Blur

I'm trying to figure out what day today is because I'm genuinely not sure. We've been living "if it's Tuesday, it must be Rome" for a week now. I think it's Monday night because I'm back in Göteborg and the calendar says I'm supposed to be in Gborg on Monday night. In the past 7 days, we've been to Moscow and back and Ireland and back. Things are a bit of a blur.

Let’s summarize Moscow. Neat place to see. I need to learn more about its history. Our relocation agent, Yulia, preferred the Soviet era to current times. She liked that everyone was equal, that you couldn’t tell who was richer or who was poorer. The traffic is insane. It’s like trying to get out of Toronto on the 400 on a holiday weekend, but it’s like that all day long. They close main roads whenever the politicians want to go somewhere. There’s no advance notice, the traffic just stops dead and you sit and hope somebody had the good sense to create a detour. We experienced this Wednesday late afternoon when we were trying to take a quick trip up to Moscow State University to see the view over the city. I think the view was worth the hassle, but I think I’m the only one. Everyone smokes. There are very few places where you go and don’t end up smelling like an ashtray. That hasn’t happened to me since going to clubs 20 yrs ago. Russians are friendly and the women are well turned out, lots of tall shoes, but you also have the feeling that everyone is out for himself. They live for the ‘now’ and don’t plan for the future. The corruption is still there. We were walking to see the statue of Peter the Great and the cathedrale that was torn down by Stalin so he could build a swimming pool that was then rebuilt a few years ago. At an intersection, a police officer has stopped slightly out of the way of the traffic. Peter told us that he was waiting to pull somebody over to try and get money out of them on some bogus charge. Money for himself, not money for the gov’t. Sure enough, on our walk back past, he’s pulled over a car and is trying to tell the driver he has a problem with his headlights. I wonder how much money he got. One of the good things about Moscow, other than that it was really neat to see, was that the hotel pool and gym was open 24 hrs, which with our crazy schedule was a bonus because E wanted to work out and Sprout wanted to swim and time didn’t allow it until close to 11pm. We’ve decided we’re not sorry we’re not moving to Moscow, but we needed to experience it to know we’d made the better of the 2 choices.

The plan to spend this past weekend in Ireland was in place months before the visit to Russia was squeezed into the schedule. Peter thought we should go to a concert while in Europe and he picked Kings Of Leon because he knew I liked a few of their songs, they were playing near Dublin, and we like Dublin. Then he discovered that they were headlining a concert festival on the grounds of Slane Castle where the likes of U2 and the Rolling Stones among others big names had played over the past 30 years. We arrived in Ireland Friday late morning and picked up the rental car. Kudos to Peter for managing a stick shift while driving narrow country roads on the wrong side. Kudos to me for not having heart failure every time we came a leettle too close to the walls, bushes, and ditches on my side of the road. First stop New Grange. New Grange is a Neolithic burial site older than the pyramids of Giza. It’s about 5200 yrs old. One of 3 buriel mounds in the vicinity, New Grange was constructed to capture the light at the winter solstice. It’s light box is designed such that light only enters the chamber between Dec 19 and 23. The peoples believed that the old year ended on the 20^th and the new on the 21^st when the light began to return to the land. It’s an engineering marvel. The entire place is extremely well organized. Someone meets you when you enter the visitor’s centre, and talks you through what you’d like to see. Then you’re labeled with a sticker for the time of your tour and they tell you where to meet the bus that will take you out to the site. Then you pay. Usually they make you pay first and ask questions after. The guide at the site was excellent. Their museum was outstanding. We had lunch in the café afterward and it was wonderful – very good food with a lot of variety. From there, we drove to the site of the Battle of the Boyne and wandered the fields where the battles took place. The concert at Slane was larger than we had expected – about 80, 000 people in the crowd. The concert takes place on the castle grounds. It is situated beside a river (where apparently people drowned 30 yrs ago trying to get in to hear Thin Lizzy – this story told to us by a very friendly very drunk Irish lass who’s mum had been at the first concert) and the ground creates a natural amphitheatre with a hill sloping down to a large flat space by the river. We arrived and staked out a spot on the hill. 6 bands played: The Whigs, Mona, White Lies, Elbow, Thin Lizzy, and Kings of Leon. For the first 3 acts, things were pretty much calm with people sitting and listening and chatting. Most of the crowd had a lot to drink. People looking for a place to sit unknowingly dribbled their 4 packs of beer over the belongings of unsuspecting people sitting on the ground. Most of the drunks were happy. We only saw one fight. Everyone wanted to chat. Many of them were very entertaining. By the 4^th musical group, we had to stand up to avoid being dribbled on and together with the young ladies in front of us, we tried to stake a claim on our space, preventing those wandering around from pushing through the middle of us. The young ladies gave up early into the Kings Of Leon set when the crush of the crowd worsened. We toughed it out until after ‘Sex on Fire’. That was amazing. 80 000 people all singing along and jumping up and down. After that song, I led our parade up off the hill to where there was more room in front of a big screen. A very cute blonde girl with flowers in her hair thought A was pretty special and convinced him to dance with her. Then her friends got E in on it too, and the group of them danced along to the music. We left after ‘Use Somebody’ which was also really impressive, and they ended the event with fireworks. It was quite the experience. Thank you to: Dancing Hatman – we were sure you were going to bounce right into us, but somehow your radar always kept you just far enough away; the flower girls who danced with A&E – they had a great time; to the young blondes for chatting with us; to the brunette with the running commentary, where’re ya from? Canada Wow Canada Really? You came all this way just for Kings of Leon – aren’t they great ya? oh me mum was at the first concert ya 30 years ago ya etc etc etc; to white shirt and daisy girl and everyone else – you all provided my children with the best infomercial possible of what happens when one drinks too much. The next day, we drove to Dublin. The girls shopped (shoes!) and the boys toured Dublinia and the Guiness storehouse. For dinner, we found the restaurant we’d liked so much when we were here 6 years ago (Chatham brasserie on Chatham street). It was still terrific. This morning before going to the airport, we wandered over to the park at St Stephen’s green. All the flower merchants were out on Grafton Street and it smelled wonderful.

