The Guns of Soumenlinna

Take the ferry to Sveaborg,

which is what the Swedes called

what the Finns would call Soumenlinna,

by which they meant the Castle of Finnland

 

a UNESCO World Heritage Site,

as a very much admired example of a fortress

 

Which, like all admirable defenses,

turns out to be inadequate:

The Great Wall

The Maginot Line

Sveaborg / Soumenlinna . . . .

 

The Russians simply bypassed it in 1808,

and took Helsinki,

THEN laid siege from the Mainland . . .

 

Now it is a picnic park,

and a place for weddings or wedding pictures

 

land from the ferry,

buy bottles of water

and walk the gravel path

to the other end of the island(s).

 

There,

stand face-in-the-wind

on the sandy dunes

bulwarked with stone and granite

and imagine the star-shaped battlements

bristling with cannon

commanding the harbour

 

It seems plausible . . .

 

It seems formidable  . . .

 

But it wasn’t.

 

Now

the cannons are plugged or spiked

tho’ you can still run your hands inside

to feel the rifling

 

they lie idle, undone

oxidizing. . .

 

I think it would be good sport,

once a year, in a ceremony,

to fire one of the guns

like a drill for the admiralty

to demonstrate lethality

 

all-the-while reflecting

that while it is all so obsolete

in the face of modern war,

that it was so ineffective

in its own time

 

 

Tamarind Thai - Helsinki

We trained from SPb to HEL. Eruditely took the Tram6 to our hotel, hoofed it over to S-Market for some champoo, showered/rinsed to cool off, lay on the bed watching CNNI under the fan, drinking till time for dinner . . . As our last night on vacation, we wanted something good, which came down to either Michelin quality Nokka, that we had seen on our walkaround a few days before, or Thai . . . Finnish Thai being an interesting concept we could not quite grok . . .

We opted for the Thai, after briefly considering Nepalese, which had been recommended to us on the tram, particularly the restaurant we saw on the 6-route (too much like Indian, we decided) . . .

The beautiful, shy waitress took our order, and allowed us to order a little extra spice in our dishes . . . We had correctly deduced that Finnish palates are not suited to bona fide Thai . . . 8^) . . . First clue is in the pitcher of water they bring . . . 8^D . . .

I got Tom Kha Kung, for my comparison to Great Thai Restaurants of the world . . . Which is difficult because the prawns make it better than chicken (Gai), automatically, IMVHO, if you see how I mean . . . But soup-wise, it's an easy call . . . Very, very, very good . . . In the same league as the Bird of Amsterdam and Siam Orchid in Prague (and sawadee and Nit Noi in Houston, if they're still there). Mrs' had something new, possibly a house specialty, a tamarind version of the same soup, which caused her to be silent so long I had to ask if she was ok . . . She just waved me off not to interrupt her . . . 8^D . . . Excellent!

Mrs ordered Pad Thai Kung for her main, which it can be seen in the picture is complete, not some half hearted edition, and further, by the deep color, very rich in spice & flavour . . .

I had a chaeng panaeng curry . . . I think they called it . . . I like a richer, redder color, but they did add some extra thai pepper in it for me, so the end result was entirely satisfactory . . . 4 bites into it, I could feel the endorphins racing thru my blood . . . 8^D . . . The prawns are perfectly cooked, the spices perfectly balanced, the broth creamy & savoury . . . Just about perfect . . . I might've prefered some thai basil in there too, but everything doesn't have to be the same all the time, for me . . . If you know what I mean . . .

I should have taken a picture too of the waitresses' dress . . . One was in like an everyday costume, simple and elegant, the other in a more formal shiny silk yellow gown . . . They were both so beautiful it was an adornment to the food, and the pleasant ambience of the restaurant.

Mrs said in reflection "I'm glad we came to Helsinki", meaning this was an unexpected and unforgettable dining experience.

 

Taverna Oliva - St. Petersburg

We had a walkabout St. Petersburg . . . Our heart may not have been in it, after the Incident on Nevsky Prospekt . . . But we were there and hadda make the best of it . . . Cynically, I would say that Prague & St Petersburg are mirror images . . . Where PRG has a medieval, slavic charm marred by soviet era abominations in architecture and culture, tho', SPb has only stray charms in evidence - everywhere -- but overwhelmed by the ordinary , industrial, and dilapidated . . . I can't even be bothered to post the half-hearted pix we took of Nevsky Prospekt (not really a pedestrian esplanade except for a very short stretch), Pushkin, or the onion domes . . . .

But after our walk, we had to eat, and buoyed by our Tandoori Nights experience, we headed to Taverna Oliva, hoping for a similar epiphany . . . The Greek food in PRG leaves us unsatisfied, and the reviews in TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet were very positive . . .

