The Hartman Hotel Svetlogorsk reviewed by Mick Hart

Willie & Greta Hartmann may still be drinking tea on the hotel terrace …

Published: 27 June 2021 ~ The Hartman Hotel Svetlogorsk reviewed by Mick Hart

I often wondered what was going on behind the plastic sheets and scaffolding, which, it seemed to me, had been there for years, and then, in the winter of 2020, the sheeting was removed and there stood this immaculately renovated building bearing the name Hartman Hotel.

As a portion of the hotel’s name was synonymous with mine, ‘Hart’, the prospect of not having my photo taken standing next to it was inconceivable. My wife would later use this photograph to create a Facebook post, the implication being that this latest addition to the Svetlogorsk hotel portfolio was under my ownership. How does the expression go? You wish!!

The Hartman Hotel, Svetlogorsk ~ a brief history
The Hartman Hotel, Svetlogorsk, is the modern successor to the Hartmann Hotel, Rauschen, which itself succeeded the Waldesrand (Forest Edge). The Waldesrand began life in 1910 at a time when the small Prussian town of Rauschen, nestled on the Baltic Coast, was renowned as a spar resort and revered for the health-restoring properties of its fresh sea and pine-tree woodland air.

The name Hartmann was given to the hotel after its new owner, Willie Hartmann, acquired it in the 1920s. When it re-opened in 1925, it incorporated a restaurant, had undergone various interior improvements and had been remodelled as a year-round venue.

Willie Hartmann and his wife, Greta, took great pride in the running and the reputation of their new venture, and it was not long before Hotel Hartmann became a firm favourite, attracting people from far and wide as well as local dignitaries.

When the Second World War changed the course of history, the Hartmanns were forced to abandon their treasured home and business. Fate was kind to them in that they survived the war, resettled and continued to work in the hotel trade, but in 1945 Rauschen officially died and with it the Hartmann Hotel.

Destiny, however, has a strange way of intervening, sometimes in ways that are least expected. Who would have thought, for example, that 76 years after the war, through all the vicissitudes of change and temporality that it inflicted, not only would a hotel faithfully replicated upon the designs of its predecessor rise phoenix-like from the ashes of time but also would be restored to the standards of its former self and revived to bear the name of its most successful owner?

The answer, Willie Hartmann: “War is not eternal,” he told his wife, “… a hotel will always be needed … our grandchildren will still drink tea on the terrace of this hotel!”

What he meant by that in relation to the outcome of the war is a moot point. In early 2020, the descendants of Willie Hartmann discovered by chance whilst surfing on the net that their grandfather’s hotel had been restored, resurrected and eponymously named.

They wrote a heartfelt letter of thanks to the new owners, acknowledging their sensitivity to and appreciation of the hotel’s place in the history of the region, recognising that the new owners could quite easily have taken much of the hard work out of their new project by limiting the conversion to a simple contemporary makeover.

The extent to which the hotel’s exterior resembles that of its predecessor is clearly demonstrated by comparing our photographs, taken in 2021, with those taken in the 1920s, which appear in a booklet thoughtfully commissioned by the hotel’s new owners and devoted to the hotel’s history for the edification of guests and visitors.

The Hartman Hotel Svetlogorsk

My first encounter with the new Hartman (we shall, out of respect, continue to spell it the old German way, Hartmann), that is when the building resembled what it used to be and not a building site, occurred in winter 2020.

With its little red-lamp-shaded lights casting a warm glow through its restaurant windows, I was all for going in, but as we were short on time, and with my wife knowing from years of experience that once in a cosy licensed premises it would be difficult to get me out, we would have to wait until the early summer of 2021 before this avenue of pleasure could be properly explored.

The day that we had chosen to visit Svetlogorsk in mid-June was a hot one, and, unbeknown to us, it was a public holiday (there are many and they are hard to keep track of here!) Consequently, our train was packed, and when we got out I had never seen so many people in Svetlogorsk. It was, to use the vernacular, ‘rammed’.

We had planned to walk to the promenade and have lunch on one of the hotel or restaurant terraces overlooking the sea, but Svetlogorsk’s tourist invasion required evasive action. Almost at once and together we remembered the Hartmann Hotel and how stylish it had looked. It was old, had been restored and had an air of 1930s’ gentility; in other words, it was our sort of place. We would not be disappointed.

We could quite easily have been disappointed, however, since, whilst there were less people away from the front, the terrace at the Hartmann was not short of patrons. Fortunately for us, we had timed it right. On the way I had paused to take stock of my favourite Rauschen building, recently renovated to a high and attractive standard, and by doing so we arrived at the Hartmann just as a table came vacant.

The Hartmann, which is appealing enough in its own right, has added a touch of swish to pull the punters in. Last winter it had a 1930s’ style motor vehicle parked on the forecourt; now, it has a bright red and sparkling-chrome classic MG convertible.

In the era of Visual Blitz, induced and exploited by Facebook and other social media, who could resist having their photograph taken next to such a swanky automobile parked out front of such a tasteful hotel? Certainly not my wife. Olga, given her Facebook obsession, was predictably one of the least resisting, and several photographs had to be taken before I could get down to the serious business of sampling the beer.

The Hartman Hotel Svetlogorsk

Having struck lucky with our seats, our pride of place position gave us a good view of the hotel’s revived façade.

This was one of those marvellous, old German/Prussian buildings of inverted breakfront design, where flanking end sections project from the middle plane, thus recessing the central component. The orange-red brickwork that forms the window arches, cornerstones and lateral-running decoration are picked out pleasingly against the white painted background, perfectly in keeping with the architectural style of the late 19^th early 20^th century. The windows, are, of course, double-glazed units, but in order to conform as far as possible with the shape and impression of the more intricate design contemporary to the Hartmann era, they are predominantly curved in form, made up of sections separated by vertical and horizontal struts and with narrow vertical strips in the upper lights intended to resemble the more elaborate wooden frameworks of earlier periods. The rectangular casements in the upper storey are not a deviation. On the contrary, as the photograph of the hotel front taken in the Hartmann era shows, they replicate the original pattern, as does the long, central balcony and decorative half-timbered fretwork.

Hartman Hotel restored — The Hartman Hotel, Svetlogorsk, celebrates its past

The front door with its copper, curved awning and embossed/carved detail is, I imagine, a lot more elaborate than the original Hartmann entrance would have been, but whomsoever chose it deserves top marks for gilding the lily that is the most deserving.

Standing next to this door of doors, at least on the day that we were there, in addition to two potted shrubs, was a fully-fledged doorman in complete vintage doorman regalia, his burgundy sleeveless tunic, conforming tilt hat and twin rows of silver buttons harmonising splendidly with the MG’s polished red livery and dazzling chrome work.