So many stories to tell. Thanx for hanging in to the end. Next stop: Norway.

Location, Location, Location

Today started off kinda bumpy. I forgot to reset my cellphone which doubles as the alarm clock. Moscow is 2 hours ahead of Gborg, so 6am on the phone is 8am in Moscow yougettheidea. The rooster went off as programmed at 5:45 / 7:45 (the alarm is a rooster crowing to remind me of the rooster in St Lucia) and E&I had to get dressed and ready for breakfast in 15 minutes. The relocation agent is a young woman named Julia. She missed the memo that said all 4 of us were coming. She was just expecting Peter and myself. The car wasn't quite big enough for all 6 of us (us + Julia + driver because everyone in Moscow has a driver and trust me you don't want to navigate this traffic on your own), so Andrew took turns sitting on E's or P's lap for the first couple of hours as we squished 4 into the back seat. Whatever - makes for a good story.

Today we lived our own version of Location, Location, Location, as we drove around different areas of Moscow to look at housing possibilities. Altogether, we toured 5 houses, 1 apartment, 1 townhouse, had meetings at 2 schools, met one very keen ex-pat named Carole from Ireland, and spent a lot of the inbetween time sitting in traffic (15 million people in Moscow, I'd bet most of them had a car on the road). It was a day in Fantasyland trying to imagine living in these places. All of the houses were massive!( 2 had pool tables and jacuzzis in the basement and every property had a sauna). But do you know, they all showed signs of leakage in the basements, and one had a roof leak. Another had tiles missing and cracks in the walls. Tomorrow we're focussing on apartments inside the city and checking out another school. I'd explain the map to you, but it's hard to understand without the visual. Our current fav is house #1, should we ever actually live here.

Dinner tonight was at Pushkin's Café. It's a very famous restaurant in Moscow (and a bit of a tourist trap except that from what I could tell, we were the only tourists there and the place was packed!) I had to explain to the waiter how to make a white wine spritzer and it was fine. The borscht was amazing. They even brought me a footstool for my purse so it wouldn't have to sit on the floor.

Today's best story (other than the 4 of us in the backseat driving around Moscow): We had an appointment scheduled with the principal at British Intern'l school #3. In my book, if you have an appointment with someone, and they are 10 minutes late, you are already ready and waiting for them. Not here. We (get this) stood in the hallway outside the office to wait for him. The secretary came out to chat and went to tell him we were here several times, but he didn't show up. So we stood. Now, across the narrow hall from the office is a senior class science room. They sound like they are doing an experiment. The young lady science teacher is not impressed with what's going on. She starts to ream them out. We enjoy this immensely because she is really good at it. We especially like it when she tells them she isn't finished her rant yet. Unfortunately, we startled the pants off her when she opened the door and discovered us as the audience. Very entertaining. Oh, and the principal eventually did show up.

p.s. The photo is of the view out the window of the apartment, looking across the river at one of the Seven Sisters. There are several big parks in Moscow. They're like High Park with walking paths and playgrounds from what we've been told. The Seven Sisters are 7 magnificent skyscrapers built by Stalin in the 1940s and 50s. The one in right of the skyline in the picture is now a Radisson hotel.

