der EU zu Russland bildet), unterstreicht den  Eindruck, sich an einem Meer zu befinden.

Am Ufer eines endlosen,
großen, weiten Meeres.

Diesen Artikel habe ich ursprünglich auf Qype geschrieben.

Orlando

Orlando the world amazing place in United States of Florida where theme parks are main visiting areas. If you get access to this city then you will see lot of things here apart from theme parks. This city offers more to all travelers who visit here and enjoying holidays. In this city there are so many travel spot places where you make your life memories more memorable and colorful. If you want to stay here then you can find lot of hotels in orlando which will be located to your major sightseeing place. The major attraction and sightseeing place in this city are Disneyland, sea world, universal studio, and winter park. For coming to Orlando tourists can choose any mode which suites their budget and this city has its own airport.

Harry P. Leu Garden

Harry P. Leu gardens one of most famous and beautiful garden in this city. This garden is not a theme park and it is a nature loving place. In this garden you will also find lake at fifty acres of land where you will enjoy boating and fishing. This garden is beautiful landscaped garden. If you want to see largest rose garden then you will find that here and it is one of largest rose garden.

Orlando Science Center

Orlando science center is also one of interesting place where you will get opportunity to see interactive exhibits and this center is also a learning center where you will find logics and can take knowledge of experiments. Nearer to this place you will find lot of cheap hotels where you can enjoy your comfortable stay and get closer to major attractions of Orlando.

The Orchid World

World of orchids is a green house where you will see natural jungle setting, waterfalls, and squawking parrots. At this place you will find so many blooms and this place is one of best wonderful place among all places of Orlando. This place is a thanks giving place and opened all days except weekdays. For seeing this place there is no charge and it is admission free place.

Virginia Beach Good Outdoor Activity With More Adventure City

Virginia Beach is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina, and provides miles of beachfront for activities in the Virginia sun. Fishing, golfing, whale watching, dolphin watching, historic landmarks, and exciting attractions and popular events are part of the beach experience. Virginia Beach is very good travel city in the state of Virginia which is the most popular destination, nightlife, sightseeing, restaurant, cheap hotels and one of the most attraction cities for tourists which are beach, the state parks and Back Bay national wildlife refuge beckon, hiking, kayaking, and biking adventures. To get all the adventure in this city there are many cheap hotels in virginia beach. This city is a good travel city and there also fantastic tourist attraction points include:-

• Cape Henry Lighthouse
• Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
• Mount Trashmore
• The Old Coast Guard Station
• Atlantic Wildfowl Heritage Museum
• State Parks and National Wildlife Refuge
• Virginia Beach Farmers Market
• Golfing, Surfing, Kayaking and Canoeing
• Running, Fishing, Dolphin and Whale Watching

Ocean City Top Amusement Parks

One of the most famous attractions in Ocean City, Maryland is their amusement parks.  This exciting form of entertainment is fun for all ages and is reason alone to vacation in this city. Some of the most popular parks are Trampers rides on the Boardwalk Jolly Rogers on 30th street, and frontier town in west ocean city. The very old carousel is 50 feet in diameter, featuring 45 hand-carved wooded animals, 3 chariots, and a rocking chair.  Originally driven by a vapor engine and only costing a nickel, the ride is now electrified and costs four tickets, which is $2.00. Ocean City is the most popular for its sightseeing, attractions, destinations, nightlife, and accommodation listing like cheap hotels. This city attracts so many visitors for many things like clean beaches, boardwalk, convention centers, amusement parks, and cheap hotels in ocean city that can get from best travel sites.