Like many things, hotel observation can be thirsty work, and it was hooray when the beer arrived! As a vegetarian, and a simple food one at that, I do not feel that I am really qualified to comment on the quality of our meal, except to say that my salad was good enough. My wife settled for a good old honest portion of fish and chips but discovered that this was no ordinary plateful: traditional cod had been mixed with tasty salmon! For liquid refreshment Olga had a couple of glasses of wine, and I had two German beers. The tab came to about £20, which we thought was reasonable.

During our time at the Hartmann, the hotel staff were attentive and approachable and the service friendly and good. In fact, we were so taken with it all that although we live only a relatively short bus or train ride from the coast, we decided to take the plunge and book in for a night the following week, which would give us a chance to sample the hotel interior (and, naturally, more beers) and to take a few photos for the post I had planned.

Mick Hart & Olga Hart at Hartman Hotel — Mick Hart & Olga Hart at the Hartman Hotel

Our overnight stay at the Hartman Hotel, Svetlogorsk

Check in at the Hartmann Hotel is officially 2pm. We arrived early, but this was no problem as the helpful receptionist stowed our overnight bag behind a closed door in a luggage area opposite the lobby desk.

When we had inquired about the possibility of taking a room last week, we had been told that the hotel was fully booked. This encouraged us to take the one room that was vacant, which was a family room, which we would have taken anyway as the extra space and additional seating that this type of room provides is always welcome. For a family room we had to fork out £80, which is not as budget friendly as some hotels in the region, but we were not unhappy considering the standard and ambience.

Room number 23 opens out into one of the end extensions of the building. The large arched window combinations to the front and one at either side makes this a particularly light, airy and pleasant space. It contains a bed-settee, two open armchairs, coffee table and second, wider screen TV.

The room itself is sensitively decorated. Although a dark-wood Gothic man myself, I had no quarrel with the light and pastel colours in this particular setting. The room’s facilities are modern and equipped to a high standard ~ it even has its own iron and ironing board, which is an absolute necessity for keeping one’s cravat in tip-top shape!

To enable en suite conditions, the combined shower room and W.C. has to occupy quite a narrow space, but this has been achieved with zero inconvenience. Necessity, as they say, is the mother of invention, and I was, and still am, in awe, as to how they managed to design this room to maximise space and sacrifice nothing.

The room’s door-locking system is one that Willie Hartmann and his wife, not to mention his 1920s’ guests, would find novel and entertaining. It is one of those electronic touch-card jobs, the card also doubling as an electricity activation key once inside the room. Me to the porter, trying not to look as if I was a backdated key user: “How do you work this?” And then when he’d shown me: “Ah, I wondered if you knew!”

These little plastic cards are all well and good, but since they negate the need to physically shut the door, turn the handle and use a key, early rising guests tend to let the door go slam as they toddle off to breakfast, which is a bit disconcerting if you are still in bed biding your time with a hangover. Jim Reeves: ‘I hear the sound of not-so-distant drums!’ Not a criticism, but perhaps some calibrated door-closers?

The Hartmann Hotel’s dining room, located on the ground floor opposite reception, also doubles as a restaurant that admits non-residents. We were out on the town in the evening, so we did not become acquainted with it until breakfast the following morning, whereupon it received immediately the Egon Harty seal of approval.

Breakfast was not wanting in any respect. The choice of food on offer, which is included in the tariff, is wide and varied, and you help yourself to what you want and as much as you want (always a dangerous option when my brother is around; I’ve lost count of the number of restaurants and hotels that almost went out of business when he discovered the invitation ‘eat as much as you like’).

Another bonus was that since it was a warm, sunny morning, we were able to take our breakfast and dine a la carte on the hotel terrace.

The Hartmann Hotel’s website states that Willie Hartmann and his staff laid great store on providing not just excellent service but service with a smile. When you are working with the public (and remember, we know, because we once ran an antiques emporium), remaining cool, calm, collected ~ and, in the hospitality trade, most essentially cordial ~ takes a certain kind of person and a certain kind of skill. I must confess that I never did quite get the hang of this and ran our antiques emporium as if I was Basil Fawlty!

Fortunately, or by careful choice, today’s Hartmann management can boast that its team possesses all the qualities that Willie Hartmann would have expected from his team. Without exception, everyone with whom we came into contact was cheerful, good humoured and helpful. The Hartmann service could not be better!

When it wasn’t the Hartmann or Hartman

It had taken me a while to remember what the Hartmann had been when I first came to Svetlogorsk twenty-one years ago. And then, suddenly, it flashed into my mind, or rather a giant bear skin did!

As I recall, in the left front-extension of the building, there had been a small, two-roomed bar, access to which was only available by crossing a rubble-filled patch of waste ground, the present location of the Hartmann terrace, and then by going through a side door located where the side door is today.

This bar was as basic as basic; it sold tea, vodka and very little else and had a big, flat, sad-looking bear nailed to the wall. As far as I can remember, the rest of the building was in a fallen-on-hard-times state, possibly no longer used and desperately in need of the kind of tender loving care which, thankfully, come the second decade of the 21st century it eventually would be blessed with.

I would not imagine that any reference to Hartmann existed then, but today the name is proudly sign written above the front entrance and on the gable end of the building; the letter ‘H’ appears on all the Art Noveau stylised lamps; and there is an even an ‘H’ incorporated within the embossed panel on the front door.

Inside, the Hartmanns are acknowledged again, with pictorial representations of their faces heading up an acrylic wall board on which an illustrated map featuring the Hartmann hotel in relation to surrounding tourist sights, the coastline and the sea creates an attractive display.

And, in the small seating area that extends from the reception, stands a glass-topped coffee table containing assorted memorabilia from the time when Willie Hartmann and his wife, Greta, ran the hotel. These include monogrammed silver cutlery, an original monogrammed cup and saucer and other period items all resting on a lace tablecloth contemporaneous to the Hartmann’s tenure.

Relics from the Hartmann Hotel, Rauschen — Items from Hartmann’s original hotel include a restaurant menu

How impressed was I with the Hartmann Hotel?

