Day 17: Goodbye, Bonnie!

Ready to check in at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg!

Ready to check in at Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg!

Nicole Writes:

We had an EPIC adventure, and now one of us is going home to her naughty puppy. Thank you, Bonnie, for being such an amazing travel partner! Flexible, intrepid, courageous, trusting, and fun! Nicole stays on in St. Petersburg for the month of November at the Back Apartment Residency from CEC ArtsLink. Stay tuned for developments!

Day 16: PUSHKIN-TSARSKOYE SELO (TSAR'S VILLAGE)

Nicole Writes:

Today we traveled to the suburb of Pushkin to visit Tsarskoye Selo (Tsar's Village). Tsarskoye Selo was the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located 15 miles south of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the town of Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo forms one of the World Heritage sites of Saint Petersburg.

On September 17, 1941, the Germans occupied the town of Pushkin, destroying and plundering many historical monuments, buildings and other cultural artifacts, including the famous Amber Room. The Red Army liberated the town on January 24, 1944. After the war, reconstruction began on Tsarskoye Selo; many rooms in the Catherine Palace have been restored, but much work on the palatial church and the Alexander Palace is still under way.

We did not manage to get tickets online ahead of time, so we had to wait in line to get into the palace. We were joined by hundreds of other people stomping their feet for an hour in the cold but it made our entry even more triumphant! The restored palace is quite amazing. We especially appreciated the famous “Amber Room.”

Back in St. Petersburg, we went out for a really lovely meal at Banshiki, a Russian restaurant recommended by our apartment host. We enjoyed their house-made sausages and blackened cheese, and a variety of salad olivier with smoked salmon and red caviar.

Day 15: ST PETERSBURG

Nicole Writes:

Today we toured the Hermitage museum. The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture. The second-largest art museum in the world, it was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky. It has been open to the public since 1852.

Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise over three million items including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy a large complex of six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors.

Truthfully, it is totally overwhelming and the maps and guides are really confusing. (The Fodor’s travel book we were using confirmed this.) But we did our best to see some of the highlights and there’s really no reason to stress when everything in front of your eyes is amazingly beautiful. The art and objects on display in the museum are stunning, and on top of that they are housed in a lavish palace! A feast for the eyes.

Nicole’s friend Sasha Naumov from the Theater of Moscow South-West had recommended the evening river cruise in St. Petersburg so we booked ourselves on a 6pm cruise. Unfortunately the guiding was all in Russian and frankly too much for Nicole to translate, so we sat back and enjoyed the sights while following along on the map. The cruise went all the way down the Neva river to the “end” of “old St. Petersburg.” There was a very sweet and casual family vibe on the cruise. After a long day out, Nicole prepared some of the food that Bocho had sent along—her homemade sauerkraut and pickled tomatoes with fried potatoes. Nicole taught Bonnie how to toast with Russian vodka and then pop a pickled tomato in her mouth.

 

 

Day 14: ST PETERSBURG

Bonnie Writes:

So our first full day in St. Petersburg dawned bright, sunny and cold. After a quick breakfast, I added 2 layers to my ensemble (long underwear shirt and my jacket on top of my vest). Nicole loaned me a hat and gloves. She added a wool layer to her gear and we were off. We caught a bus back to the train station and then got tickets to (you guessed it) the Hop On-Hop Off bus.  After a couple of hours of an overview of the city (everything from Uprising Square, The Arts Square, St Petersburg State Circus, the Summer Garden, Church of the Spilled Blood, the Hermitage, the Palace Embankment, the Admiralty Embankment and more statues and monuments than you can possibly imagine) we arrived at St. Isaac’s Cathedral and decided to get off for a while. After a refreshing coffee for Nicole and a cup of tea for me, we decided to change buses and see the other side of the river. There were more palaces, fortresses, statues, the zoo and museums. We ended up again at St. Isaac’s Cathedral and decided to go in. Talk about breathtaking; the artwork is beyond description. I was convinced that a number of pieces were paintings when in reality they are mosaics. You need to be really close to tell.