Ich dachte ja, dass Rivière du Loup nicht so groß ist und dass es problemlos möglich sein sollte, sich alles an einem Tag anzusehen. War es auch, aber nicht ohne Plattbeene deluxe. Vormittags war ich mir den Wasserfall und den Parc de la Croix ansehen. Nachmittags bin ich zum Sankt-Lorenz-Strom gelaufen. Gerade noch bevor richtig dichter Nebel aufzog, konnte ich ein paar nette Bilder machen, auch wenn die ziemlich Grau in Grau sind – leider…

Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum

Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum is an excellent museum and a real gem in San Antonio.  The art collection is outstanding and the grounds are very beautiful. Unlike a lot of other museums it is a perfect size – I got through the collection in about an hour and a half and the whole grounds in two. This museum is known as the first modern art museum in Texas.  Founded by Marion K. McNay, an heiress, collector, artist, and patron in so many ways, I not only love the museum itself but also the story of its founder. San Antonio is second largest city in the united states of Texas and most popular for its sightseeing, attractions, destinations, nightlife, and accommodation listing like cheap hotels. There is a lot to do in this city include fine art museums, historical missions and plenty of amusement parks in addition to great dining, drinking and hotels in san antonio.

Die Übernachtungsfrage ist geklärt. Wir sollten Euch alle unterbringen können. Neben der großen Jugendherberge, ein bisschen außerhalb, haben wir noch ein stadtnahes Hostel gefunden. Zudem konnten wir letzte Woche unseren Rektor als Schirmherrn für die Tagung gewinnen.

Rektor und Koffer bei der Unterzeichnung wichtiger Verträge

Nun müssen noch ein paar Finanzangelegenheiten, die Raumfrage und die Sache mit dem Tagungsbüro geklärt werden. Letzteres wird eine Überraschung, wenn alles so klappt, wie wir uns das vorstellen. Dann können wir auch endlich inhaltlich einsteigen und die workshops planen.

P.S. Danke für die Verlinkungen auf eueren Fachschaftsseiten!

Det är idag bara 9 veckor tills vi åker…eller 63 dagar…och vi längtar! The Land of Smiles…Amazing Thailand…igen!

Video: YouTube.com

On Monday, Vince picked up the cell group to view the sunflowers in bloom. Apparently the sunflower season in this province is renowned for its fields of sunflowers. When we got there, we had to pay 5 baht per person to take piccies among the flowers.

I went to Brighton for a day at the seaside on Sunday, damn was the weather rough.  As soon as I turned the corner onto the coast road I was pushed back by the wind and literally felt bruised by the rain.  The sea was crazy rough with the highest waves that I have ever seen in the UK.  In fact higher waves than I saw in California this summer.  Pretty intense.

Here’s a taster, obviously other cooler pictures will feature in an obligatory facebook album that shall appear at a later date.

Stand by for a real blog entry tomorrow.

DSC_0086.JPG, originally uploaded by videclix.

Det har gått ett tag nu. Var någon vecka sedan jag uppdaterade om den nu återkommande vardagen. Det har givetvis hänt en hel del.

Skolan går framåt. Har fått börja ta tag i boken även efter skolan nu. Första hela kapitlet med saker jag inte hade det blekaste om har dykt upp och drivit förbi. Så från och med nu lär det nog bli lite mer timmar efter skolan med skola. Har trots allt haft en ganska skön tillvaro hittills jämfört iom att jag glidit lite på det jag kunnat sen innan.

Har blivit indirekt erbjuden ett jobb också, som servitör/barmästare på en irländsk pub inte alltför långt från mitt hem. En kille i klassen som jobbar där har fått ett annat jobb i Osaka och han frågade mig idag om jag var intresserad av att “ta över” efter honom så att säga. Jag vet inte om jag skall ta det dock, är 6h 4 dagar i veckan och det kan bli tungt att kombinera med skolan. Arbetstiden är dessutom fast, iofs på gott och ont. Annars verkar det som att det finns ett jobb på SevenEleven som ligger något hus bort från här. Skillnaden är att det jobbet nog är lite enklare, fast kräver mer japanska, kan välja tider bättre (öppet dygnet runt!) men lönen är lite sämre… eller ganska mycket sämre. Får 1000 yen i baren och 840 yen på 7/11 vilket är 80 kr kontra 65 kr (efter skatten på 5%..)
Behöver ju egentligen inte jobba, men det hade varit skönt att kunna dra in lite pengar och sedan kanske ha dom när skolan är slut i september (och CSN!). Har ju visa till januari 2011.