See for yourself: I bought the place …

Essential details:

Hartmann Hotel, Svetlogorsk
Oktyabr’skaya Ulitsa, 1
Svetlogorsk
Kaliningrad Oblast, 238563

Tel: 8 (4012) 270-204 ~ Hotel Information
Tel: 8 (4012) 270-206 ~ Restaurant table reservations

Email: info@hartmanhotel.ru

Airport transfers
You can book a transfer from Khrabrov airport, and back if required, by telephoning the main reception desk: 8 (4012) 270-204
Regular transfer (minivan Hyundai H-1) – 2,000 rubles (approx. £19.90): one way
VIP transfer (Lexus LX570) – 3,500 rubles (approx. £34.84): one way

HARTMAN HOTEL WEBSITE: https://hartmanhotel.ru/

Our first visit to Svetlogorsk Winter 2000

Репетитор английского языка в Калининграде

Vaccination Rollout is not Russian but World Roulette

Diary of a Self-isolator: Day 460 [17 June 2021]

Published: 17 June 2021 ~ Vaccination Rollout is not Russian but World Roulette

My sister wrote to me today from England and at the close of her letter asked, and I quote, “Just to touch on the most current topic … How is the [vaccination] ‘roll-out’ going in Russia?”

The answer that immediately sprang to mind was, I don’t know.

Vaccination Rollout is not Russian but World Roulette

The reaction to and media coverage of coronavirus in the UK is world’s apart from its counterparts in Russia. Even making allowances for the fact that we do not have broadcast TV and that I rarely read the news on the internet, my wife is an inveterate Facebook twiddler so news filters through to me, whether I want it or not.

One thing is certain: There is less hysteria here in Russia, both in respect of media coverage and the reaction of the populace to coronavirus. True, my wife reads news clips on Facebook, but she is more concerned with the ambiguities, ambivalence, seeming double-talk, twists, U-turns and general, what might be scientifically referred to as, arse-about-face of it all than she is in who has had their first or their 55^th jab, the proclamations of new strains and dire warnings of further mutations. She is diehard ‘anti-maskee’ and is always quoting, whenever I mention the vaccine, that never in the history of the world have governments embarked upon a global vaccination programme such as the one they have launched in the name of addressing Covid-19, which she finds suspicious, and she is more concerned with the impact that never-ending social distancing, lockdowns, isolation and general fearmongering is having on the psychological health and wellbeing of millions of people robbed of their need of personal and social interconnection, which in her philosophy is both the essence and hub of human existence.

It was she who sent me the following video link (after twenty-one years of marriage communicating by email is more popular than you might think!), telling me to listen to “what your favourite person [Katie Hopkins] has to say”: https://youtu.be/qQV1Ww9QGmU

It is not that my good lady wife disbelieves the existence of coronavirus or the potential of it pernicious effects, simply that she like many others questions the efficacy of the measures imposed upon us by ‘those in the know’ and like a lot of us is none too comfortable with the gold-rush mentality to be injected with something that has not been tested according to the usual standard protocols. In discussions on the subject, she likes to remind me that I was one of those who casually opined that come the vaccine come the silver bullet, whereas we now know ~ or rather are now told ~ that nothing much has changed and possibly will not change until 2023/24 and perhaps not even ever.

An article published by Elsevier¹ supports my wife’s criticism of me, the commentary clearly stating that ‘Vaccines are not yet a silver bullet’. And yet, I quote from the same article [my emphasis], “In other words, to help societies avoid transmission vectors and start imagining the “new normal”, continued communication about the need for face masks, personal hygiene, and social distancing is of instrumental importance.”

As I understand it, however, in the UK the new normal is resulting in a great deal of new suffering ~ psychological, physical and emotional ~ by those whose livelihoods are threatened, whose businesses are going under and many more who, because of coronavirus prioritisation, are finding that they are unable to gain access to the vital healthcare that they need if they are to survive existing illnesses, regardless of whether they get coronavirus or not.

Whilst controversy over the fallout from coronavirus restriction rules is buzzing around on social media as if someone has kicked the hive, a large vacuous hole continues to exist both in media spaces and authoritative places. Without answers, there are only rules; and rules without answers are there to be questioned, challenged and even ignored.

Nevertheless, my sister’s comment about the ‘most current topic’ had left me feeling out of the loop, so I turned for the answer in the pages of The Moscow Times². Well, why not, for a change!

Accessed on the 17 June 2021, under the headline Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | June 17, here is my update:

~ Russia has confirmed 5,264,047 cases of coronavirus and 127,992 deaths, according to the national coronavirus information center. Russia’s total excess fatality count since the start of the coronavirus pandemic is around 475,000.

~ Russia on Thursday confirmed 14,057 new coronavirus cases and 416 deaths. Of today’s cases, 6,195 are in Moscow.

~ Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Wednesday announced mandatory vaccination for service sector workers, saying the measure is necessary as the city grapples with 12,000 hospitalized Covid-19 patients and levels of illness equal to last year’s peaks.

And there is more about closing bars and restaurants early and working from home.

But that is Moscow. What of Kaliningrad, where we live (I last checked about 12 weeks ago!). Here is today’s update³:

~ In the Kaliningrad region, 80 new cases of coronavirus were detected. The total number of infected reached 34 694.

~ 56 patients were diagnosed with ARVI, 15 with pneumonia. Nine more had no symptoms.

~ During the day in the region, 73 patients were discharged from hospitals after recovery. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 33,525 people have recovered, 538 have died.

So there you have it!

I think that the ‘most current topic’, as my sister refers to coronavirus and the issue of vaccination, is, like a lot of other things, evaluated in a markedly different way by the Russian population compared to the mindset in the West.

As usual, would-be pundits in the West are seemingly confused about why the take-up of the Covid-19 vaccine is not steaming along at full tilt as it is in countries like the USA and UK. I say, ‘as usual, because the inability of western Europeans to understand anything Russian, or to assume that they do not, is not a new phenomenon (understatement intended). Take a look at the screenprint (you may have to magnify the image) that I have included in this post, which returns from the Google search ‘vaccination in Russia’ [accessed 16 June 2021]:

Vaccination statistics for Russia 16 June 2021

In the circles in which we move in Kaliningrad, there is a lot to be said for my wife’s theory that people tend to judge the coronavirus situation, and personally react to it, depending on what is happening closest to them. In other words, each individual weighs up the pros and cons of the restrictions and vaccine-taking depending on how many people they know who have had a mild attack of the virus, a serious attack, how many people they know who have died as a direct result of contracting coronavirus and how many people they know who have not been infected at all, and then they act accordingly. In the UK, mass opinion is mobilised, and large swathes of people motivated, by what politicians tell them to do and by the national media’s complicity to bring about a desired result by whatever means it has and whatever it takes ~ and it does not take much.

On the wearing of masks, for example, here I have heard it said that most people who wear them, wear them to avoid a fine rather than give credence to the unproven science of their latent life-saving properties, which is possibly why most people wear them with their nose poking out or as under-chin accessories. In the UK, however, whilst some people wear masks for the same reason and in the same way, the majority of mask wearers wear them purely because they are told to do so. In the UK, compliance is king.