We walked along the river past the many, many palaces – who knew there were so many nobles that each needed their own palace. We ended up at the square bordered by the summer palace, the Hermitage and the General Staff building. After looking around there we went walking through the central district. It is fun to see all the high fashion store names in Russian.

Finally it was time for our Russian dinner. I had stroganoff (which was invented in St. Petersburg) and Nicole went with pelmeni. Of course I needed to try out the Russian wine (equally as good as those German ones I might add). We ended with Russian tiramisu – nothing like the Italian/American but really yummy. All in all, a great day!

 

 

Day 13: MOSCOW to ST PETERSBURG

Nicole writes:

Dear friend Irina Bochorishvili picked us up in the morning and made sure we got safely on the express train to St. Petersburg. When we arrived in the Moscovskiy train station, we stored our luggage in a locker for a couple hours and strolled along Nevsky Prospect in the rain. Then we checked into our apartment in St. Petersburg. We were enchanted by the lovely Buddhist shrine in the courtyard. Nicole went out on a grocery and dinner mission and we stayed warm & dry at home that evening.

Day 12: MOSCOW

Nicole writes:

It was a beautiful sunny day in Moscow, and we got out for some sightseeing on foot, and then BY BOAT! A Moscow river cruise is not something Nicole has done before (or doesn’t remember), and WOW was it amazing to see Moscow from the side of the river. It turns out that there are a lot of architectural features only visible from the water, which makes perfect sense when you think about the fact that back in the day many people would have approached the city by water. We also enjoyed lunch on the boat (“snacks that go well with beer”) and indulged the hustling young photographer working the passengers.

In the evening, Nicole went to a 9pm performance in the Theater of Moscow South-West’s Art Cafe. In addition to the mainstage, they are presenting experimental theater and developing new work for presentation in their basement cafe. The show that night was Moscow-Venice Transit by Boris Mirza and directed by Oleg Anishenko. The place was packed and the production values of the performance were extremely high. Nicole was very proud of this energetic performance, incorporating many of the younger actors of the ensemble.

The surprise of the night was the appearance of Nicole’s beloved friend and mentor Irina Bochorishvili AKA Bocho in Karina’s dressing room around midnight.

Day 11: MOSCOW

Nicole writes:

We were feeling pretty wiped, so we took a restful day (including some work and a jog in Gorky Park for Nicole) to save our strength for a big evening of theater. We attended a performance of Hamlet at the Theater of Moscow South-West. This was a poignant moment for Nicole because it was the touring performance of Hamlet that Nicole saw performed in Chicago when she was a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and it is safe to say that was the moment when Nicole learned what theater could really be. That performance began a 30-year relationship between Nicole and the Theater of Moscow South-West!

But first we held court in the basement cafe of the theater so Nicole could see friends as they got a break from rehearsal. We cracked up as person after person came down the stairs, saw Nicole, and (kindly) declared, “you have not changed one bit!” Lyuba served us a traditional Russian meal of cutlets, buckwheat kasha, and vinegret (beet/potato salad).

The performance was sparkling if bittersweet, as this is the first time Nicole has been back to Moscow since the death of Valeryi Romanovich Beliakovich, the founding artistic director of the Theater of Moscow South-West and one of Nicole’s artistic mentors.

Day 10: MOSCOW

Nicole writes:

Today we got on our beloved hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus for a driving tour of Moscow. After getting oriented to some highlights of Moscow, we met Nicole’s friend Ira Sushina for a stroll along old Arbat street and a stop for afternoon tea/coffee/treat. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital. Ira Sushina is an accomplished actor and singer, and is a member of the company of the Theater of Moscow South-West. We caught her on Arbat after she attended a casting call.

