Hermitage, St Petersburg
Gwenyth and I went to buy some more wood. Gwenyth is not a party girl and likes to sit at home in front of the fire at night and watch movies. We have lots of these and on Sunday watched Das Boot – a classic German movie about a U-Boat. This went for about 5 hours and was a 20 log fire – so a shortage loomed. Not as bad as the UK Grit Shortage remind you – but potentially a problem.
Over the last week we have watched Dr Strangelove, Enemy At The Gates, Stalingrad (the classic German film by Joseph Vilsmaier), Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line. That was War Week, we are now moving onto politics.
Gwenyth now understands the difficulty of buying wood and getting it into the apartment and asked the question I have often asked myself ‘Is there an easier way to do this?’ She has two Masters degrees but came up with the same answer I did oh so long ago – ‘yes – get someone else to do it’.
On Friday we went to Plachutta so that Gwenyth could partake of the Boiled Beef. We arrived precisely on time but were shunted for 15 minutes into the bar area – which was full of smokers – to cool our heels while our table was prepared.
Our complaints about being left to stand in a smoking area were met with an uncaring shrug – ‘we only have one waiting area’ but we got our revenge by hanging our coats on the wrong pegs and causing chaos. Apparently each table has its own pegs and our thoughtlessness cascaded throughout the restaurant and had guests scratching and biting each other as they fought over coats and pegs while hapless waiters tried to restore order.
Gwenyth said that she was glad she had the Boiled Beef for the experience of doing so but it is not likely to be added to her repertoire for Sydney dinner parties.
Saturday was more exciting and we went to our current favourite restaurant – Cantinetta Antinori. This is always very good – but was a bit too smoky on the night. We had a really good waiter who pretended that we could speak German and didn’t grit his ears when we ordered things.
On Monday Gwenyth and I went to the ‘amusement park’ at the Prater where I rode the Riesenrad (Ferris Wheel) for the first time. This is not a ride for thrill seekers as it travels at glacial speed but we had fun looking at all the landmarks through a light sprinkling of snow that was falling at the time.
I had always imagined that the amusement park would be absolutely gruesome and it met my expectations precisely. Fortunately it was closed – apart from the Casinos – so we were not tempted to go on any of the rides - or indeed the ghost train. But look – I am just a curmudgeon and I am sure it would appeal to small children - or short-sighted people with no sense of shame.
On Monday we also visited the former home of Ernst Fuchs who is one of Wien’s most famous artists. He lived in the former Otto Wagner Villa in Hütteldorf. Herr Fuch’s art is not really my cup of tea as I can never get the hang of art where a person’s intestines are on the outside of the body – and there are far too many religious bits for my liking – but his mother had him baptized as a Catholic to avoid his being sent to a concentration camp so I can understand his enthusiasm.
It is a fantastic house – in the true sense of the word – and is certainly worth seeing.
It is fascinating to watch the airlines and security agencies in action after each attempted or actual or terrorist attempt. The underpants bomber has caused complete chaos throughout the world and we experienced some of this coming back from St Petersburg. Interestingly – no one wanted to look in our underpants and were still focusing on shoes. Perhaps they didn’t get the security update bulletins.
There have been a couple of incidents on the USA recently where really stupid people have made really stupid remarks while on board planes. Things like ‘how do you know I don’t have a bomb in my underpants?’
These types of comments inevitably prompt the return of the plane to the place from which it started and the arrest of the dickhead who made the comment. Interestingly – the last couple of incidents have prompted the Air Force to scramble fighter jets in case they have to shoot the airplane down.
Excuse me?
I think this is a slight overreaction to someone who has dust for brains and would prefer it if the flight attendants would just club him senseless with a stale croissant– especially if I am on board.
I imagine we are quite safe at the moment. The only person in the USA at the moment with dynamite in his underpants is Tiger Woods and he has his own plane.
