Argentina and Brazil

 I haven't met this person face to face but we communicate sometimes via email. You could say we have a friend in common. Either way, she travels with her grandchildren and leaves magnets for me. Here is a comment from an early magnet delivery:

"OK, the magnets. I gave one to a girl on a square in Buenos Aires where the women walk and wear the head scarves around in a circle. The girl was shocked. She was a young mother but accepted it and liked it. The second I gave to a man selling little handmade flutes. He was so excited and loved it immediately... showed it to his buddies. Third was a girl in Brazil and she really loved it. But, the last was a lady in Argentina who nearly cried and kissed me on the cheek. They were fun. I would like to have more for traveling.... do you have some in Italy ? I'm going there in October. Thanks for the fun."

I didn't hear about what she did with them in Italy.

Cuba

You cannot imagine how difficult it was to find someone going to Cuba from the US. Our government has not made it an easy travel destination though it has opened up some to art groups and those with families living there.

Robert is an amazing artist whose work focuses on nature and the effects of mankind on our natural environment. He and Forrest travel to what I think of as fairly exotic places where he studies and sketches for his work as well as simply to enjoy themselves. Below is their short comment on the trip:

"Treking thru Cuba, Jan 2012, Flew into Havana, stayed in casa particulares (private homes), then on to Trinidad where the magnets were given to a Cuban household, treked thru the rain forest Topes De Collante. We are very fortunate to be living in the United States."

 

This is the kitchen that has your magnet Trinidad, Cuba. This is not your average kitchen, a home open to toursists. Most homes do not have spices or even running water.

 

 

 

Malaysia

Meg's mother saw my promo for the magnet project at a craft event where I was set up selling ceramics. She said she would be more than willing to send a magnet with her daughter who was going to Malaysia to study sea turtles.  Much to my delight and surprise, I received this reply from Meg:

"Hello Nanci! An update on some magnets: My mom met you last summer (maybe in Celo?) and gave me some of your beautiful magnet tiles to bring with me to Malaysia where I have been living with a local family and studying turtle conservation for the past ten months.  As my time comes to a close, I have decided to give the magnets to my host family.  They will either use them as magnets or may incorporate them as tiles in part of their house.  It is great to have a handmade gift from my home to share with the people here who have opened their home to me so warmly.  Thanks!"

"This is me in the village where I lived teaching local students about endangered turtles in Malaysia as part of my work as a Fulbright Student Researcher with the Turtle Conservation Society."(http://www.turtleconservationsociety.org.my/).

Kucukcekmece Lake Festival

While on the subject of dance festivals, I should write about my good fortune in being allowed to take part in one this past summer. My nephew danced with the Apple Chill Cloggers (www.applechillcloggers.org) who were chosen from the CIOFF pool as mentioned in the previous blog. The festival was the Kucukcekmece Lake Festival (www.festivallake.com) in Istanbul, Turkey.
There were several countries represented: Hungary, Poland, Italy, Taiwan, Brazil, Canada, Palestine, Turkey and the US. I passed magnets out, at least one to someone in each country but often more.

We were treated like royalty of sorts, housed in a very good hotel, three large meals daily, a bus for each team, even a private boat for the Bosporus tour. There were parades as well as performances and a dragon boat race that was cancelled due to choppy water. The stage had a large video screen behind the dancers; the lighting and effects were incredible, not to mention the fireworks after the closing performance. Turkey really went all out!

I heard there were 240 of us and I was surely the oldest one there. Imagine having the only white head among that many youngsters. This is where the magnets came in. I know I took at least 30 of them and my nephew took a few. I often walked up to dancers and handed a magnet to them without having any particular reason to do so. I could tell who I gave it to by the way that dancer smiled at me the following day. Gifting somehow bridged the genreation gap. I left a horse magnet with our bus driver who displayed it with all the red white and blue goodies given to him by the clogging group. Halil, or group's leader, had the daunting task of keeping us together and he got one, too. He deserved a metal but all he got was a little tile magnet!

Taipei on stage.

Turkish dancers with a coupr Italians clowning.
 

This Polish girl got a magnet as did the boy.

 

Apple Chill Cloggers

 

Oh, those Italian men!

 

The Phillipine community from Canada on stage.