Day 9: MOSCOW

Nicole writes:

After arriving Moscow in the early morning, we both slept in and had an easy morning. While we still had a few hours of daylight we headed directly to the Kremlin to check out the Diamond Fund, a unique collection closely associated with the history of the Russian state. It includes masterpieces of jewelry art of the 18th-20th centuries, rare gems, insignia, gold and platinum nuggets of historical, artistic, scientific and material value. It took us a while to get our bearings, but we managed to get to the museum with tickets and English-language audio guides.

While we were at the museum, we met Tatyana, the worker who dispenses the audio guides. Tatyana started asking us about where we were from and how Nicole comes to speak Russian. We made a decision to always say we are from Chicago which is 1) true and 2) simple to explain. Tatyana was very curious about us, especially about Bonnie. When she learned that Bonnie is a 77-year-old American who speaks no Russian and is visiting Russia for the first time with her daughter just for fun, she began heaping praise on Bonnie. [this is a theme that will continue throughout the time in Russia.]

Tatyana told Bonnie how special and wonderful it was that she was visiting Russia and to further drive home the point she gifted Bonnie with a photo book about the Diamond Fund and wished her everything good for ever and always. It was a very sweet beginning!

Next we walked over to Red Square and laid eyes on the beautiful buildings there as well as the tomb of Lenin and the GUM department store. We got Nicole’s phone outfitted with a Russian sim card and marvelled at the inside of the luxurious former state department store, now luxury shopping center.

We ate a delicious dinner of traditional Ukrainian food at a restaurant next door to our apartment building. Since neither Nicole nor Bonnie are familiar with Ukrainian food, and since we were both overwhelmed by the choices on the menu, we took guidance from our server: cold plate of aspic and salo (cured slabs of fatback) served with mustard and horseradish on black bread, roasted eggplant with tomatoes, cheese, and parsley, and poached salmon with roasted vegetables, and two different traditional cakes.

Day 8: BERLIN=>MOSCOW AKA “BONNIE IS A BADA$$”

Nicole writes:

I’ve logged a few travel miles but I have to report that this travel days was one of the more intense of my life:

[all things with all the luggage]


Bus from Nuremberg apartment
Transfer to Nuremberg Urban train
9am high speed train Nuremberg->Berlin
12noon Train to Russian Visa Service Berlin
Lunch, wait until 3pm to pick up Russian visa
[in between insert Nicole sweating, breathing, praying, doing constant golden bubble of light work on self, Bonnie, passport, visa, etc. Golden Bubble of lighting so hard that I say it out loud to Bonnie several times, mostly to remind myself]
3:30pm receive new visa/passport
[nicole cries] [breathes]
Train AND bus to Berlin Airport
730 pm flight to Zurich
9:45 pm flight to Moscow
2:00am arrive Moscow, go through passport control, etc
Taxi to apartment
3:30am arrive Moscow apartment

LESSONS LEARNED: BONNIE IS A BADASS

BONNIE-MOSCOW.jpg

Day 7: BAMBERG

Bonnie writes:

Instead of the two world renowned museums that we were considering, Nicole woke up with a new idea and suggested that we go to a small town ½ hour by train north of Nuremberg called Bamburg. It was a gorgeous day and I was very much in agreement.

Bamberg is a beautiful world heritage city that was sparred from bombing during the war. So when they describe the town hall as being old – they mean really old. We hopped on the “Hop-on, hop-off” (my favorite) bus right at the train station. I had some real qualms when the brochure talked about the “hill quarter with its seven hills” but it all worked out great because the bus drives you up to the 1,000 year old cathedral hill. The entire town can be viewed in under an hour so we stayed on the bus for another half and got off at the cathedral. Absolutely breathtaking! We did go up a little further and then started working our way back down. There were spots that were so steep you had to really watch your footing. One spot even had a hand rail attached to the wall.