On the slow take-up of vaccination in Russia, as you can see from the following screen grab (you may need to magnify), which returns from the Google search ‘vaccination in Russia’ [accessed 16 June 2021], western media is more than happy to tie Russian vaccination reluctance to their efforts to discredit the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine, which resulted from a fit of pique when Russia won the ‘vaccine race’.

My take on the low uptake from people I have asked is that no such specificity exists. It is not that the Russian people are crying out for western vaccines, just that they are more individualistic and selective in their approach to the whole question of vaccination safety and efficacy. I mean after the latest revelations about the AtsraZeneca vaccine⁴ …

Let’s face it folks, life is a roulette wheel. Whether the vaccine is running around inside you or not, until they finish those vaccine trials, which will not happen before 2023 or 2024 earliest, it is still a game of chance. So, fingers crossed.

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets!

References:
1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666354621000077?via%3Dihub [accessed 16 June 2017]
2. https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/06/17/coronavirus-in-russia-the-latest-news-june-17-a69117 [accessed 17 June 2021]
3. https://kgd.ru/news/society/item/95599-za-sutki-v-kaliningradskoj-oblasti-vyyavili-77-sluchaev-koronavirusa [accessed 17 June 2021]
4. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2280446-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-may-hinder-blood-clotting-in-rare-cases/ [accessed 16 June 2021]

Photo credits:
Roulette wheel
Photo credit: PIRO4D (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/gambling-roulette-game-bank-2001128/)

Globe
Photo credit: Arek Socha (https://pixabay.com/illustrations/earth-world-planet-globe-1303628/)

Репетитор английского языка в Калининграде

Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад 2021

“Я не хочу хвастаться, но мы пришли к финишу вторыми и отстали от победителя гонки всего лишь на несколько секунд!

Published: 13 June 2021 ~ Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад

Мы только что съехали с ухабистой, изрытой выбоинами проселочной дороги и снова выехали на главную магистраль. Наш водитель сдал назад.

“В современной машине такие повороты в порядке вещей, – сказал он, –
но для этой машины, у которой высокая посадка, это может быть опасно.
Видите ли, она легко может …”

Он остановился, когда мы свернули на крутой поворот.

“… легко перевернуться.”

Речь шла о машине 1956 года выпуска ГАЗ-М20 “Победа”. В машине имелись: коробка переключения скоростей, переднее сиденье, состоящее из двух частей, ветровое стекло, отделка под дерево, большие рабочие часы, кнопка индикатора движения в верхней центральной части приборной панели, небольшие боковые вентиляционные окна на передних пассажирских дверях и солнцезащитные откидные щитки. В машине также присутствовал ее владелец-водитель по имени Юрий Грозмани, а также я и моя жена Ольга.

Yury Grosmarni, Olga Hart & Mick Hart in Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад — **Yuri Grozmarni, Olga Hart & Mick Hart: Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад 2021**

Причина, по которой мы находились в автомобиле, внимательно следя за временем и неотрывно сверяясь с навигационными картами, заключалась в том, что мы принимали участие в первом региональном ралли ретро-автомобилей калининградского автоклуба.

Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад 2021

Мы стартовали с приподнятой платформы для автомобилей ровно в 13.21. Тщательно рассчитанное время нашего путешествия от начала до конца составляло один час десять минут, не больше, не меньше – от фасада Кенигсбергского собора до Гвардейска. Все было рассчитано буквально до секунды. На пути было два контрольно-пропускных пункта, и прибытие на эти контрольно-пропускные пункты должно было точно совпадать с назначенным временем прибытия. Если вы опаздывали, вам нужно было жать ногой на акселератор; если же вы опережали время, вам нужно было убирать ногу с газа и выжидать время. Юрий был за рулем, я был штурманом, Ольга стала импровизированным вторым пилотом, сверяя показания времени на каждом этапе гонки со временем в её мобильном телефоне.

Для тех, у кого есть хотя бы элементарное понимание и умение читать карты, эта навигация стала бы пустяком, и даже для меня , у которого нет ни понимания, ни умения этого делать, не составило труда установить связь между четкими линиями с их символами в квадратах, а также с ориентирами и с их направлениями, и понять куда нам нужно было двигаться. Навигационные карты были составлены так просто, чтобы любой школьник смог ими воспользоваться. На каждой странице была таблица, разделенная на три части. В первой колонке отмечено время, которое должно пройти от линии старта до прибытия в определенную точку пути, во второй колонке-простая, но четкая иллюстрация поворота или полосы движения, а в третьей колонке дополнительная информация, которая могла оказаться полезной, например, имя населенного пункта на указателе.

**Навигационные карты Калининградского ралли старинных автомобилей 2021 года**

Вскоре я освоился с навигацией; жаль, что у меня это не получилось, когда дело дошло до сверки времени. Ни я ни Ольга, в школе не получили никаких наград по математике, мы даже призов не получили, и поэтому с первого запроса от водителя с требованием сколько времени осталось до первого контрольного пункта мы оба были в замешательстве. Расчетное время прибытия на первый контрольно-пропускной пункт составляло 31 минуту, и нам было трудно вычислить, сколько нам осталось времени с учетом пройденного маршрута. После того, как мы показали себя не с лучшей стороны, Юрий вмешался, и мы оба в конце концов согласились, что он был прав, мы не знали был ли он прав или не был так как подсчитать время мы так и не сумели.

Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад — **Мик Харт, Ольга Харт и Юрий Грозманиавтомобиль “Победа” 1956 год Калининград**

Сегодня в Калининграде движение было не особенно интенсивным. У нас выдалось несколько напряженных моментов, когда мы свернули с однойглавной дороги на другую, особенно на дороге в непосредственной близости от стадиона, где проходил Чемпионата мира по футболу в Калининграде, но как только мы выехали на открытую дорогу, “Победа” рванулась вперед, как и подобает такому первоклассному автомобилю.

Мы сверили время и обнаружили, что несмотря на относительно удачный старт мы отстали от графика на несколько минут. Юрий нажал на газ. Через несколько минут мы сверили время опять и обнаружили, что, хотя мы ехали быстрее, время все же обгоняло нас. А потом появилась проселочная дорога, ведущая к первому контрольно-пропускному пункту.

“Победа” сошла с конвейера в 1946 году и в течение последующих трех лет претерпела ряд усовершенствований. Среди улучшенных, в 1949 году, новшеств “Победы” стала ее “подвеска для всех местностей”, и на этом участке дороги Юрий испытал ее. 64-летняя машина показала на что она способна, подвеска и губчатые сиденья оказались более чем подходящими для алгоритма отскока, позволяя нам наслаждаться особенно привлекательным видом из окна – сельской местностью, изрезанной холмами, впадинами, озерами и живописными старыми немецкими зданиями.