 

Folkmoot USA

I've always been a fan of Folkmoot. For those who don't know, this is a traditional dance festival in western North Carolina (www.folkmootusa.org) that brings in dance groups from all over the world. My understanding is that they select groups from a pool that is part of CIOFF, an organization under the umbrella of UNESCO. Each year they send a few of those groups to perform in my small town and I always attend. It wasn't until the second year's performance that I hit on the idea of passing out magnets.

The first magnet I gave to the man behind the table selling crafts from Jordan. I'm not sure he knew what to think but he thanked me. Then he brought me a souvineer from Petra, a historic site in Jordan. The next thing I knew, he gave each of us behind the concession counter a CD of Jordanian music. This man was one of the lead dancers from that country and who did a shimmy move that really got the audience fired up. I also gave magnets to some of the Jordanian girls who wanted me to pose for photos with them.

I made sure to give them to at least one of each nationality, mostly to the girls. One of the performers from Portugal gave me a small rooster pin and another gave me a key ring, also with a rooster which is a symbol of Portugal. One recipient said, "We kiss on both cheeks!" as she did just that. 

At another performance, I gave a magnet to a girl from Latvia who performed a dance with red gloves. I told her I also had some of those Latvian gloves and bought them at the big market in Riga but mine are not red.

I asked one of my friends to give away a magnet at yet another performance. She chose the lead dancer from Burundi. Their group had several male dancers who danced with large drums on their heads that they beat rhythmically while dancing. That was really a feat because the largest drum weighed about 80 pounds and it took two guys to lift it on. I gave magnets to several other dancers on that team, also.

Other teams I gave magnets to over the years were from Serbia and Holland. There were others and I am ashamed to admit that I've forgotten which countries they were from. I only wish I had taken photos.

Lybia

In a hotel lobby in Istanbul, I met with three very elegant young women all dressed in black with colorful headscarves and smiling faces. As they passed me, one asked where I was from. When I told her I was from America, she said they were from Libya. I always carry magnets when I travel so started digging and produced only two. I gave the magnets to them asking them to take them home. They were very pleased. The next think you know, we were having a photo shoot with them...and what fun!

Getting Deployed

Soldiers, they get to go the the darnedest places. This is not vacation and there is no lying out sunning on the beaches for these guys. Nonetheless, some of the soldiers are willing to carry magnets for me.

I know a man who trains National Guard soldiers for deployment and has sent magnets with soldiers to Iraq, Afghanistan, Qatar and Kuwait. Another person who assists in training Air Force personnel promised to take one to the Philippines base. I wish I'd thought to ask which island the base is on. Another young man who is with the Air Force in Kyrgyzstan and is armed with three magnets. An acquaintance's son is headed to Syria on a naval carrier soon and, hopefully, will figure out how to get at least one magnet ashore.

I Seldom get response from people who carry magnets for me but never hear from the soldiers...and I know better than to expect it. Photos? No chance.

Bosnia

I met Libby from Australia at a hostel in Veliko Tarnova, Romania. She is one of those outgoing types that everyone is drawn to. Each night she called on us to join her on the patio with a bottle of wine and a fire that didn't want to light. I gave her magnets to travel with and was pleasantly surpised when she sent me the following response with a photo.

"I am writing to you to let you know that I found a very worthy recipient for one of your magnets in Bosnia - actually in Mostar.  You really must visit Bosnia when you come back to this part of the world, it's one of those countries that you can't help being totally enchanted with.  So, in Mostar I stayed in a small hostel called Hostel Nina, run by the most beautiful family... Nina and Zika, and Nina's mother.  And also Deny Dean, Nina's very naughty little boy.  I gave the magnet to Nina, she was very interested in your project and was very happy to have one!"  

Vieques Island, Puerto Rico

Vieques is a small island located east of Puerto Rico.  The island was rich with sugar mill plantations prior to the 1940s when the US Navy bought it and turned it into a bombing and training island.  The resident population was moved to the central part of the island.  Military Operations ceased in the early 2000s and a large portion of the island was turned into a nature preserve.