By this time we were feeling a little tired and happened to stop right next to a chocolate shop – surprise, surprise. So we stopped for coffee for Nicole and tea for me along with a lovely pastry. Have no idea what was in it but it was yummy! Nicole felt the need for some “green space” after that treat, so we came down through the peaceful, restful botanical garden. Of course that took a little longer than expected and we discovered that the bus had stopped running. Not to fear, Nicole whipped out her phone and found us a city bus. We got back on the train to Nuremberg and ended our excursion with a dinner of goulash soup, brown bread and a side salad accompanied by a giant beer for Nicole and white wine for me. (I am enjoying the German Rhine wines).

Day 6: Nuremberg Old Town

[Day 5 was a rest/work day.]

Bonnie Writes:

We spent the day in Nuremberg - absolutely gorgeous! I must admit, however, I had flashbacks of the climb to the temple in Kyoto as I trudged along up to the pre medieval castle on top of the highest hill in town. (Of course the castle is going to be up high so the defenders can see the evil ones trying to creep up.)

The city is really neat. You have tall pointy roofed buildings (that look really old) next to a department store or specialty shop. And the shops in the center of town – wow! There is everything imaginable from cheap chachkes to really high end designer clothes/bags/whatevers.

After exploring on our own for 2 hours with a self-guided walking tour, we took a 40 minute narrated city tour in a small train. It really was good – laid everything out for you and gave you a sense of where things were. Then we walked to the things we thought were interesting. We went into St. Lawrence church on which construction began in 1230 (how’s that grab you?) Just as we walked in the service started and the organ music just blew me away. I would have liked to get a picture of the gigantic organ pipes along side the old rose window but it was too high up and too dark. (Also, photos were prohibited). We were able to walk around to look at the statues, etc. though which were all quite lovely.

Speaking of St. Lawrence church however, there was a very loud fascist demonstration on one side of the building – bullhorns, police cars, etc. Facing that demonstration was an anti-fascist puppet show with equally loud music. Finally around the corner was a large group of police surrounding a small group of people who did not appear to be doing anything one way or another. That bunch made me a little nervous however. I was glad we left them and went on our way to find a metal bridge we wanted to see.

By the way, the trains, trams, busses, etc. that we have ridden are clean and easy to maneuver about. The WCs are all clean and nice also but you better have your ½ euro or you are out of luck!

Day 4: BERLIN to Nuremberg

Nicole writes:

Honestly, if we could have extended our stay in our Berlin apartment we would probably have just stayed in Berlin, but since that was not an option and we were going to have to pack up and move somewhere anyway, Bonnie suggested that we check out the Bavarian region of Germany with a few days in Nuremberg!

A German Rail Pass got us a good deal on some train trips in Germany, and we booked ourselves on the high-speed train to Nuremberg. After checking in to our super cute apartment in Nuremberg, we were pretty tired from a day of travel and Nicole was craving her own (not restaurant) food. The Nuremberg apartment has a really well furnished kitchen, so Nicole cooked supper of salmon, pasta, salad, and sauteed spinach. Cooking is such a comfort and we were glad not to leave the house for the night.

Day 3: BERLIN Potsdam & Park Sanssouci

[Click on the photos to make them bigger!]

Nicole writes:

Bonnie and I took a trip to the Potsdam suburb of Berlin, mostly to see the Sanssouci Palace. Tours of the palace are scheduled at specific times during the day, and we took ourselves through the castle with the help of an audio guide in English. The palace itself was stunning, and filled with decorations in the Rococo style. In keeping with Frederick the Great’s wishes that the palace be dedicated to relaxation and the appreciation of nature, the palace is filled with rococo-style decorations in the forms of leaves, flowers, trees, fruits, animals, birds, and other natural things.