Внезапно в поле зрения замаячил первый контрольно-пропускной пункт. И знаете что произошло? Мы опередили график на 60 секунд! Юрий остался невозмутимым; с темпераментом опытного танцора, он ослабил упор ноги и доставил нас на пункт назначения секунда в секунду! Зарегистрировавшись на контрольно-пропускном пункте, мы снова отправились в путь.

Мы опять поспорили о том, сколько времени у нас осталось до того, как мы должны прибыть на следующий контрольно-пропускной пункт. Где-то что-то было не так. Но я отказываюсь выяснять кто был прав, и кто неправ! Выяснилось, что между первым и вторым контрольно-пропускными пунктами у нас было всего семь минут, очень немного времени для того чтобы расслабиться. Мы думали, что не успеваем, но на самом деле мы опережали.

Калининградское ралли старинных автомобилей 2021 года. Приборная панель "Победа" 1956 года выпуска — Калининградское ралли старинных автомобилей 2021 года. Приборная панель “Победа” 1956 года выпуска

Прямо перед нами стояли две “Волги”, выехавшие из Кенигсберга раньше нас. Они обе свернули с дороги, вероятно, потому, что тоже опережали график, но, увидев нас поехали вперед.

На втором контрольно-пропускном пункте требовалось въехать во двор, сделать отметку в карточке, а затем снова выехать на дорогу. Машина впереди развернулась, но мы с Юрием сумели ее подрезать на контрольно-пропускном пункте. Я уверен, что это было сделано из хорошего намерения, но все же, нам ответили сигналом гудка.

Мы снова помчались вперед и у нас оставалось около 25 минут, чтобы добраться до финишной черты в Гвардейске. Гвардейск-небольшой городок с большой площадью, что делает его идеальным местом для проведения подобных мероприятий. В последний раз мы были здесь с моим младшим братом летом 2019 года с Авто Ретро-клубом, участвуя в международном фестивале “Золотая тень Кенигсберга”.

Нам с Ольгой нравится этот город. Он хорошо спланирован, имеет сбалансированную пропорцию немецкого и советского происхождения, несколько прекрасных старых готических зданий, музеи,специализированный сырный магазин, и в нем можно совершить прогулку вдоль живописного берега реки. Сегодня мы буквально не теряли времени, добираясь сюда, и нам пришлось помедлить, чтобы выждать несколько минут, прежде чем заехать на городскую площадь под шум ликующей толпы, музыку и щелканье камер.

Как только мы приехали, молодая дама преподнесла нам с Ольгой подарок. Это был большой круглый пирог с абрикосовым джемом, только что испеченный и еще теплый из духовки. Такие добрые жесты не остаются незамеченными.

Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад 2021 — Мику Харту подарили большой пирог в Гвардейске, Калининградская область.
Юрий Грозмани и Мик Харт с большим пирогом Калининградское ралли винтажных автомобилей 2021

Так как мы живем в эпоху смартфонов, ФБ и блицкрига изображений, то нет нужды говорить, o том что не было никаких ограничений на количество фотографий, сделанных сначала на камеру одного человека, а затем на камеру другого, а затем с этими людьми, а затем с теми. Мы с Ольгой решили проветрить винтажную одежду, так что это была еще одна причина для того, чтобы иметь дело с папарацци. Однако мы все же нашли время ускользнуть.

Первым пунктом посещения был общественный туалет. Я странный, поэтому мне нравится использовать общественный туалет а Гвардейске. Для меня это настоящий советский опыт: спуститься по узкой лестнице, заплатить бабушке, сидящей на самодельном стуле-троне внизу, а затем повернуть направо в самодельный тронный зал. Я не могу представить себе ни одной поездки в Гвардейск без использования или, по крайней мере, посещения этого заведения.

Теперь пришло время для расслабляющей прогулки по городу, осмотра достопримечательностей, посещения сырного магазина и посиделок в старом дворе кошачьего заповедника, чтобы перекусить, любуясь иллюстрациями кошек и старинной немецкой атмосферой этого уединенного места.

У нас было даже больше свободного времени, чем мы себе представляли, поэтому я успел угостить себя мороженым, не больше, не меньше – с названием ‘CCCP’!

Когда мы вернулись на площадь, нас ждали желающие сфотографироваться. Именно здесь молодая женщина спросила, можно ли ей сфотографироваться с нами. Оказалось, что она хорошо владеет английским языком, и в процессе беседы она призналась, что мечтает уехать в Америку. Когда моя жена спросила, почему, она подумала, а потом сказала:

“Американская мечта”.

Мы ничего не сказали. Я помню, как Леонард Коэн сказал: “Но ты не хочешь лгать, только не молодым”. Кроме того, эта молодая женщина, должно быть, была либо чрезвычайно проницательна, либо она забыла надеть очки, так как она сказала, что я выглядел “красивым”. Ревновала ли моя жена? Я думаю, что эта реплика ее позабавила!

Перед тем как мы покинули Кенигсбергский собор, Юрий поднял красный флаг, сообщив нам, что у его машины возникли проблемы с системой охлаждения, но пока все хорошо: нет необходимости доливать воду. Однако незадолго до того, как мы покинули финишную черту, он наполнил бак топливом, и я был заинтригован, увидев, что он может проверить, сколько в баке, используя небольшой тестер, который он хранил в багажнике.

Мы покинули Гвардейск колонной с полицейским эскортом – от площади до границы города и под фанфары, еще более восторженные, чем те, что приветствовали нас по приезду. Старинные автомобили, похоже, оказывают такое воздействие на людей, вызывая уважение, любовь и удовольствие. Многие люди стоят на обочине дороги, фотографируя их на свои телефоны и снимая видео; люди в машинах сигналят и машут, когда проезжают мимо. Это прекрасно!

Сегодня, на обратном пути в Калининград, мы проезжали замок Вальдау, дорога к которому проходит параллельно главной магистрали, и когда мы откинулись на спинку сиденья, повернувшись лицом к дороге, по которой мы ехали, нам открылось великолепнейшее зрелище: машины клуба образовали длинную непрерывную процессию, полированный хром и краска блестели в лучах послеполуденного солнца, а автомобильные флаги с названием и логотипом клуба великолепно развевались на ветру.

