Georgian Blues

We had to get new Metro Passes so when Cindy came home we had a short cocktail hour to let the crowds thin and then we walked to the station and purchased our passes.  We then headed to our Georgian restaurant for an early dinner. The joint was almost empty at 7pm so we headed to our favorite table and sat down. Soon a waitress, who was new to us, came up to take our order.  She had wonderful English and was able to help us learn to pronounce new words.  We had a great meal with our favorite grilled quail and three glasses of wine; we shared a rich red with the quail.  When the bill came, it seemed rather high for the modest meal we had so I checked it carefully.  She had charged us 300 rubles per glass of wine instead of the 150 it should have been.  I brought it to her attention and she said, “Oh, you had the Georgian Wine, which is 300 per glass.”  I told her we most certainly did not have Georgian wine and asked her to show me where that was on the menu.  Only full bottles of Georgian wine are available and yet she persisted in trying to tell us we had Georgian wine.  She must have thought that I had just fallen off the beet wagon!  I very gently, but firmly handed her the bill and told her to adjust it.  She did, but not before making sure we knew that she had given us Georgian wine.  We left her the normal tip and left the restaurant feeling like we had lost a good friend.  Now we have to be super careful when we go there, or anywhere in Moscow, and it will not seem as relaxed and friendly as it had been.

Seems that they are giving out awards to everyone in Russian this week.  The Spies that Couldn’t, who were deported several months ago, all got awards at the Kremlin yesterday.  Goodness, I wonder what the good ones we don’t know about get?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/world/europe/19russia.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

It is 8:30 and I’m ready to head out to the Metro to go to the train station to go to the airport.  More luggage to schlep again since I’ve a lot to bring back from Charles Town next week.  At least it doesn’t weight much since there is nothing in it, a perk of going home where I have everything waiting for me.

The same thing that happened to me in April when I came to Moscow happened to Robert Di Nero over the weekend.  Well almost the same. He arrived in a private jet, but was still hassled over his visa.  I feel so much better. http://www.oochoo.com/2010/10/robert-de-niro-is-in-moscow/

That’s it from Moscow for me.  Stay well, William

Penultimate Meal in Zagreb

Cindy was up and out at the crack of pre-dawn and she graciously allowed me to sleep in since my chest cold has gotten worse and not better.  I’m departing for DC tomorrow and don’t want to be all congested and coughing on the eleven hour flight. I woke up at about 8:15 to the sound of the door opening and someone saying something. I had a coughing fit as I sat up and then heard the door close.  Later this morning one of the Green Guys came by and said, well I think he said, he had seen the door open and knew Cindy was gone and wanted to check to make sure everything was okay.  These Green Guys are Great.

It was far too late for us to go out to dinner last night so I found some leftover pasta sauce that I had made for Cindy to use on my last trip. I doctored it up with stuff around the house and we had a lovely pasta repast with a glass of wine and then headed right for bed.  Poor Cindy must be exhausted at this point.

On Saturday afternoon, Cindy’s meetings ended at two and they had arranged a city tour for the participants of the conference.  They swung by and picked me up and we headed for the old Mirogoj Cemetery.  This place is a gem, with some of the most beautiful buildings of classic design I’ve seen anywhere. We walked around for a while enjoying the informative talk that our guide presented as much as we were enjoying the beautiful day.  Here is a link to the best bits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirogoj_Cemetery

We toured the rest of the city for another few hours and our lovely guide, Doris, filled in lots of gaps for me.  While I had walked the entire city, she had all the historical background and odd and interesting tidbits that really made the city even more enjoyable for me.  She also had lots of funny stories about other tour groups that she guides around the city. She said the Japanese will do exactly what you tell them to do and will not move until told to move, whereas the Thais will get off the tour bus and disappear. I had seen some interesting cross-cultural antics at noon while watching the Changing of the Guard.  There was a group of older Japanese women who were down the hill where the horses were gathered before the start of the ceremony. They were taking a million photos and videos and as the horses started up the hill, passing the women, they began to run after them taking photos.

