Moscow: Capital cathedrals, good food and luxury

We had fun in Moscow, we had a sense of achievement after our Trans Siberian journey. We explored the Red Square, St Basil’s and the Kremlin. Surprisingly the Kremlin has the 4 cathedrals and I suffered saint and icon overload.  Moscow has a many luxurious shops where Rita shopped.  We eat excellent food.

We stayed in a luxurious Airbnb apartment in Arbat with 3 bedrooms, an elaborate bathroom, open plan kitchen and living room. V different to the usual public built flats in Russia. Our German friend Ulricha joined us for a long weekend, starting on Wednesday.  We talked about our 9,000 kms trans Siberian rail journey.

We enjoyed using the Metro, at our station a sign said, “we speak English”,  a phenomenon not seen elsewhere in Russia where little English is spoken.  Our first stop was Red Square, sadly filled with chairs for a tattoo. We had coffee and cabbage pie in a café and worked out our plans. We visited St Basil’s that afternoon. It is a vast religious structure with too many chapels, elaborate  and gold icons. My head span with all the saints and their stories. There is no central area for worship.  St Basil’s is best from its outside view with its quirky beautiful architecture, inside the religion and devotion is too heavy.  We stayed on Red Square eating dessert in the elegant cafe Bosch, for me a beautiful tartiflor with melted chocolate. We walked home through the Alexander gardens enjoying  the hydrangeas in flower and then struggling crossing the roaring 6 lane traffic road. I enjoyed a Russian classic “herring in a fur coat” (covered with a beetroot glaze) and a cold cucumber and seafood soup for supper.

We shopped in the GUM department store on Red Square, now a collection of luxury shops. Rita and Vincent bought dark blue St Petersburg royal porcelain.

The next day at the museum of Russian art we saw a baroque church, now a museum piece with an elderly gent caring for the icons and giving Ann a detailed explanation.  We had coffee and snacks in a hipster café, then went by taxi to Red Square getting good views of central Moscow. Our Kremlin Tour started with Russian history from with the Great Patriotic war. The soldiers at the eternal flame change guard hourly with high goose steps. We looked at the map of the 1812 victory, and the monument to the Tsars. We queued to enter the Kremlin, but there was space inside. Four cathedrals dominate the Kremlin with many icons and church stuff. All the Tsars are buried in the last church. It is a powerful illustration of Russian history and the entwining of state and church, communism being a small part. We enjoyed the city views in nice small garden there.

We had champagne for Ann’s birthday in the flat, then a celebratory meal in Pushkins café, Ann and I had delicious trout with fish mousse and asparagus and white Russian wine. My pudding a fruit terrine with a mint sauce. Home by metro, tired after a long day.

On my last day Rita, Vincent and I and visited the Art Deco hotel Metropole, the location for the book, “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles which I read on our Trans Siberian journey book and Rita was reading. Seeing the hotel and gives my reading depth. Regular hotel trips  are run by a fan that one can book. Vincent and I took the metro back to Smolenska station. I went by taxi to Belorussian station then to the airport on the aeroport express. I chatted to a Russian civil engineer working in Solihull, UK on her summer holiday and leaving her 4 children with their grandmother at their dacha. I enjoying more Russian food at the airport  and flew to London.

The days in Moscow were a good end for the month travelling across Russia. Lonely Planet had recommended doing the Trans-Siberian from east to west and we enjoyed the  monuments, good food and luxury in Moscow and it had a Russian context.

Leprosy patient, Bergen

Leprosy Patient 1870's 

Leprosy Museum, Bergen 2018

Leprosy Museum, Bergen, Irene Allen

St George's church, Bergen

Hospital interior

Iain Reddish Obituary The Guardian Apr 16 2018

My friend Iain Reddish, who has died aged 72, had a varied career in which he was a parliamentary aide, teacher, public relations officer and sports executive before becoming an international environmental lobbyist with Greenpeace for more than a decade and, up to retirement, European lobbyist for Eurogroup for Animals.

 Born in Hampstead, north London, Iain was adopted by a Nottinghamshire couple, Enid and Mowbray Reddish, and grew up in Woodthorpe, Nottinghamshire, where his adoptive father worked as an engineer. He never shared his gay sexuality with his parents. He read political sciences at Durham University (1965-68) and attended the College of Europe in Bruges (1970-71), He had a placement at the European Commission in Brussels and visited the US on a Roosevelt scholarship. 

After his studies he worked in various jobs, including as a Liberal party parliamentary aide, teaching at a school in Notting Hill, west London, and as a public relations officer for the London borough of Richmond in the 1980s. We first met in the Islington Labour party, campaigning during the 1992 election. 

From 1986 to 1995 Iain was head of international affairs at the British Sports Council, during which time he went to the Olympics at Seoul (1988) and Barcelona (1992). He joined Greenpeace in 1995, moving to its Amsterdam headquarters, and worked on various projects, including the Save the Whale campaign. By the time he left in 2007, he had visited 149 cities in 38 countries. His final role was as European coordinator for Eurogroup for Animals, an organisation based in Brussels that seeks to improve the treatment of animals in the European Union, a job he held until retirement in 2012. 