The first night we arrived on the island, we went to Al’s Azul Mar Bar.  There we ran into a welcoming host of transplanted individuals and locals, who were more than willing to provide insight into the must dos of the island.  They also had amazingly talented karaoke singers.  As our five days past, I must say their must see and do list was spot on.  The island was warm welcoming and spectacular, just like the bar.  On the last day we were there, I stopped by to drop off a magnet to the owner Dan, who posed for a picture.

Baby sea turtle seen on one of the remote beaches. 

Sunset over one of the small bays. 

 Dan posing for his picture with his new magnet.

View from Al's Azul Mar Bar.

Arkansas In Autumn

Adam and his girlfriend went to the Buffalo Wilderness State Park to camp in October. Both lead very busy lives juggling careers and the pursuit of advanced education so a rest was in store. Below are his comments about their getaway:

"The place was called Low Gap, Arkansas.  The Sunday brunch menu was fried frog legs, venison meat with gravy, and biscuits and gravy.  It was really really good food.  All the locals seemed to come in after church.  From my understanding, it had not been open long.  It seemed to be getting a lot of business and the people were extremely friendly.  I hope that it becomes profitable.  We left a horse magnet with the owner, who placed the magnet on the fume hood over the grill for good luck.

The Ozarks in the fall are beautiful.  We really went there to explore the mountains and get away from the daily grind of the city.  There were three places that we really wanted to see Hawksbill Crag, Hemmed-in-Hollow, and The Glory Hole.  Hemmed-in-Hollow and the Glory Hole are both waterfalls.  Unfortunately, the drought dried up most of the water that flowed through them and we only experienced a trickle.  The locations were still beautiful and the leaves were in a deep orange and red.  We saw a lot of wildlife including Elk that have been re-released into the wild."

There isn't much else in Low Gap but at least there is this cafe!

Autumn view along Buffalo River.

Elk roaming the open fields. 

Hemmed-in-Hallow, with only a trickle of water.

Malawe and Mozambique

Mariel is the daughter of near neighbors who is deeply religious. Her decision to be involved in mission work took her to Malawi. Her parents sent her a few magnets to distribute for me. This is her comment:

Okay--I was the communications coordinator (PR writer/photographer/designer etc.) for the Society for International Ministries (www.sim.org) in Malawi, which is affiliated with Serving In Mission, which is headquartered in the US but has international leadership. They do AIDS care, orphan care, HIV prevention outreach, and pastoral education, among other things. (They also do food assistance during famines, which occur every several years or so depending on the rains and other factors affecting the corn harvest.) My job was to document all of these things.

Oh, and if I remember correctly, two of your magnets ended up in Blantyre, Malawi, and one in Lichinga, Mozambique.

Here's some boys playing checkers with bottle caps. They live at a home for street children.

Add caption

Work Projects

The following emails came from the leaders of college service trips. If only they sent photos...

I brought a magnet on a service trip to Honduras with 13 Eckerd College students. The magnet was given to the guard at SOS orphanage. Our service work there included purchasing a new roof, cleaning, and painting the guard casseta at the entrance to the orphanage. The teachers in Honduras were on strike, so a majority of our time was spent with the 150 children age 4-18 who resided at SOS. We tried to provide some form of structured activity for the children by putting on plays and translating them from English to Spanish. After a week of hard work we hugged the children goodbye and left the magnet on the fridge of the casseta.

And...

I led a Service Trip, which included 12 students and myself, to La Romana, Dominican Repbulic where we worked at the "Hogar Del Nino" school (http://www.hogardelnino.com/).  I gave a magnet to Inexis Zapata who is the Volunteer Coordinator at the Hogar.  She helped me set up the entire trip and helped me find lodging, food, and transportation.  Without her I do not think our trip  would have happened.  I also gave a magnet to four girls (Sara Vicenzi, Diane Tobio, Jade Franco, Hilary Marck) who graduated from Stonehill College in MA and are spending a year volunteering at the Hogar.  They were our day to day contacts and they also showed us around La Romana when we were not volunteering.  It was nice having Americans around that were able to help us out as well as show us around. 

Argentina

This came via email from a couple of women who took a magnet from a chance airport meeting and left it in Argentina:

Hello,

On October, 17 my cousin and I left from Asheville NC for a 4 weeks trip to Argentina. On the airport a lady overheard our conversation and asked us if we would be willing to cooperate on your project to have a lovely self made magnet distributed over the world and to give it to someone special who would appreciate it.