Helgen som gick var kanon. Blev en svänga äta och dricka så mycket man hinner på 90min för knappa 200 kr med några japaner som var i Lund förra året samt några svenskar som pluggar här i Tokyo via Lunds Universitet. Vi lyckades dricka på ganska bra, vi krävde in några beställda öl som uteblivit ca 10 min innan tiden gick ut vilket slutade med att i runda slängar 3-4 personer svingade 8 bägare på… ja, 10 min. Efteråt blev det karaoke och lite ännu senare en runda bar med kycklingbrosk och 1-litersöl.

Igår, måndag, som var en röd dag här, tog jag och Yuli vagnen till Tokyo Centralstation. Det var helt fantastiskt väder och jag sprang runt i t-shirt. Rätt skönt efter dom två senaste veckorna av knappa 10 grader. Vi gick omkring bland några helt fantastiska byggnader som världens elit tryckt upp mellan stationen och kejsarens trädgård (fick höra att japans kejsare teoretiskt är världens rikaste människa eftersom marken där palatset och trädgården ligger är värt såpass mycket, men att pga av det historiska och kulturella värdet räknas det inte. Zooma ut på kartan så ser man hur fucking jävla stort det är). Åt en dyrare nudelskål och sedan sprang vi runt i Ginza. Vår ursprungliga plan var att gå runt till det kejserliga palatset och ströva omkring lite i trädgården, men eftersom det fanns så sjukt mycket att se dom 500 m mellan stationen och trädgården så blev det en vända där istället vilket slutade med att vi befann oss i Ginza. Slängde upp en del bilder där ifrån samt en utflykt jag gjorde till Asakusa i lördags i flickr, men tyvärr så har flickr en begränsning på 100mb per månad så alla bilder kom inte med. Men jag kör upp dom nästa vecka. Bilden här ovanför är på Asahi Breweries huvudkontor i Asakusa.

Imorgon skall det vara 17°C. Iofs skall det regna med..

Bei sonnigen leichten Minusgraden habe ich gestern alles Sehenswerte abgeklappert – außer Founder’s Hall, die war zu. Keine Ahnung, wieviele Kilometer ich gestern zusammengekriegt habe, aber es waren sicher nicht wenig. Ich war einmal komplett durch Downtown, dann zu Beaconsfield House, Fanningbank, im Anne-of-Green-Gables-Store (peinlich, peinlich, dabei wollte ich mich doch nicht vom Anne-of-Green-Gables-Hype tragen lassen – und nun habe ich ausgerechnet da meine Charlottetown-Souvenirs gekauft), eine Handvoll Kirchen (oder auch zwei, davon gibt es hier ja genug , Ardgowan und abschließend noch in der Charlottetown Mall (wo ich richtig viel Glück hatte und einen günstigen Ersatz für meine heißgeliebte, verstorbene Wal-Mart-Jeans bekam).

Hier einige Eindrücke:

Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center

Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center was the biggest centre and contains the great attractions of the aquarium and marine science centre. This is a very beautiful and nice aquarium. There are also 800,000 gallons of one of the best aquariums and live animal habitats in the country at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center which is check out our hundreds of hands-on exhibits, outdoor aviary, nature trail, and marshlands. Virginia Beach is very good travel city in the state of Virginia which is the most popular destination, nightlife, sightseeing, restaurant, cheap hotels in virginia beach and one of the most attraction cities for tourists which are beach, the state parks and Back Bay national wildlife refuge beckon, hiking, kayaking, and biking adventures. Virginia Beach is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay and North Carolina, and provides miles of beachfront for activities in the Virginia sun.