К сожалению, замок Вальдау сегодня будет только проездом, но не успели мы въехать на его территорию, как я почувствовал ощущение де жавю. Это было так глубоко, волнующе и органично, что этот знакомый призыв из давно минувших дней захватил меня полностью. Ольга была того же мнения, и поэтому выразила неудовольствие, когда обнаружила, что сегодня нет времени для дальнейшего осмотра территории. “Мы вернемся!” – утверждала она, продолжая ворчать на меня Юрию за то, что он ”никогда никуда не хочет идти … просто сидит на чердаке и пишет”. Как человек, которому журналистика не чужда, я знал, что Юрий меня поймет.

Территория перед замком Вальдау не такая обширная, как можно было бы ожидать, на самом деле она похожа на рощу, образуя центральный остров из деревьев и травы, с дорогой идущей внутрь и тропинкой на противоположной стороне. Подъездная дорожка расширяется перед зданием, и по мере того, как машины одна за другой и очень медленно въезжали на эту более широкую территорию, группа из пяти дам, выстроившихся в дверях замка, приветствовала их, махала руками и смеялась, когда каждая машина проезжала мимо. Эта веселая группа была одета в прусском стиле и играла свою роль так убедительно и с такой искренностью что когда каждая машина сворачивала за угол, пассажиры были поражены искренностью этого приветствия. Их искренность освещала лица, как будто кто-то превратил их лица в человеческие фонари. Никто, кроме президента клуба, Артура, который метался, пытаясь вместить слишком много машин в недостаточно большое пространство, и явно преуспевал в этом деле, не остался непосвященным. Веселье было заразительным и распространялось, как стремительный лесной пожар. Даже внушительное готическое здание не могло изобразить неодобрения, здесь было так много веселья, даже больше чем веселье, как будто к вам во всех нужных местах прикасалась Молл Фландерс.

Сотрудники в традиционных прусских костюмах приветствуют старинные советские автомобили в замке Валдау, Калининградская область

**Мик Харт и Ольга Харт с сотрудниками замка Вальдау 29 мая 2021 года**

От замка вереница разъехалась, и каждая машина отправилась по своему предпочтительному маршруту обратно к Кенигсбергскому собору, чтобы снова встретится у входа в собор под аплодисменты и приветствия, достойные героев-завоевателей.

У нас было достаточно времени до момента истины, чтобы перекусить в одной из закусочных, выпить кофе и отдохнуть на деревянной скамейке которая располагалась в лучшем месте, освещенном солнцем. До момента, когда мы узнаем кто прошел курс идеально, вписался во временные рамки и занял одно из трех призовых мест.

Для победителей были приготовлены три главных трофея, а также кубки меньшего размера и сертификаты для тех, кто справился с заданием не так хорошо, как им бы хотелось бы, но был награждён за участие.

Мы заняли второе место, будучи всего в одной секунде от первого.

Как только наш статус был объявлен, мы сели обратно в “Победу”, и Юрий, ловко и на скорости завел машину на приподнятый автомобильный пандус так красиво, что я мог бы только мечтать о таком высшем пилотаже.

Это было время принятия призов и выступлений.

Для меня это была нелегкая задача. Я был единственным англичанином в гонке, и я не собирался навязывать ни толпе, стоящей передо мной, ни себе, мой несравненно плохой русский язык. Это означало, что мне придется обращаться к толпе по-английски. Я уверен, что в толпе, стоявшей передо мной, должен был быть один или два человека, которые поймут, о чем я говорю. Например, там была моя жена, которая никогда меня не понимает. Так почему же я решил что она начнет понимать меня сейчас? Тем не менее, после того как я закончил свою краткую речь, Юрий сделал краткий перевод.

Это был долгий день, полезный день, совсем необычный день. Как говорится, все случается в первый раз, и мы получили огромное удовольствие от этого первого раза!”

**Мик Харт и Юрий Грозмани получают трофей на Калининградском ралли ретро-автомобилей 29 мая 2021 года** Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад

Версия на английском языке >>> Калининград Винтажралли Восток-Запад 2021

Репетитор английского языка в Калининграде

Zalivino Lighthouse Flashes Again after 36 years!

An illuminating experience by the Curonian Lagoon

Published: 11 June 2021 ~ Zalivino Lighthouse flashes again

The last time we visited Zalivino Lighthouse it was a blisteringly cold day in early January of this year. We were back again today (8 June 2021) in temperatures reaching 23 degrees, and with a refreshing breeze skimming across the surface of the lagoon, to witness the official inauguration of the lighthouse’s new lantern.

What a difference sun, blue skies and the thriving natural habitat along this beautiful stretch of the coastline makes, and what a difference five months of concerted conservation commitment and hard work has made to the restoration progress of Zalivino lighthouse.

On our last visit the keeper’s cottage and abutting building were nothing more than ruined shells. Then, we had a hard time trying to find something substantial to hide behind to shelter us from the bitter winds, but here were those same buildings, less than six months later, brickwork intact, windows and doors in situ and spanking brand new roofs in the latter stages of near completion.

You only have to compare the photographs that I took on our previous visit (see Support the Restoration of Zalivino Lighthouse) with the ones that I took today, to see how things have progressed. No wonder that the great and the good, the dignitaries, movers and shakers and representatives of Kaliningrad’s Ocean Museum were out in force today to congratulate each other. Who could say that they did not deserve it?

Zalivino Lighthouse flashes again after 36 years!

Local administration and World Ocean Museum representatives Kaliningrad region — **Zalivino Lighthouse flashes again! ~ official ceremony, 8 June 2021**

Zalivino Lighthouse
Zalivino Lighthouse is one of three lighthouses in the Kaliningrad region built before World War II.

For almost a century Zalivino lighthouse was an important navigation signal, enabling ships to plot their course safely across the Curonian Lagoon.

In Prussian times, Zalivino, as it is known today, comprised two settlements, Rinderort and Labagienen, renamed in 1938 as Haff-winkel. For centuries, fishermen would set off early in the morning from these shores to fish the surrounding waters, returning late in the evening. The sustained livelihood of the families that lived here depended on a good fishing yield and, of course, the safe return of the breadwinner.

The region’s first navigation system came into being in 1868. Standing next to a fisherman’s house in Rinderort, it consisted of a coal lamp with a lens fixed to a 12-metre wooden pole. Elevation was transacted with a manual lifting device, and although the light had obvious benefits it was only effective at short distance.

Zalivino lighthouse, as we know it today ~ the 15.3-metre cylindrical brick tower with lantern room, observation platform, copper cupola and stone spiral staircase ~ replaced the light on a pole in 1889. It, and the adjoining lightkeeper’s house, was built by W Jourlauke, whose name can still be seen stamped into the brickwork.