In Mendoza, a beautiful town close to the Andes and the frontier of Chile, I found a special lady and asked her if she would like to participate. I told her what I heard from that lady on the airport in Asheville and she liked the idea of this special project.

Herewith I sent you the photo of her and me. She is a beautiful and very kind woman.

With kind regard,

Josephina (from the Netherlands)

Sorry for my poor English

 

Hola, el 17 de octubre, mi prima y yo partimos de Asheville NC para viajar 4 semanas por Argentina. En el aeropuerto una señora escuchó nuestra conversación y nos preguntó si estaríamos dispuestos a cooperar en su proyecto de tener un imán encantador, que se pone en la puerta de la heladera. Hecho a mano por Ud y repartido por el mundo, dárselo a alguien especial que lo agradecería.

En un bonito pueblo al pie de los Andes y la frontera de Chile llamado Mendoza encontré a una senora especial y le preguntó si le gustaría participar. Le dije lo que me contó la señora en el aeropuerto de Asheville y a ella le gustaba la idea de participar en este proyecto especial. Como he promitido le envio la foto de ella y yo. Supongo que ella es una mujer hermosa y muy amable.

Le saludo sinceramente,

Josephina (de Holanda)

lo siento por las faltas en Español

 

 

Meeting At Airports

Airports are a great place to meet people from other countries if one can gather up the nerve to talk to them. Several magnets have traded hands from those meetings.

While waiting for a delayed plane in Charlotte, NC, I butted into a conversation in Spanish and asked the woman closer to me where she was from. She told me she lived in Columbia and was pleased to take home a magnet for me.  Columbia is very beautiful, she said, and more tourists should go there.

On the same trip I was in Miami where I was anxiously awaiting my son's plane which was coming in for landing as our connecting flight was loading up to leave. I met a young woman, an air traffic controller from DC, whose husband was on the same plane. They were going to Machu Picchu in Peru and agreed to take a magnet for me. This woman was a lifesaver because she stood at the door holding up a sign telling my son which gate to rush off to. Thanks to her, we made our connection by the skin of our teeth...literally!

My son and his girl met a couple from Branson, Missouri in the Little Rock airport. These folks said they'd spent their adult life traveling around d the country on Gold Wing motorcycles. They didn't come from and were not going to any exotic foreign country but made a favorable enough impression that my son wanted to give them a magnet. So he did.

One friend coming from Philadelphia struck up a conversation with a couple of women who were going to Argentina. On this particular adventure they planned to bike through the country visiting vinyards. I suppose they intended to do some wine tasting on the way. A magnet went along for the ride.

Vietnam and Singapore

He flies for Singapore Airlines and is related to a friend who asked that he drop a magnet in a couple countries. He was kind enough to comply. One magent was given to a friend, a woman who lives in Singapore. The other was left at Windbell Homestay in Hoi An, Vietnam and now resides on their  refrigerator.

Singapore. The magnet blends into the fridge, a perfect match.

At Windbell Homestay. Check them out.

.

Panama

This is from Polly, a glass blower and musician (www.pollylorienmusic.com and/or www.lorienglass.com)
who lives in my neighborhood. Her mother has been sailing for over a year with lots of my magnets. I have yet to compile that information due to lack of photos but do have Polly's report as follows:

"We spent nearly two weeks visiting my mother on her sailboat in Panama. It's not a huge boat, but it's cozy: a place for everything and everything in its place. One night we sailed from Bocas Town to Isla Bastimentos, a small, nearby island that has no roads. We left our dinghy at the little, rickety dock of a restaurant called Roots. The folks there pointed us down the road to a path across the island leading to Wizard Beach. The Wiki page may say that "No interior trails or roads exist on the island," but having walked up the muddy hill and back down the other side to a lovely beach, I can report that Wiki is misinformed. We spent a delightful afternoon between the hot sand and delicious waves on a perfect beach. After returning to Bastimentos town, we sat down at Roots for a light meal. The staff were helpful and kind, and the patacones (smashed, fried plantains) were the best we had on our whole visit! We wanted to give more than a tip to show our appreciation (not only for the meal, but also for letting us leave our dinghy at their safe dock), so we left them one of Nanci's beautiful magnets. The owner/waitress was delighted! "We have just the place for this," she said in her lilting accent."