 Passionate about politics, Europe and the arts, Iain was angered and saddened by the Brexit referendum result, and became a Dutch citizen in 2016. He loved France and the country life of markets, art and food, and shared a house in Provence with his friends Alesha and Fred for 20 years. He was tall, handsome and wore bespoke colourful matching clothes and shoes. Iain supported artists by buying their work and his flat was filled with interesting work. He was an excellent host, throwing memorable 50th and 60th birthday parties in Amsterdam. 

Iain found and met his birth mother in 1995 and enjoyed having new relatives. He is survived by his nephews, Jo-Jo and Rupert.

Wilhelmina Lockwood obituary The Guardian Other Lives Wed June 14 2017

My mother, Wilhelmina Lockwood, who has died aged 92, was a doctor who survived Japanese internment and then made a life for herself in rural England.

She was born a twin in Indonesia to a Dutch father, Cornelius Pieter Mom, a water engineer, and his wife, Johanna (nee Breyer). A happy childhood came to an end when, aged 18, with her mother and sister, Margareta, she was sent to a concentration camp, and interned from 1942 to 1945; her father was sent to a different camp. Their Red Cross parcels were not delivered, the guards abused them, and she almost died from malnutrition and infections. Later, she said that the atomic bomb, and consequent Japanese surrender, saved her life.  

After the second world war ended she studied medicine at Leiden University, in the Netherlands. She met my father, David Lockwood, who trained in theology in Birmingham, in a youth hostel in Heidelberg in 1950; she was hitchhiking through Germany and he was cycling to Oberammergau – that evening he skipped his prayers to chat her up.

They married in 1954 and moved to Britain, where her medical degree was not recognised, so she did her final year again Birmingham University and qualified through conjoint exams. After junior doctor jobs in hospitals in Kidderminster and Worcester, she became a GP.

For many years she combined the roles of vicar’s wife and doctor, doing rural visits, treating people and delivering babies while also raising four children. She worked in rural general practice until she retired in 1990.

She made sure her family retained close links with the Netherlands, with regular trips back on the night boat from Harwich to the Hague. Her Dutch accent became stronger as she aged.

My parents retired to the village of Llowes, on the Welsh borders, in 1982. They created a beautiful house and garden, entertained many people and supported the Hay festival from its beginning.

My mother was a keen photographer and wrote a daily diary for 35 years. She was stylish, and proud of sharing her hat-maker with the Queen. She took the Guardian every day and enjoyed the theatre and Welsh National Opera.

Her experience in the concentration camp moulded her outlook and she dealt with that trauma by not talking about it initially and only briefly in later life. Being a Christian and active church member helped her cope with the sadness of losing two daughters, my sisters Henny and Laura, in 1972 and 2009.

Her brave spirit enabled her to rise above adversity, engaging with people and bringing out the best in them.

David died in 2005. She is survived by her children, Peter and me, and two grandchildren. Margareta died in 2001.

Iceland Overview (July 2016)

Elemental Scenery and culture

My two weeks in Iceland were magical. I enjoyed the contrast of biking with a group the first week and then travelling by myself to the North the second week. In the first week I had physical challenges and enjoyed the group observations; in the second week I lingered in places rather than moving on, was more independent and spontaneous and talked to more Icelanders.

Biking in Iceland is challenging especially when one has the wind against one. However it is fine way to appreciate the beauty of the landscape. I loved the blue lupins that were part of the landscape in the south. I also loved seeing the geology. The rock formations in Dyrhoelaey Island (July 5) were very memorable with some rocks looking like skeins of wool. I loved the waterfalls in the south, (July 4 and 7) they were so forceful and elemental. I enjoyed relaxing in the thermal baths at the end of the day and I was amused by the Nordic protocol of showering naked before one goes into the pool.

The contrast between the white snow and black soil from the volcanic ash has an austere beauty that I saw at the volcanoes but also on the mountains. The beach near Vik (July 5) was like a Rothko painting with black and blue sand and sea. Mountain landscape around was beautiful with the different coloured rocks. The evening light on the basalt columns of Skissholmur Island (July 11) which I enjoyed whilst having an excellent fish supper was memorable.

In the north I loved the fjords round Siglufordur (July 13) and going out whale watching on the grey arctic ocean. The northern town of Akureyi was lovely to explore with its house dating back to the 19c and watching the evening light on the fjord. (July 14-16) I enjoyed visiting Lystigardurinn, the world’s most northerly garden on the south side of the valley and with clematis and aquilegias in bloom as well as many alpines. This contrasted with the grandeur of the vistas

I was delighted by the museums and lively art scene. The exhibition in the museum of Culture in Reykjavik linking together historical and cultural themes was a great exploration of Icelandic culture. (July 10) The installation by Roni Horn using endangered glacier water to make a library of water was thought provoking. (July13) The textile museum in Blondous (July 13) was a treat with the wool art by xx. In Akureyi it was fun to be there at the time of art festival. I also enjoyed the fabulous fish meals, cod and haddock cooked with different vegetables and also Icelandic fish and chips.

I was also surprised at how easy it was to drive around the island and how I could enjoy the grand vistas. The driving reminded me of America with empty roads and dramatic scenery and isolated farmhouses scattered over the landscape.

I am sure that I shall be back in Iceland to complete my circumnavigation of the island and to enjoy more culture.

August 2016