We also strolled the extensive gardens and visited the “Chinese House.” The guard there had a connection to Chicago: he spent 3 days in O’Hare airport on a bench waiting for a plane to Mexico. He showed us some special features of the Chinese House. This building is called the Chinese House because back in the day of Frederick the Great (and actually now still) there was the idea that things that either were Chinese or looked like they might have been Chinese to someone from Europe were super cool, and they named that decorating style Chinoiserie. Chinoiserie, while purporting to admire and respect Chinese culture and style, is also cultural appropriation and deals in overly simplistic stereotypes of Chinese people and culture.

We also walked to the Neue Palace, but unfortunately did not make it in time for the last interior tour. We enjoyed the sprawling outside of the palace and then took ourselves to the old Dutch Quarter of Pottsdam, where there are 134 red, two-story brick houses, arranged on four squares. Known as the Holländerhäuser (“Dutch houses”), they were built for Dutch immigrants by the architect Jan Bouman between 1734 and 1742. They make up the largest exclusively Dutch housing development outside the Netherlands. Well preserved and refurbished, they are now the core of a popular area in the historic center of Potsdam. We ate a delicious Thai dinner in one of the old Dutch Quarter buildings.

Sanssouci was the summer palace of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, in Potsdam, near Berlin. It is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and is far smaller than its French Baroque counterpart, it too is notable for the numerous temples and follies in the park. The palace was designed/built by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff between 1745 and 1747 to fulfill King Frederick’s need for a private residence where he could relax away from the pomp and ceremony of the Berlin court. The palace’s name emphasises this; it is a French phrase (sans souci), which translates as “without concerns”, meaning “without worries” or “carefree”, symbolising that the palace was a place for relaxation rather than a seat of power.
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanssouci
Chinoiserie loanword from French chinoiserie, from chinois, “Chinese”; Chinese: 中国风) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and East Asian artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, literature, theatre, and music.
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinoiserie

Day 2 BERLIN: Hop-on/off bus, DDR Museum, Checkpoint Charlie

[Click on photos to see them bigger!]

Nicole writes:

Bonnie is a fan of a hop-on, hop-off bus, and I am always glad I do it with Bonnie. It’s a great way to get a lay of the land and see places you’d like to go back and visit. Plus we love information and context! The fact that it was pouring rain made the bus a good idea. Our first hop off: the DDR Museum.

DDR stands for Deutsche Demokratische Republik, which American English-speakers call East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The DDR was a state that existed from 1949 to 1990, when the eastern portion of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state in English usage, it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state." It consisted of territory that was administered and occupied by Soviet forces at the end of World War II.

The DDR Museum is an award-winning museum: The DDR Museum provides a unique visitor experience, making it one of Berlin’s most popular museums. Engage all of your senses to enjoy an immersive experience of everyday life in the former East Germany. Covering a range of topics based on sound academic research – everyday life, the Berlin Wall, the Stasi and much more – our exhibition encourages its visitors to touch, feel and interact, so as to gain a fun and rich understanding of the past. Explore all aspects of daily life behind the Berlin Wall!

Getting into the DDR Museum made Nicole wonder if the experience of the museum itself was designed to evoke life under communism because there was a long and slow-moving line and the ticket office was woefully understaffed with malfunctioning equipment. [am I reading too much into it? I can’t help but want the meta-experience to be intentional.]

The wait totally paid off! The museum was FASCINATING. The interactive nature of the exhibits made the whole thing come to life. A recreation of a Stasi (secret police) office was haunting—we opened file drawers that lit up with information about the East German secret police and spies. Friends of Nicole’s who grew up in East Germany say they love visiting there because they get to see and touch the objects of their childhoods.

We hopped back on the bus, ate another German dinner, and then visited the remnants of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. “Checkpoint Charlie” (or "Checkpoint C") was the name given by the Western Allies to the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947–1991). Checkpoint Charlie has since become one of Berlin's primary tourist attractions, where some original remnants of the border crossing blend with reconstructed parts, memorial and tourist facilities. The Wall/ Checkpoint Charlie Museum tells the history behind building the Berlin wall, how it was created overnight and in secret in 1961 in order to stop emigration from the Soviet sector to West Germany, and it documents many ways people tried to cross in secret from East Germany to West Germany. Given all of the boisterous wall talk going on in the US, this museum was particularly poignant.