First Taste of MOCKBA

We are in Moscow.(I know - holy cow, hunh?)

It's been a really long day. (Thank you Salem for getting Mummy up at 4am as pre-payment for being an alone-a-kitty for a week). We flew from Gborg to Stockholm, then on to Moscow, arriving here about 8:45pm local time. Given that it's now 1:15am local time (tomorrow), you get the idea.

The drive in from the airport (Moscow has 2 - the bombing a few months ago was at the other one) takes you past the monument marking the place where the Russians stopped the German invasion. You drive past apartment blocks, all tall, all tired-looking. You drive past IKEA (yes - it's everywhere, but spelled differently in cyrillic) (actually, short version of a long story - when IKEA tried to build here, they refused to toe the line and pay people off, etc etc etc so now, they build the entire shopping mall in order to stay open for business. Ever seen an IKEA as an anchor store in a mall? Only in Russia). The driving is intense. Fortunately it was stop and go, not faster. No lines on the road - it's make your own lane! Think you'll fit there, then go! Cut somebody off - too bad! (Glad I was in the back seat!)

After settling in to the hotel (very posh - thank you Volvo),we had a walk down Tverskaya street (english phonetic pronunciation) to Red Square. We walked through the subway underpasses to get from one side of the street to the other, and saw the tiny shops in the walls that Peter had told us about. Red Square is nothing like I'd imagined. The last time Peter saw it, it was empty except for the tanks practising for May 9th when they celebrate the surrender of the Germans May 8th, 1945. Tonight, Red Square was getting ready for something athletic, with barracades, a basketball court, and something that looked like a paintball terrain (though how they'd contain the paint through the screening, I'd rather not be close enough to find out!)

I'm so grateful to be here. My grandparents came to Moscow on their honeymoon in the 1930s. (my dad's folks) My grandfather was doing research for his doctorate and they spent a month here. I've always thought they had a real pioneering spirit, unafraid to take anything on. As it turns out, we won't have the chance to take on much more than a taste of Moscow in the 4 days that we're here, but I'd like to think that some of that pioneering spirit has carried through the genes. Rather exciting to think that their great grandchildren are seeing some of the things they saw too.

Varvet

Today was Göteborg's Varvet, their half marathon. It attracted 73,000 people. The adults ran today and the children run various distances tomorrow, depending on their ages.

We sat on the balcony and watched them all run by. Our flat was located at about 17.5km along the 21km route. They ran past for 4 1/2 hours, with the first at about 2pm (50minutes race time to that point) and the last woman walking past at 6:30pm. We saw a person in a bee suit, a small group carrying musical instruments, 3 firefighters running in full gear including air tanks, a guy in a cow suit and his friend dressed as we're not sure what but it was a body suit with pink fluffy ears and a pink fluffy tail. There were a couple of ballerinas, but most of the runners just looked either find and like they'd hit their stride, or else really tired and ready for it to be over. Most of them looked like they'd found their stride.

The race route started at Slottskrogen park, then down city streets, across the big bridge to Hisingen island, across Hisingen to the small bridge to come back over to town, up the Avenue to Götaplatsen, then a U turn to return to Vasagatan, past us, and back up to Slottskogen to the end. It was good weather for running today - dry, cool, mix of sun and cloud. The wind picked up the later in the day it went, but at least they didn't have the oppressive heat they've had in the past.

We were serenaded by 2 bands while we watched. A marching band settled itself to our left, at the corner by 7-11. They were good, but their repertoire was about 4 songs, and they took a lot of long breaks. To our right, another band set up outside the church beside the french place. They were much higher calibre musicians with a broader repertoire. Very good indeed.

Several spectators lined our part of the route. At one point, some young men came with fishing poles to dangle doughnuts for the runners. Neither the donuts nor the danglers lasted very long.

None of us are ready to run a half marathon, but if you are, mark your calendar for the end of May next year and come to Sweden for the Varvet. I'd be happy to come with you to cheer you along!