Mom and Hubby on the sailboat

This is where the magnet lives.

 

A couple years earlier, Polly took a magnet with her when she went to visit her father and his wife in Bonair, One the Antilles Islands that she calls 'the ABC Islands'.

Norway

One of my neighbors has a cousin who lives in Denmark and was kind enough to send along one of my magnets with her daughter who was going to visit. This is her comment:

Hello!

I received this magnet for Christmas from my cousin, Carol, daughter of Jane Goldthwait.
I live in Norway, and Carol and her husband visited us for a few weeks.
We love it!

Karen

Kristiansand, Norway

Brussels and Denmark

A magnet went to the family who hosted my son in Denmark. Soren was an intern at the Arthur Morgan School in the mountains of North Carolina when he got to know Adam.

The last arop in Adam's journey was at the Belgium where Adam caught a homeward flight in Brussels. The last magnet went to the girl behind the information counter.

Montenegro and Croatia

Adam's comments about Montenegro:

"Montenegro was absolutely beautiful.  The trip started out in the extremely interesting town of Ulcinj. Ulcinj is just across the border from Albania and actually used to be part of Albania so it had all the same characteristics of an Albanian town but on a beautiful beach and with lotsof tourists.  The beach was amazing and swimming in the Adriatic is really refreshing.  The water is a beautiful color and beats out the Bahamas any day.  From Ulcinj, I traveled to Bar, Budva, Centinje, Kotor, and Hercig Novi"

A woman at a bakery in the town of Bar agreed to keep the backpack for the time it took to reach the castle. " It was only 4 km (about 2.5 miles) from the bus stop but the climb was so steep that it took me 1 1/2 hrs to walk there. The castle there was incredibly complex but almost completely destroyed
after the 1979 earthquake that shook Montenegro." 

Clock tower in the old castle, Bar, Montenegro

Because of problems with his ATM card, Adam had to skip to Croatia before he ran out of cash. In Dubrovnik, he met a young lady who worked at a cafe/art gallery. He gave her a magnet because he was so glad to finally hear someone speak English. Then he talked her into having a cup of coffee with him. They sat on the castle wall and ate hamburgers. The next evening she took him to a local jazz club.

Albania

My son continued his journey to Albania. This is not a place many Americans go. He met one person proficient in English while he was there. Getting around was a bit of a challenge. Yet people were not unfriendly to him. I have an email he sent about his journey and want to pass along a couple quotes from it:

"I loved all the towns I visited other than the capital, Tirana.  I only tooa grand total of 3 pictures there.  The architecture was extremely bland andlooked like a concrete company got the contract to design it.  I was disgusted but don't tell an Albanian, they think its amazing.

An interesting thing about Albania that I don't think the western media
picks up on at all is that it is very tolerant toward religions...there seems to be a pretty even mix between Muslims and Christians. Often Mosques and Catholic Churches are right next to each other.  Nobody seems to care what religion people are and everybody seems to get along.  Its a very nice thing to see, maybe the rest of the world should take note."

He didn't find hostels to stay in but rented rooms in pensions or people's homes. He left a magnet with a woman who served him breakfast, making certain that he was being well attended.

Castle above Shkodra

Italy and Greece

My son continued his European tour by joining a college buddy's family and continuing with them.  I flew home, they went to Italy. In Venice, he gave a magnet to a glassblower. I'm sure they had an art talk since his childhood pal's father and stepmother are both glassblowers.

A blown glass sculpture on Murano Island.

 Next stop Greece. After Italy it was hard to be impressed. This was his comment on Athens: "Anyways, Athens was a huge disappointment to me.  After coming from Rome were everything seemed beautiful, Athens felt like I was in just another big city...and then boom!!! There are ancient ruins staring you in the face." Adam went to the Acropolis and hung out in the park area. It was a very hot day and he noticed that one woman, a vendor, looked miserable in the heat. He went to her and handed her a magnet thinking that a small gift might brighten her day just a bit. Later in the day, she came to him while he was lounging in the shade of a tree and gave him a bottle of water.

Czech Republic

Another bus trip, another city, this time Prague. Everyone I know who has been to Prague sighs at the mention of it but all I wanted to do was go back to Budapest. I got over that soon enough.