Now I’m not much of a horseman, but when I lived in Winona I would go on trail rides with Lynn Nankivil who had lots of horses on the farm.  The one thing I remember being told is that you never come up behind a horse since they get quite nervous.  No one had told the Japanese women this and they came running up right behind the last horse who swayed to the left, knocking the two women right off their feet and into the crowd.  Not to be discouraged by this temporary setback, they got right up, grabbed their cameras and started heading for the horses again. Fortunately one of the policemen who had witnessed this stopped them from getting anywhere near the procession. 

The night before we had been taken to the marvelous brewery owned Medvedgrad Beer Hall. The beer here is simply delicious, very much like a Munich beer - light, refreshing and the last sip is as delightful as the first. The food was typical beer hall offering, good quality and plentiful.  They even had some wine for Cindy.  Here is a link to them:

http://www.pivnica-medvedgrad.hr/o_nama-eng.html

Saturday night was the farewell dinner for the IT group and I was once again graciously invited to attend. Our host, Neven, had arranged for us to go to a typical Zagreb restaurant for traditional food and beverages.  We walked over to the base of a big hill and then went up 166 steps to get to this little gem of a restaurant.  We walked in and the owner, a man in his eighties and dressed to the nines, greeted us and escorted us to the big table that was to be ours for the evening.  The smells were already beginning to drive me nuts since we were very close to the kitchen.  Neven had done all of the ordering beforehand so that our only decision was what to drink.  First came the slivovitz, that fiery plum brandy which did much to awaken our senses and increase our appetites.

“If there is one product that typifies Zagreb, then it is štrukli – dough, rolled and prepared in a specific way and filled with cream and cheese. Here we talk about its age-old tradition, and ways of preparation.  The humble but precious štrukli has seen proud Croats fight its corner with the Eurocrats in Brussels. The Ministry of Culture had to proclaim this traditional dish of rolled dough, fresh cow’s cheese, eggs and cream a cultural icon.”  From a Zagreb guide to local food.

This would be worth the trip!

We all treated it with reverence and dispatched it quickly. It was simply divine and if the meal had ended there, I would have been completely happy, but of course it did not.  Out came liters of wine, beer and water followed by platters of food, served family style. There were a baker’s dozen of us and there was enough food for twice that number. 

Two outstanding soups started the next course - a rich cream based mushroom soup that was filled with a variety of fresh mushrooms from that day’s market, and a clear beef soup with thin pasta and veggies.  The fragrance of these soups was only matched by their earthy flavors and textures.  Before the main dishes came out, great big plates of pickled cabbage, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and shredded carrots were brought to the table. I was told that you eat the salad with the meal to cut the heavy meats. Boy, was that an understatement!

First came Pasticada, a stewed beef dish originally from Dalmatia (and sometimes referred to as "Dalmatinska pasticada"). It was served with gnocchi (dumplings) that absorbed the magnificent juices. There were hints of honey, cinnamon, orange, nutmeg, bay leaf and wine and it went fast.

Next came oven-roasted veal shank that was presented on a huge tray with heavenly potatoes and root veggies.  The meat was falling off the bone and the skin was crisp and delicious.  Finally, even though we didn’t really need any more food, out came the roasted duck served with a kind of flat pasta that had been pan fried and browned in duck fat. 

Duck Delight

My goodness, one bite of this and I felt like I was in a deep forest in front of a roaring fire; it was a dish to be cherished. 

When we all thought we might explode, out came two strudels, one a sour cherry and the other apple.  No one was eating to be polite anymore. We were digging in like there was no tomorrow and enjoying every savory mouthful.  I now understood why we had such an early reservation. We needed four hours to eat this feast and no one left early!!  Thank goodness we had fine weather so that we could walk home the long way and start to digest this lovely dinner.

Apple Strudel

Sour Cherry Strudel

I filled my day today with multiple loads of laundry and then doing the food shopping for Cindy. I must say that I really noticed how cold and distant Muscovites are, especially when compared to the good folks of Zagreb.  The first thing that Cindy noticed when we were in the markets in Zagreb was how friendly everyone was.  The ladies in the pickled cabbage section of the market must have been the friendliest with huge grins and genuine warmth; they each greeted us like long lost friends.  The other thing I noticed today was that I didn’t hear one car horn blaring the entire time I was in Zagreb.  Today on my short walk to the market I heard dozens and saw two accidents, again something I had not noticed in Zagreb.