Legoland Denmark

Happy Belated Birthday, Sprout! This was worth waiting for!

We left Gborg on the 8am ferry this morning and arrived at Fredrikhavn, Danemark after 11. The drive down Danemark to Billund and Legoland took about 2 1/2 hrs. Denmark is flat. It's green on green, with the green fields broken up by yellow ones (linseed?). It's not a very exciting drive, but at least this time I bought a map(!) instead of trusting the directions off googlemaps (which always seems like the best option at home in the living room, but notsomuch when the directions don't match the signs on the actual road!)

Everywhere you turn, there's lego. Lego figures at the decorating the park areas and the rides, even lego block shaped french fries. We did some great rides this afternoon - one of those moving target shooting range things like Buzz Lightyear at WDW, traditional roller coasters, a very wet pirate-themed ride, another boat ride like Pirates of the Caribbean. The "Hall of Fame" ride was Power Builder. You program the ride you want. There are 5 levels of intensity and once you've picked that, you pick the moves you want it to do like swirling you around upside down. It all gets transferred into a data chip on a card like a bank card. Attached to the end of a robotic arm is a pair of seats. You put your card into the machine, get strapped in, and away it goes! It's something else to watch. Elizabeth's moves hung her upside down several times, hair flying, legs flopping like Raggedy Ann's. She said she giggled the whole time.

Our hotel room is called a Treasury room. It's all kitted out like Indiana Jones. There are lego spiders and snakes, beetles and butterflies. We have a parrot and monkey, and treasure of course. Indie seems to have left his (lego) hat in the bathroom. We also have his n hers bunkbeds (E's pulls down from the wall), and us n them tvs (though we are all watching Aliens on the big bed instead). Elsewhere in the hotel, there are tubs of lego for building (each tub is the size of a wading pool). Dinner was scandanavian buffet.

We think we're in for a lot of rain tomorrow. We still need to see all the miniatures (castles, Køpnhamn, Big Ben, Star Wars), Crabzilla, and do a few more rides, but we're not worried about anything getting rained out. Funny thing about amusement parks here - at home, when it rains, the rides close down, but here they don't - you just get wet) and tomorrow for breakfast, I'm really hoping to have a Danish danish.

the Home stretch

For those of you still out of the loop, here's the lowdown: our time in Sweden is almost up. Short version of a long story, Peter was transferred to Moscow and he's been there since January. He comes back here if we have a trip planned, or for the occasional weekend, but that's about all. Our belief was, and still is, that we will be relocating to Moscow to join him. We're excited by that prospect, but it isn't a done deal yet. We're still waiting to hear from the schools. If there is a place for A, we go. If there isn't, we pull the plug on Europe and move back to Canada.

All of a sudden, it feels like life is a rush. Is it always that way at the end of something - trying to squeeze the 'last' whatever into the time you have? This weekend, we're off to Legoland Denmark. It's A's birthday present, a holdover from January. We're taking the ferry to Frederikhavn, then driving down from the top of Denmark, but doing the long road trip via Köpnhamn and the bridge on the way back. Current expectation is that we're off to Moscow week 21. It will be a crazy week - 4 days in Moscow, followed by a few hours back in Gborg, before getting back on the plane to go to Dublin for a long weekend. In June, I (finally!?!) get to see the Norwegian fjords. Just booked it last night. We'll drive across Norway to get to Bergen, spend an intense 2 days soaking up as much gorgeous Norwegian countryside as we can, before making it home for Swedish Flag Day. Then the movers come. Then we leave.

So in the spirit of "profitez-en", this morning I'm off to tour the Concert hall with a group of expats. The symphony is rehearsing today I'm told, so we get to listen in. Otherwise, things are status quo. Salem and I are spending as much time on our sunny balcony as we can. Swedish lessons continue. Choirs continue. Laundry and grocery shopping and the weekly war with the parking police all continue.

Keep on keepin' on

Elizabeth's Dance Recital

This afternoon was E's dance recital. A Miss Marnie Special it wasn't. E said it was much more chill. No specifics on costumes. No instructions for hair and make-up. No long dress rehearsals in a week of late nights at the theatre. Participation was optional.

The show itself lasted under an hour. In my opinion, a lot of it was bad cruise ship dinnershow choreography, but not E's group for street jazz.

E herself just shone. She got her dance face on, and sold it to the crowd. She really looked like she was having fun. Give the girl a stage, a spotlight, and an audience, and watch the magic happen.