Prague is such a gem. Never have I seen such architecture! I am told that when Hitler marched in, they just surrendered and saved their city in doing so. It didn't get bombed to smithereens like so many others though many other terrible things happened. Such is war. I walked for days marvelling at the baroque, nouveau, gothic and baroque buildings. Each day we crossed the bridge and passed a different configuration of musicians, complete with a washboard, playing Satchmo's "Wonderful World".

We took a bus to Kutna Hora, an old mining town, to see an ossuary. There was a time, centuries ago, that people were buried in churches. When it went out of mode, or maybe got too crowded, there was the problem of what to do with all those bones. One cathedral cemented them into the walls and the other made nifty but gory arrangements and charge tourists to see them.

There was a little cafe where the local workmen were going for their lunch so we joined them. It was very small and the food was on display, cafeteria style. We each pointed to our choice. When Adam pointed, the lady behind the counter stepped back, frowned, shook her head and sort of rubbed her stomach. It seemed she was telling us it was tripe and he likely wouldn't like it. He took the hint and chose another dish. When we left, I reached over the counter as she was busy writing out a ticket, and plunked down a magnet. She looked up and smiled and we left.

Dem bone, dem bones...

Ah, Budapest!

The girl behind the information window at the Budapest train station could easily have been the girl in Krakow, same long black hair, same smiling face. So I slipped her a magnet the same way I did at the station in Krakow. She seemed really pleased, too.

It was late and we had some difficulty finding the metro because of construction. Once there, I was struck by all the homeless people bedded down there...and what a perfect place to be homeless! A metro ride and bus stop found us in front of a fancy hotel with iron sculptures of devils holding torches lighting its facade. We found out hostel nearby in an old building with huge wooden doors, wide staircases of marble with walkways around the courtyard on each floor.

The next day we explored the market, went to the underground church and climbed to the lookout above before continuing to the castle. On the way was a man playing the classic shell game using plastic bottle caps instead of walnut shells. The bet was 100 Euros and, boy, did he have the takers! Huff and pant up to the lookout above took us to statues and an ice cream cart as well as wonderful views of the Danube and the Parlaiment building--and what a palace!-- on the other side.

I was loathe to leave Budapest but, alas...! The man who stored luggage at the bus station had such a hard time with my son's super heavy pack that Adam hopped over the divider and took it from him. He later passed us as he was leaving work, wished us a good journey, and Adam chased him down to give him a magnet.

The Hungarian Parliament

 

Entry to the underground church

Slovakia

Our train from Krakow to Budapest made one stop in Slovakia. We sat at the station for a while before it occurred to me that I was missing a big opportunity to plant a magnet in yet another country. I fished one out of my pack and hurried to the open door of the train. The platform was almost empty already and I was afraid to go outside the train. I leaned out and saw a woman walking my way with her babushka and shopping bag, obviously local. I motioned her to come my way and she did. I asked if she spoke English and she shook her head so I put my hand out, palm up and pointed to hers. She put hers out, I put the magnet in it, turned and ran back to my seat. My son asked if I'd given her a magnet. He said he saw her look at it in a puzzled way then drop it into her bag.

I don't know where Poland ended and Slovakia began other than the stop at the border. We passed through mountainous land and wide green valleys much like the eastern part of the United States. There were fields with lots of orange poppies and some purple flowers that added a nice touch of colors. There were lots of large gardens along the tracks that were being worked manually by mostly older people.

Poland

On to Krakow where we were hoping to catch a bus to Kiev. The office at the bus station did not open until 10 am and the person who opened it didn't arrive for another half hour. He didn't care enough to be helpful so we threw a dart at the map, so to speak, and hit on Budapest instead of Kiev. We spent one night in a hostel and did some exploring. Not much help here, not many smiles.

There was a festival going on in the big square. One booth had a whole pig turning on a spit. Some musicians were playing traditional Polish music, a nice change since every other tune I've heard the whole trip came right out of the US oldies rock scene. We also explored a big cemetery full of extravagant monuments and statues. They treat their dead well here. The Catholic church situated in the midst of all those dead called a service and everyone stopped to take part even though they didn't go inside.