I’ll most likely not be writing much in Charles Town so perhaps you’ll get to hear more about what Cindy is experiencing during my week in the States.  Best wishes, Cindy and Wm 

Parting was such Sweet Sorrow

It is nine pm and we have just returned from Zagreb, parting was such sweet sorrow!  We had an uneventful flight arriving on time but the luggage took forever to appear and then we hit the normal heavy traffic so from the time we landed until the time we arrived was about two hours.

This morning we managed to go for a very long walk as I took Cindy to my favorite new market, which was open but not as vibrant on a Sunday.  We then headed to the central market and Cindy got two lovely scarves and I got a beautiful leather bag to carry on my walks and trips.  The prices were really low compared to here.  We hit a coffee bar for some macchiato and then back to the hotel to have breakfast and pack.   The weather held off until we departed the hotel when it started to rain and get rather cold, at least for Zagreb.

I’ll give a detailed account of our last meal, which requires time.   Ciao for now,  Cindy and Wm.

Zagreb Mini-Market

It was 8:50 in the morning and I was engaging the young man pouring the wine in light banter about the joys of drinking in the morning.  I had stumbled upon a real neighborhood market, far from the fancy ones I had visited yesterday.  Here they wore cloth coats and cheap boots, not the leather of the monied marketers. This was a market for the neighborhood where all of the ladies had little bags on wheels and the men had hand baskets.  Jon sold wine out of huge aluminum barrels, five wines, two white, three red and everyone had brought their own container.  Jon had learned English wandering around California working in vineyards and then came home to work with his family selling wines to the public from various wine co-ops.  This was good, very young wine, only about 11% alcohol and cold enough since it has been in the barrels overnight and the night had been chilly.

I thanked him for the samples and looked around the market some more and found more similarities to yesterday’s experience, but on a much smaller scale.  Whereas the big markets had six or eight stalls for chicken and six or eight for turkey, this one had two for poultry.  Everything was as clean and neat as yesterday, but there was more familiarity here, with everyone greeting everyone else by name.  It felt good to be there and I felt obligated to buy something so I purchased a nice bag of egg pasta, which I can’t wait to cook back in Moscow.

I lingered for about an hour and then headed home through a nice little park and found a small café for my morning macchiato.  The water here is wonderful, right from the tap, and that helps to explain why the coffee is so good. When you start with really good water run through good coffee, you’re bound to end up with a good drink.  I had breakfast as soon as I came back to the hotel and focused on the fruit, cheese and homemade bread and jam.  I was having a grand old time when one of the wait staff came over and brought me a lovely flute of French sparkling wine.  She had had a problem with my name yesterday and couldn’t find it on the list and wanted me to pay.  I wrote my name out and she couldn’t believe how it was spelled and felt terrible that she had questioned me, so the wine was her ‘apology’.  I was on a roll, three kinds of wine in two hours, and it was still morning!

After I cleaned up and changed I headed out since I had to be back at the hotel at two for a tour with Cindy’s group.  I walked around the Botanical Garden for almost an hour and enjoyed reading all about the plants and trees and wildlife.  There are two ponds with little bridges and a host of places to just sit and think. It was so tranquil and relaxing, but time was flying and I was out of there in a flash heading to the only department store in town.  I got Cindy a powerful hair dryer since the one she has in Moscow takes forever to get the job done.  Once that transaction was over, and there is a story there but I’ve not the time to tell it, I was heading up 110 stairs to the upper village to get there in time for the Changing of the Guard Ceremony by the Regiment of the Cravat.  Zagreb is said to be the place where neckties were invented.  The Regiment of the Cravat wore red scarves tied around their necks and when they fought with the French, who always appreciate style, they copied the scarves and called them Croats, which became cravats in French.

Okay, that is the end of the story for today since we have to be downstairs for a god awful early dinner!!  More tomorrow, Cindy and Wm

PS He means the timing is god awful because it’s so early – we’re going to a Croatian restaurant and I’m reasonably sure the food will be good!