The lighthouse lantern had two sections, one red and the other white, with a range of 7 and 12 miles, respectively. One lighted the lagoon toward the Spit and the second one marked the entrance to the mouth of the Deyma River.

The lighthouse ceased operation in 1985. In 2020, the Volga-Balt administration transferred the lighthouse to the Museum of the World Ocean, under whose auspices it is now undergoing phased restoration in recognition of its unique maritime heritage status in both its East Prussian and Russian contexts.

Zalivino Lighthouse flashes again after 36 years!

A lighthouse without a light is about as useful as a pub with no beer, so it was a personal joy for us, and everyone else present, to see the lighthouse flashing again after 36 years of dormancy.

The Fresnel lens, a gift from commanders of the Baltic Fleet and officer-hydrographers, would not let us leave without we say hello to it, so we retraced the stone spiral staircase that we had climbed in January and clambered up the short metal ladder into the lighthouse’s lantern room, at last occupied by a fully functional lamp. And what a beauty she is!

Once acquainted, we pushed open the heavy metal door and side-stepped onto the narrow platform gallery. From here, we received a birds-eye view both of the restoration work to date and the inspiring coastal scenery, a view for the most part unchanged, as seen through the eyes of lighthouse keepers for close on a hundred years.

Looking down onto terra firma made my wife giddy, as it did me, albeit for other reasons. Seeing the new roof taking shape on top of the keeper’s cottage reminded me that a similar makeover was needed for our dacha!

New roofs Zalivino Lighthouse — **Zalivino lighthouse keeper’s cottage gets new roof**

Since our previous visit, other improvements in and around the lighthouse were also evident. They include new glazing to the observation deck, cleaning of the well, dredging of the coastal strip, planting and maintenance of an apple orchard and, for security purposes, the installation of perimeter fencing and video-surveillance cameras.

A gazebo, where visitors will be able to rest themselves, take in the historic and natural scenery and indulge in light refreshments, is also under construction. Today, this brick-built addition to the site of the Zalivino lighthouse chalked up another first to keep the new lantern company, prematurely fulfilling its role as a dispenser of food and beverages.

Unfortunately, the free fish soup was strictly off limits to me; one spoonful would have meant revoking my membership of the newly incorporated Zalivino Vegetarian Society ~ a strange thing indeed for a place like this, whose fortunes historically are inextricably tied to manly men in oilskins, their boats, nets, fish and, one might hazard a guess, fish soup in abundance. This reminds me, when you visit Zalivino Lighthouse do make time to call in on the Zalivino village museum, an admirable establishment devoted to the history of the settlements in this region and the marine heritage on which their survival depended (more of which I hope to post later).

Further information about Zalivino Lighthouse, including fundraising activities, accessibility and so on can be found at the end of my previous post, Support the Restoration of Zalivino Lighthouse.

Репетитор английского языка в Калининграде

Secret Weapon in Kaliningrad

We have lift off!

Published: 3 June 2021~ Secret Weapon in Kaliningrad

You know how the UK media is always going on about the Kaliningrad region being the most militarised zone in the universe, well here’s a secret weapon that my wife discovered when she was out shopping one evening.

Its code name is Lift Off, but we shall refer to it by its layman’s name: the Ground-to-Air Arse-Seeking Boot!

My good lady wife had popped out of the house to make a routine trip to a local food store. It is a small shop but well stocked with a variety of different products.

On this particular evening, there was herself and the lady serving her in the shop and nobody else.

Suddenly, the door opened and in staggered an extremely drunken man. He was mnoga peearni, as they say in these parts.

Swaying this way and that and reeking of booze, he faced the two women in the shop and ordered them to give him some money: “I’m hungry!” he exclaimed.

Silence ensued.

Becoming more agitated, he repeated his demand.

My wife, being a teacher and used to addressing me on the subject of alcohol, looked at him firmly and said, “If you’ve got enough money to booze, then you ought to have enough money to feed yourself with!”

The well-oiled man became extremely angry.

“You b…..s!!” he shouted. “You must feed me! I’m going to sit in this corner and won’t move until you do!”

At that moment, a man of no small proportions entered the shop. He purchased three or four items, and just as he was about to leave the shopkeeper whispered to him, “That man in the corner is extremely drunk and demanding money and food! I am frightened of him.”

“What, this vermin!!” the strapping fellow proclaimed in a tone of disbelief, whereupon he marched over to the gentlemen concerned, hoisted him up by the scruff of the neck, turned him around to face the doorway and taking careful aim gave him a ground-to-arse boot send off.

Although the secret weapon had succeeded in propelling the target some two metres or more, the recipient, as though still unconvinced of its capabilities, crawled back for more. Was he a stunt man?

Once again, the man in charge of the defensive booteries found himself obliged to provide a further demonstration of the weapon’s capability. So, he turned the target around, took careful aim for the second time, launched the lethal ground-to-arse-seeking boot and sent the target flying.

“Oh thank you,” said the shopkeeper, “but I am of the opinion that when you leave he [the drunken man] will simply return.”

She could not have underestimated the strapping Sir Galahad more, for not only was he a very good shot equipped with a big pair of boots that anyone would be envious of, but he also seemed to operate his own road haulage company, for, no sooner had the fearful shopkeeper expressed her concerns to him than he had literally collared the drunken man and, hoisting him on all fours, proceeded to ferry him across the busy road where, he assured the tremulous shopkeeper, given his drunken state should the offending object attempt to re-cross the road he would be swept away on the front of a passing car bonnet and end up somewhere in Poland.

The moral of this story is plain to see. Unless you are wearing a thick piece of sponge in your underpants and don’t mind going to Poland, and going there very suddenly, aggressive begging in the city of Kaliningrad is not entirely recommended.

Репетитор английского языка в Калининграде:
Развивайте cвои навыки английского языка с преподавателем Oльгой Коростелевой–Харт, имеющей 20-летний опыт преподавания в Великобритании (квалификация выдана Палатой Учителей Великобритании, сертификат за номером 0614508)

Image credits:
Weapon: Andreas_G / pixabay.com (https://freeimg.net/photo/1558247/human-man-military-weapon)
Boot: The Clown A laugh every day (https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=168343&picture=boot-with-teeth)

Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021

I don’t want to boast, but we came second and were a whisker away from first!

Published: 31 May 2021

We had just left a bumpy, pot-holed back road and re-joined the main highway. Our driver throttled back. “In a modern car such bends are OK,” he said, “but in this car, which is tall, it could be dangerous, yes, dangerous. It is a tall car, you see, and could easily …”

He paused as we took the sharp bend.

“… easily turn over.”

