My day yesterday was filled with shopping and cooking so I never really had a chance to get outside to walk. I made up for that today with a three hour plus walk which took me to some fascinating locales. I wanted to walk through some of my favorite parks to see what April has brought in the way of flowers or budding trees, but alas, it is still too early here and the best I found was a little clump of tulip shoots just breaking through the still cold soil. It was a cool day with a strong wind that encouraged a brisk pace and before long I had a nice sweat going despite the chill in the air.
My plan was to follow the bus 54 route to see where it turns around, but as they say, “mortals plan; the gods laugh.” I was heading in the right direction but came to a little pond and wanted to walk around it to see if it drained into the Moscow River, which was rather close at this point. The pond ended rather abruptly at a little shack, which dispensed some type of oil for cars. There were lots of guys gathered around with five liter jugs getting them filled and then filling their engines. For all I know they drained their oil right into the pond and then filled up at the shack; nothing is beyond the scope of Russians.
I headed towards the river and came to a rather elaborate gate that led to a beautiful park that I later discovered is called Presnya Park and is filled with canals and decorative bridges. Today there were lots of mothers with kids on bikes, on scooters and tucked in prams, all enjoying the lovely morning sunshine. It appears that at one time there was a grand palace on this property, which faces the Moscow River. The canals were all man made and for decoration as opposed to functioning as waterways as they do in Venice. The park is named for a river, The Presnya, which used to feed the canals as well as fill Patriarch Pond and the two large ponds at the Zoo. Now the river has been diverted underground but still empties into the Moscow River at this park.
From there I headed down towards a large enclosed pedestrian bridge that I saw in the distance that I hoped would take me across the river. It is a very modern looking structure and once inside I marveled at the high-end shops that lined the walk over the river. Lots of nice restaurants, food and ice cream kiosks and, as everywhere in Moscow, loads of places to buy cell phones and SIM cards. It also afforded fabulous views up and down the Moscow River, which is once again fill with all types of tourist boats.
I followed the river all the way up to the bend before finding stairs up to a bridge, which took me back to the other side where I then headed for the embassy. I did a little shopping there before heading back to the apartment. I was tired and hungry when I got here but it did feel great to get out and do some serious moving.
I continue to read with great anxiety the continuing saga of the collapse of civility in Bahrain. Yesterday they suspended and held for trial 111 teachers who had the audacity to peacefully protest for greater human rights and recognition. Their real crime, of course, is being Shi’a in a Sunni ruled land. The authorities continue to round up doctors and ambulance drivers who treated those injured by the security forces of Bahrain during their peaceful demonstrations; their crime was helping the wounded. Even athletes and Peace Activists are not immune from the threat of suspension if they are Shi’a. They now have involved troops from other Gulf nations, mostly Saudi Arabia, in house to house searches for those they believe to be protestors, all again who are Shi’a. Imagine troops from Mexico or Canada coming into a home in the USA looking for ‘terrorists’ without warrants or due process. It gives pause que? eh? They have gone to great lengths to make sure that Bahrain TV only tells the government side of the issues and BTV makes Fox look liberal.
If you want to see what some of this is about, I encourage you to take a look at this link which shows rather graphically, with the aid of Google Earth, how much land and resources are controlled by the small royal family of Bahrain. The people want representative democracy so that they can all claim a fair share of resources but it is not going to happen any time soon and it certainly isn’t going to happen with the assistance of the USA. We pick our battles by first demonizing the leaders and then destroying the infrastructure of the country as we did in Iraq and Afghanistan. We can’t do that in Bahrain since it is home to our Fifth Fleet so we condemn all the other countries of the Middle East for not allowing democracy to flower, while turning a blind eye towards the tortures and torments of those outside the gates of our base in Bahrain. The government is even monitoring Bahraini students, all Shi’a, who are studying overseas and had the audacity to protest in London, or Manchester, Oxford or Essex. They are summoning them back after canceling their scholarships!
Enough with politics! Let’s talk dinner. I made two dinners last night, well one dinner for two families. I did a variation on the theme of Basque Chicken. In addition to the chicken, sausage, red, yellow and green sweet peppers, garlic and onion, I added diced potatoes and lots of paprika. It was, according to Cindy, the best of the many times I’ve cooked this dish. We went over to the family’s apartment with their dinner about 6:45. In addition to the Basque Chicken we brought over some fresh crusty French bread, an apple strudel, and a bottle of dry Tokaj. He is Hungarian - thus the wine, the paprika, and the Basque dish since the only languages that are similar to Hungarian are Basque and Finnish and I don’t have any Finnish recipes. We also brought a cold bottle of Champagne to toast the new baby Zsofi. (I did mention he is Hungarian?) She is a lovely child with a full head of thick black hair and the longest fingers I’ve ever seen on a one-week old baby. It was lovely to meet her.
Best to all, Cindy and Wm.
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