Listen to radio around the world

http://radio.garden/ What a neat site. I'm listening to Ufa, Russia, Radio Chanson. Each green dot on the globe represents a city/town with a station or five or six. Vast expanses of the world have no radio stations.  Stopped in Italy, France, Turkey, Romania--all were playing U.S. rock or similar. Found a Russian language speaker in Ufa, but now is playing Russian pop/rock/folk. Moved on the St. Petersburg and found a Christian station, http://radiomaria.ru/  They are speaking slowly and calmly,  and I can catch a few words. Also visited Lithuania and Norway.

My brother-in-law loves to say phrases in other languages and greet people.  He would love this one.

Caught in the Revolution--advance copy

I received an exciting advance copy to review this week, Helen Rappaport, "Caught in the Revolution; Petrograd, Russia, 1917--a World on the Edge." (St. Marin's Press, due February 2017). It's written from research using foreigners' diaries and letters who were eye witnesses caught in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Review copies don't have the photos ;-(  but the list of eye witnesses is certainly interesting. The list includes Julia Dent Grant, granddaughter of president Grant, the black valet of the American ambassador, as well as many journalists and correspondents. One really piqued my interest, Emmeline Pankhurst, and I'll have to do a bit more research on her.

 

We visited this city in 2006--traveling there by train from Helsinki, Finland. St. Petersburg was created in 1703 by Peter the Great who wanted a seaport, then the name changed to Petrograd in 1914 (burg is German and grad is Russian for city), then Leningrad in 1924 for Vladimir Lenin, and then after the Communist regime collapsed, the people voted to change it back to St. Petersburg.

Retro-Soviet art

When visiting the former Soviet Union, specifically St. Petersburg (aka Leningrad, Petrograd), "if you are really interested in art and have limited time, I'd go for the Museum of Russian Art, Государственный Русский музей. The Hermitage is European art, but the other is Russian art, and much of it you've probably never seen, not even in art books or classes. There was a huge display of Soviet era art [summer of 2006], both the public and the underground." Me blogging about Russia. Neo-Neocon thinks this Obama poster is retro-Soviet; some of her readers say it is Che-lite, others Yugoslav partisan. It makes me nostalgic for my early career years in Soviet studies, shuffling the PL480 novels about machine-tractor station romances and 5-year plans.

"Art has a duty to speak out fiercely and courageously against oppression, exploitation, lies and hypocrisy in all their manifestations. It must point to the possibility of a better life and a better world. It matters not that the message lacks clarity, that it is incomplete and imperfect, and that it deals only with this or that particular. Art is not politics or science. It has its own identity and speaks with its own voice. While adopting a passionate stance on the great issues facing humanity, it must ever remain true to itself." In defence of Marxism.

Oh yeah! Slogans and Shibboleth. I'm picking up my poster right now to go march in the streets.

Trip Tale: St. Petersburg, The Peter and Paul Fortress

When Peter the Great of Russia decided he needed a city on the Gulf of Finland he built a fort to fight off the Swedes, the enemy of the day. Later when Sweden lost The Finnish War to Russia, Finland became a Grand Duchy of Russia, gaining its independence in 1917. This fortress (Петропавловская крепость) was begun in 1703 but served also as a prison. In the middle of the fortress stands the impressive Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of all the Russian Emperors and Empresses from Peter the Great to Alexander III and recently the remains of the last tsar, Nicholas II and his family and entourage, who were murdered by the Bolsheviks were also interred there. Other buildings in the fortress include the City History Museum and the Mint, one of only two places in Russia where coins and medals are minted. It is located on an island, Zayachii Ostrov.

The cathedral



Tsar Nicholas II family

Trip Tale: Kalinka, Kalinka

A Russian chorus and folk dance troupe performed in our hotel's theater in St. Petersburg. Our tour guide had offered to set something up for us, but Gloria spotted a notice that one would perform in our hotel. Seven buses brought cruise ship tourists, but the hall wasn't filled. The performance was lovely, and we didn't even have to leave the building. After dinner in the hotel dining room at 7 p.m., we just walked up a flight and enjoyed the fabulous talent of this group with a live orchestra.


Калинка, калинка, калинка моя,
В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя,

Под сосною под зеленою
Спать положите вы меня.

Ах! Сосенушка ты зеленая,
Не шуми же надо мной!

Ах! Красавица, душа девица,
Полюби же ты меня!

folk singers
St. Petersburg, Russia

Trip Tale: Our tour group, The G-6

It's not clear what happened to the rest of them, but by the time we got on the Sibelius train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, there were only six left of the original tour group. The G-8 had caused some shuffling of hotels and tourist sites, so I suppose the others decided to go another time. The six of us had a terrific time and were great companions. Both of the other couples had been touring Scandinavia, although not together, and like us, decided they'd rather have a little help with Russia. We called ourselves the G-6 since the G-8 was meeting in the city at the same time. This way we could all have a window seat in the van, and could all hear our guide. The other two couples, Betty Lou and Barry from Seattle and Gloria and Doug from Cape Cod, had much more travel experience than we did, but we were all novices in Russia!

At the Hermitage

In our hotel dining room

Nordic Saga Tours