The Markets of Zagreb

I’m an enthusiastic but sometimes jaded traveler and I don’t always get worked up over cities and towns, but Zagreb has overwhelmed me.  This is one lovely, laid back, grand dame of a city.  Coffee and cigarettes fuel the locals, sitting for hours in one of the million or so cafes all over town, drinking Italian espresso and filling the air with their gesturing hands and their pungent cigarette smoke.  These are really Italians by nature; even their conversation cadence is Italian. They dress like the rich from Trieste or Milan and they love to share their intimacies.

I walked for ninety minutes before breakfast and for five hours after breakfast and I think I have a real feel for this burg.  I didn’t bring a camera so you can visit this site and click on any of the categories to see some remarkable pictures. http://www.zagreb-touristinfo.hr/?id=37&l=e

Today was just beautiful and I think I visited all of the parks and squares and churches in the inner city but what really blew me away was the market.  It is a three story affair, with meats, fowl, pasta, pickled veggies, breads, cheeses, eggs, and a host of other goodies on the first floor, all brightly lit, clean as a whistle and smelling like heaven.  Up one flight of stairs and you come to some specialized fish and fowl places and lots of little stalls to purchase hot food that is cooked on demand.  Up one more flight and you are outside in a huge square filled with stalls selling all manner of fresh veggies.  Little cafes surround all of this where folks drink wine and coffee and talk about the day’s events as they gaze at the market and the grand cathedral in the distance.

Up one more little level and you have a really large fish market with some of the best looking fish I’ve seen anywhere. This was thronged with folks who still carry on the old Catholic tradition of fish on Friday.  Outside of this hall was another large square filled with flowers, bright, fragrant, beautiful flowers and plants.  Either side of this square is filled with little kiosks selling clothing, leather goods, underwear, winter coats, hats and gloves and all matter of accessories.

I spent almost an hour there just taking it all in and then two hours later I returned for another hour just to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. I wished that I knew someone in Zagreb so that I could just start buying things and cooking all weekend.  These are very friendly people who greet you as you pass their stalls, even if you have no intention of stopping or purchasing anything. It is just their way, and I think it is a lovely tradition.

In the main square of the lower town they were having a Honey Fest, which was so unlike the one we attended in Moscow.  Here the stalls were well spaced and everyone could walk around and sample goods without crushing everyone in their path.  Like the Moscow event, this one was well attended by honeybees hoping to take back a bit of their labors. 

I took a little break on a side street that had a little café with a sign indicating that they served Segafredo coffee, one of my favorites.  I went in and ordered an espresso macchiato and the way I said it must have made the guy think I was Italian so he replied in Italian and we were off to the races. It was a really fun ten minutes of talking, mostly about coffee, and I was shocked to discover that a wonderful coffee here only costs about $1.30, compared to about $3.10 in Moscow.  Here every café serves the coffee on a little tray that has a napkin, spoon, packets of sugar and a glass of ice-cold water on a little saucer. Ever so civil.

Last night Cindy’s group all met in the lobby and the host of this event marched us to a Mexican restaurant!!  Here we are in Zagreb with a rich history of excellent food and we end up at a Mexican restaurant.  The highlight of the evening was the little three-piece group that played all the music of the Buena Vista Social Club, that great Havana tradition. They were simply wonderful.  We were exhausted by the time we returned and collapsed for seven hours before Cindy had to get up and get ready for the first day of the conference.  As I was walking today, I realized, “This is what it really means to be retired! I felt sorry for Cindy, but not sorry enough to have it ruin my day.

From CC:  Oh, isn’t he the funny one, feeling sorry for me.  He’s right, it was a GORGEOUS day but I was stuck inside a school all day.  There are about a dozen of us at this conference, mostly men, mostly younger than I am – and all very nice and knowledgeable people. Most of them are more “techie” than I am, but it seems to be a trend for international schools to also have an educational specialist along with the technical specialists and some of these guys wear both hats.  It was cool to hear about the issues of the other schools in Eastern Europe, including Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Tallinn, and Sofia.  The day started by everyone finding a place at some tables that had been set up for us, and after about a minute I realized I was the only one who had not unpacked a laptop!  Oops. We had one with us but I was sharing it with Wm and it was back in the room.  I guess I’ll have to wrestle it away from him tomorrow.