Inside Krakow's castle walls

Auschwitz. Nobody can go to Krakow without viewing that grim reminder of mankind at its worst. There were many barracks set up with wall-sized displays, one of nothing but shoes, another of human braids shorn from the victims, another of eyeglasses...you get the picture. Then there is the heavily pockmarked wall where some prisoners met with the firing squad, complete with a little makeshift shrine of pebbles, pictures and flowers strewn about. Then the oven and the track where they laid the body and shoved it in. Once again, someone laid a flower in tribute. Grim. Grim. Grim.

The ovens. No flash, no tripod but you get the idea.

 

Finally, at the train station we met a friendly, smiling ticket agent. She was young and very pretty, long black hair and all that. When Adam pushed the money through the window, I slipped a magnet in with it. Her smile turned up in a funny little way and she ducked her head, made up the ticket and passed it back, still with that funny little turn to the corner of her mouth. It was almost as though she felt really special. I suspect she thought it was a gift from him.

St. Petersburg Again

This time St Petersburg, Russia was not my son's experience but my own adventure, though a very brief one. I like to say that I spent a day and a half hopelessly and gloriously lost. Twice young English speaking women came to my rescue. One went many blocks out of her way to take me to the hostel door. The other took me to the subway station, even swiped her own card to make sure I got on the right train. I gave each one a magnet, my way of thanking them, and was surprised at how pleased they were to receive it. At that point, I decided that my magnet project should be less about spreading them around the world and more about giving a gift.

The bus ride from Tallinn through Russia was a memorable experience. Once we crossed into Russia and got into the countryside, that far-north road really went to pot. Literally. We slammed and banged into huge potholes, weaving often to avoid others, not slowing down at all. The first time the driver pulled into the other lane to pass, I just about had a heart attack because a car was coming right at us. Our driver didn't slow down, nor did either of the cars involved. They simply moved over to create a third lane right down the middle. Let me tell you, that really took some getting used to!

Is Russia dark and deprived? Not from what I saw. Would I go back? I certainly would but would prefer a traveling companion familiar with the cyrillic alphabet.

Little girls in pink posing in front of the Hermitage Museum.

Church of the Spilt Blood

St Petersburg street scene

Latvia and Estonia

In each of these countries I left the magnets on hostel refrigerators, one in Tallinn, Estonia and the other in Riga, Latvia. I still hadn't come to the idea of gifting them in a more personal manner. I will comment briefly on each country.

My experience in Latvia is limited to Riga, known to Europe's youthful party goers as a must place to go. I am not one of those. Old town is extensive and beautiful even though much of it seems to have been rebuilt after the bombings of World War II.

The market is next to the bus station, much of it occupying buildings that were once several zeppelin hangars, or so my guidebook said. Its my favorite market in all of Eastern Europe with whole buildings dedicated to meat or cheeses and breads. You wouldn't believe how many varieties of potatoes and mushrooms are available there, not to mention clothing, utensils, handcrafted items, even antiques. I bought nicely decorated mittens and socks from a woman knitting behind her table. We also bought bread and cheese for the bus trip to Tallinn.

Riga from the steeple of St. Peter's

Riga Old Town street scene

I love Estonia. It doesn't have the extensive array of medieval to deco era architecture of Riga, Prague, Budapest and so on, but it has such a good fresh feel to it. I am reminded of the US in the 1950s, a time when it was widely believed that if one lived a good, honest life and worked hard that tomorrow was a brighter day. Since the withdrawal of the Russians, Estonia is free of occupations and proud to be their own country.

In Estonia they are kind to their beggars. One morning I was having coffee and watching the nearby businesses preparing to open for the day. A lady came out of a little restaurant with a plate in her hand, hurried down the cobbled street and presented it to the elderly woman sitting in an archway with her alms cup. The plate contained a big sandwich.

Estonians are really into flowers. There is a sizable flower market near the castle wall and one can see so many people walking around with bouquets. They leave a flower at monuments and other sites they have a feel for.  I think this is an Eastern European tradition.

I feel safe in Estonia, even in Tallinn, its largest city. Walking through old town late, late at night, even passing groups of drunken young men did not set off alarm bells in my head. Nor did walking alone through empty downtown streets at 4am with a backpack, obviously a tourist.

Tallinn flower market at night