It is quaint inside . . .
But the food, I would say, fell short . . .
The dolmades were less-than-inspired, lacking mint, if not something else, too . . .
The greek salad -- was it just the olive oil was inferior, the ingredients not quite fresh or authentic, it looked alright, just didn't gratify our devotion to greek cuisine . . . Only two olives, too . . . WTF? Only one of those was a kalamata?
The barbecued octopus was almost rubbery (not as good as not-quite rubber), flavor-less . . . I mean I've had octopus that made me slam my head against the table . . .
Mrs's Mossakas Thessalonikas was fishy, to her disappointment, had a fishy taste, but seemed to be all saucy, and no fish . . .

 

Tandoori Nights - St. Petersburg

With my tummy still delicate after the horrible Moc Concert, I ate nothing all day, well, a piece of cake with coffee at the Hermitage . . . so there were two things on my mind:
Something good to eat, and,
Something not Russian . . . I am sorry for my short-tempered, short sighted prejudice, but there it is . . .
Mrs Lonely Planet & Trip Advisor both agreed that Tandoori Nights was tops, and a little Lamb Biriyani sounded to me just what the doctor ordered . . .
So I did . . . Mrs got her normal Tandoori . . . a little yellow daal, some garlic naan, raita, mint & tamarind sauces, and we were almost set . . .
The owner came over to check on us . . . uh, the chutneys? He jolted back the kitchen and rushed back out with some AWESOME Mint and Tamarind chutneys . . . I mean, the sauces were nice and mild, but these chutneys would hairlip the commissar . .  . if you see how I mean . . . just goes to show, sometimes when in Rome, F*** the Romans . . . 8^) . . . if you see how I mean . . .

I certainly do not want to damn-with-faint-photographic-praise -- only 1 photo here -- this place is world class Indian cuisine, make no mistake . . .

The Hermitage - Matisse . . .

 

The reason we came to St. Petersburg was because of the Hermitage Annex exhibit in Amsterdam, which highlighted Matisse, especially Harmony In Red . . . . which apparently had returned home, here . . . so we messed up when we were in Amsterdam last week by not going back to the Annex, because there would have been new works there that we missed, if you see how I mean . . . 8^( . . .

 

Oh, the dang lights have marred my pic of these portraits of L.Delectorskaya (what a great name!) . . . .

 

We admired the Conversation tremendously, and perched on the bench to stare at this wall for a while. But we could see the cracking in the oil on this work, very visibly . . . like a dried river bed . . . very worrisome.

 

We argued for awhile whether the Satyr and the Nymph represents him throwing her down or just jumping her bones . . . 8^D . . .  we both can see both POV . . .

 

The Arab continues to grow on me . . . maybe because my old eyes are fading as bad as matisse’s . . .

The Hermitage - Busts

Napoleon . . . I guess when you are King of the World . . . certain liberties are permissible with your portrait . . .

 

Young Marcus Aurelius

 

A very nice anonymous face

 

Very nice Aphrodite Torso . . . 8^) .. . .

 

Ever-favorite Leda & The Swan

The Hermitage - Kadinsky

I like these unexpected pictures, like early Dalis or Picassos or Kadinskis, where you SEE they can draw – one always suspects that new artists actually cannot, if you know what I mean . . . .

 

The Hermitage - Modern Statuary

These amused me tremendously . . .the same model for the first two, for sure, by the same artist . . . I can’t vouch for the third . . . .

 

The Hermitage - St. Petersburg

It was hot, outside & inside . . .

Tho there were vents around blowing cool air inside, there were also windows open . . .  

I have to wonder whether the art will be ok in the long run here?

 

The light in there is really not very good . . . not just for taking pictures with my crappy little cel phone, but just for viewing . . . some of it is industrial strength fluorescence, some is start incandescence, some is brown-out dim . . . .

 

They did have 3 or 4 big rooms of Picassos, famous, familiar variations, but I liked this one because it was, like, transitionally-cubist, or maybe (1909) retrospectively pre-cubist, if you see how I mean . . .

 

I hate how the black hat picture which I love is marred by the flouressence.

 

The Hermitage - Psche & Cupid

It’s amazing how similar this is to the one in the Louvre, both by Canova...
Cupid and Psyche is considered one of the best works by the talented exponent of the Roman school of sculpture, Antonio Canova, 15 of whose works are on display in the Hermitage. Following the fashion of the time and a revived interest in Antiquity, the sculptor depicts an episode from the legend of Cupid and Psyche, in which Cupid brings his dying love back to life with a kiss. The composition is based on smooth rhythmic lines, the harmony of figures and graceful gestures, and it creates an atmosphere of decorativeness. Acquired by Prince Yusupov in Rome in 1796, this sculpture is the second version of the group made by Canova, differing in certain respects from the first, now in the Louvre, Paris.

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