Happy Weekend, Cindy and Wm

Zagreb, Day One

Woke up this morning to the news that The 33 were all recovered from their earthen tomb. Celebrated with strong coffee and lemon tart.  We finished packing, dressed and were out the door at 8:30 for the 9:00 train to the airport.  It was a very, very cold morning with a strong wind making the walk to the station invigorating to say the least.  The train took us mostly through seedy neighborhoods until we reached the outskirts of Moscow when the tenements turned into birch forests studded with dachas.  Soon we came to a bend in the Moscow River where it connects to the Moscow Canal and there were two huge marinas with some of the most expensive boats I’ve ever seen anywhere. What a surprise.

The train deposited us right on time in the middle of the airport complex and we had a fifteen-minute indoor walk to our terminal, which was almost deserted.  We breezed though immigration and security found that we still had two hours before the flight departed.  I found a club that I didn’t have access to and just for the fun of it, decided to try to talk my way in.  I did, much to Cindy’s delight since she really had no idea what I was doing.  We whiled away the time there and had an uneventful trip to Zagreb.  My oh my, what a city.  I’ll write lots more about it tomorrow but it is a little gem.  We got to the hotel, unpacked and Cindy dragged me to the Mimara Museum, which is as big as it is eclectic.  Again, more tomorrow. 

http://www.zagreb-touristinfo.hr/?id=277&l=e&solo=275

Mimara Museum, we did it all!

Renoir, centerpiece of the collection

We walked to the old city and finally just got back and we are really tired and have one hour to recover before we are picked up for drinks and dinner.  Must go. Cindy and Wm

First Snow!!

It SNOWED today!!  October 13^th and it snowed. It didn’t stick but it was a driving snow and very cold so we are bracing for what might come our way this winter.  I went to AAS with Cindy this morning and all of the kids were over the moon with the snow.  I’m going to be doing some History of Wine/Wine Tastings for staff over the next several months and then in March I’m going to auction off private tastings for the parents, all to raise money for the school.  It should be grand fun.  I’m also hoping to volunteer my time as a Professional Development Coach for teachers who want to continue with their growth but are not at all sure how to go about that at a distance. 

How many light bulbs does it take to change a light bulb?  The answer is four!  As strange as it seems, we have to call the Green Guys to change light bulbs in the ceiling units since we don’t have a ladder or step stool and I’ll be darned it I’m going to stand on a chair.  So, one of them came right away and got on the ladder and changed the bulb but it didn’t work. He then played with a screwdriver and the connections and it still didn’t work. I took the bulb from him and placed it in a table lamp and it didn’t work because it was defective. We played this game four times before finding a bulb that worked.  Sometimes I think things haven’t really changed that much in Russia.

While at the embassy yesterday I thought I’d try to get a haircut so I sat outside the salon until they opened at 10 am (as the sign indicated).  They didn’t open at 10 and in fact didn’t open until 10:35.  When the door was unlocked I went in and asked if they had an opening this morning.  The shop is run by Russians and the conversation went something like this:

“Can I get a hair cut this morning?”  She looks at her list and looks and looks and says,

“We had an opening at 10”

“But you weren’t here at 10”

“That’s because we didn’t have an appointment”

“Do you need an appointment?”

“Not if we have a slot open”

“When is the next slot open?”

“ There is an opening now”

“So, I can get a hair cut now?”

“Yes, just as soon as I put you on the list”.

Abbott and Costello couldn’t have come up with something like this. 

We’ll be gone for the next four days, heading to Zagreb where Cindy will be involved in workshops with all of the other ICT folks in Central Europe.  AAS is by far the largest and best of all the regional schools and from what we hear, they love to know what is going on at AAS so that they can benchmark their programs to AAS.  Cindy is a master at promotion but I’m sure there will be much for her to learn since she has only been on the job for ten weeks.  I’ll fill my time with touring and checking out the wine and cuisine options.  Our good friend Robin is the director of the Zagreb school so we’ll be with her one or two evenings for dinner.  I’m looking forward to the trip and will try to report periodically. 

More from Zagreb,  Cindy and Wm