Day 1 BERLIN: thrilling tour of Russian consulate and visa processing offices

[Click on photos to see them bigger!]

Nicole writes:

We arrived in Berlin in the early morning of October 15 and headed straight to the Russian embassy. This is not listed in the tour books as a recommended first stop, but we had business there. US citizens who want to visit Russia need to secure a visa to enter the country. This is a process that one does from the US, and which costs a couple hundred dollars and involves filling out a long form and sending it away with your passport for a couple of weeks, but is generally not a problem. Bonnie had secured her visa several weeks ahead of our departure.

Then a very naughty puppy let herself into Bonnie’s closed office, grabbed Bonnie’s passport off of her desk, and proceeded to chew it thoroughly enough to damage the passport. All this with ONE BUSINESS DAY before we were scheduled to leave the US. The Russian visa still lives inside of the damaged passport, and Bonnie spent the day in downtown Chicago getting an emergency passport.

But unless we transfer or replace the visa, Bonnie will not be allowed to enter Russia. It’s her first visit to Russia! Nicole has been there many times but Bonnie was really excited to visit for the first time.

So we spent the day schlepping between the Russian consulate and the Russian visa service folks and just when we thought our multi-hour wait for Russian visa support was going to end in frustration, a last minute flurry of activity was whipped up by heroic Russian travel agent Nina, who overheard Nicole explaining our plight and stepped in to make an invitation letter manifest and cajoled the visa services staff into helping us hustle up a new application in record time. Once again we have handed over Bonnie’s passport and we hope it will be returned with a Russian visa inside!

This whole series of events makes Nicole really aware of borders and papers and laws concerning movement of humans, especially in light of the concentration camps and detention centers in the US filled with people whose crime was literally not having the right papers, or daring to assert their right to apply for asylum. How easy it is for people holding US passports to move around the world…we are taken off guard when a country says, NO you may not enter without that paper. Of course we are not desperately trying to enter Russia to escape violence and hardship somewhere else. We are trying to hug Nicole’s friends and see great theater, but before that can happen we need to be enmeshed in cold war bureaucracy and astounding layers of administrative infrastructure.

And then we checked into our apartment, had a lovely German dinner, and spent the rest of our evening planning the adventures of the next couple weeks. After Bonnie went to bed, Nicole pushed through jet lag and took herself out to Dyke Night at Möbel Olfe and connected with rad former Chicago artists Christa Holka and Liz Rosenfeld. We danced!

Day 0: Bonnie & Nicole tour Germany and Russia!

Nicole & Bonnie on the Hangman’s Bridge in Nuremberg, Germany.

Nicole & Bonnie on the Hangman’s Bridge in Nuremberg, Germany.

Nicole writes:

When Nicole was awarded two artist residencies in Russia through CEC ArtsLink, she invited Bonnie to visit her in Russia. Although Nicole has been to Russia many times since 1989, Bonnie has never been to Russia. We decided this was the moment, and we decided to spend some time in Germany before entering Russia in October en route to Nicole’s “Back Apartment Residency” in St. Petersburg starting on November 1.

Bonnie & Nicole have taken 5 trips together outside the US: 3 trips to Japan and 2 to Europe. We have some rhythms and routines established. Features include: Nicole insisting on navigating public transit everywhere we go; Bonnie cheerfully following Nicole wherever she says to go; Bonnie staying committed to tourism that involves castles, palaces, jewels, churches, and old things; Nicole knowing how to grocery-shop for just enough provisions; Nicole wandering and reading signs for a while before asking for help; Bonnie asking for help right off the bat; both maintaining overall chill and good humor, even in stressful situations.

Welcome to our adventures!