The car in question was a 1956 GAZ-M20 Pobeda. It had column gears, a front bench seat, split (two-part) windscreen, wood-effect trims, a large working clock, indicator button at the top centre of the dash, small side vent windows on the front passenger doors, and sun-filtering fold-down eye-shields. It had an owner-driver called Yury Grozmani and also inside of it myself and my wife, Olga.

The reason we were in it, sailing along, watching the clock studiously and glued to a sheath of navigation charts was that we were taking part in the Auto Retro Club Kaliningrad’s first regional vintage car rally.

Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021

We had rolled off the start line, an elevated vehicle platform, at precisely 13.21. The carefully estimated time of our journey from start to finish was one hour ten minutes, no more, no less, from the front of Königsberg Cathedral to Gvardeysk. The rally was timed, literally, to the very second. There were two checkpoints on the way and arrival at these checkpoints must coincide exactly with the designated ETA. If you were running behind time, you had to put your foot down; if you were ahead of yourself, you needed to take your foot off the gas and dawdle.

Yury was driving, I was the navigator and Olga became the impromptu time co-pilot, confirming joint readings of the time we were making each step of the way from her mobile phone.

For anyone who has even an elementary understanding and command of map reading, navigating would have been a doddle, and even I, who had neither of these propensities, had no difficulty in making the connection between the bold, line-drawn symbols in boxes and the landmarks and directions that they represented.

The navigation charts had been planned with simplicity in mind so that any fool could use them. Each page contained a three-column grid dissected horizontally at regular intervals. The first column provided an estimate of the time it should take from the start line to reach a certain navigation point, the second column a simple but clear illustration of the turning or lane to take and the third column any additional information that may be useful, ie name on signpost.

Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021 navigation charts

I soon got the hang of this as any fool would; shame it was not the same when it came to timing. Neither Olga nor I have any maths’ trophies, not even booby prizes, and from first shout we were all out of kilter with the timing requirement. The ETA at the first checkpoint was 31 minutes, and we were having difficulty calculating where that put us on the clock. After showing ourselves up, Yury stepped in, and we both agreed that he was right, even if we did not really know if he was or not.

Mick Hart, Olga Hart & Yury Grozmani in 1956 Pobeda car, Kaliningrad — **Olga Hart, Mick Hart & Yury Grozmani in Yury’s 1956 Soviet Pobeda ~ Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021**

Traffic was not particularly heavy in Kaliningrad today. We had a few anxious moments as we turned off one main road onto another, particularly in the vicinity of Kaliningrad’s World Cup football stadium, but once out onto the open road, the Pobeda sailed along like the class car that it was meant to be.

We checked our time and found that despite a relatively hunky-dory take-off, we were several minutes behind schedule. Yury put his foot down. We checked our time a few minutes later and found that whilst we were going faster, time was overtaking us. And then came the back road leading to the first checkpoint.

The Pobeda rolled off the production line in 1946 and underwent a series of improvements over the next three years. Among the improved, 1949 Pobeda’s selling points was its ‘suspension for all terrains’, and on this stretch of road Yury put it to the test. The 64-year-old car took it in its stride, the suspension and spongey bench seats proving more than a match for the bounce algorithm, allowing us to enjoy a particularly attractive recluse of land, steeped in hills, hollows, lakes and old German rustic buildings

Suddenly, the first checkpoint loomed into sight. Guess what? We were 60 seconds ahead of schedule! Yury remained unphased; with the tempo of a seasoned Foxtrotter he eased the throttle back and landed us right on the button.

Checked in at the checkpoint, off we went again.

Another argument ensued as to how long we had before we were scheduled to arrive at the next checkpoint. Something was wrong somewhere. But I refuse to say who it was who was more wrong than anybody else! It transpired that there was a meagre seven minutes between the first and second checkpoints, which was a little mean as it gave us no time to relax.

We thought we were behind time, when in fact we were in front.

Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021. Dashboard 1956 Pobeda.

Just ahead of us were the two Volgas that had left Königsberg before us. They had both turned off the road, presumably because they, too, were ahead of schedule but, on seeing us, pulled out in front.

The second checkpoint required driving into a yard, marking one’s card and then driving out again. The car in front took a wide turn and Yury swooped in, cutting it up at the checkpoint. I am sure it was taken in good part, even though a lot of hooter-blaring ensued.

We roared off again, with about 25 minutes to go to reach the finishing line in Gvardeysk.

Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021

Gvardeysk is a small town with a large public square, making it perfect for events of the kind taking place today. We were last here with my younger brother in summer 2019, again with the Auto Retro Club, but on this occasion for the international Golden Shadow of Königsberg festival.

Olga and I like this town. It is well laid out, has a balanced proportion of German and Soviet ancestry, some fine old Gothic buildings, museums, a specialist cheese shop par excellence and an interesting walk along the side of the river.

Today, we had literally lost no time in getting here and had to fall back to lose a few minutes before rolling up on the town square to the razzmatazz of cheering crowds, music and more cameras than Kodak.

As soon as we arrived, a young lady presented Olga and I with a present. It was a large, and I mean large, disc-shaped apricot jam cake, freshly baked and still warm from the oven. Such kind gestures do not go unnoticed.

Mick Hart presented with a large cake in Gvardeysk, Kaliningrad Oblast. — **Yury Grozmani & Mick Hart with a large cake in Gvardeysk ~ Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021**

This is the age of the smartphone, Facebook and the image blitzkrieg, and needless to say there was no limit to the rounds of photographs taken, first on one person’s camera and then on another’s, then with these people and next with those. Olga and I had made the effort to dust off some vintage clothes, so this was another reason for having it large with the paparazzi.

We did find time to slip away, however.

May 2021: Vintage cars of the Auto Retro Club Kaliningrad line up in Guardesque. — **Soviet vintage cars line up in Gvardeysk ~ Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021**

The first stop was the public conveniences. I am strange, so I love using the loos here. It is a real Soviet experience: down the narrow flight of stairs, pay the babushka sitting at the counter at the bottom and then turn right into the homemade throne room. I cannot imagine any trip to Gvardeysk without using, or at the very least, visiting the lavs.

It was now time for a relaxing stroll around town, see the sites, visit the cheese shop and sit in the old courtyard of the cat sanctuary to have a bite to eat, whilst admiring the cat illustrations and old German feel of this sequestered place.

We had more free time at our disposable than we first imagined, so I also treated myself to an ice cream, a CCCP no less! (which is USSR to you).

More photos were waiting for us when we arrived back at the square. It was here that a young woman asked if she could have a picture taken with us. It turned out that she had a good command of English, and in the process of chatting she revealed that her ambition was to go to America. When my wife asked why, she thought, and then said: “The American Dream”. We said nothing. I could hear Leonard Cohen saying, “But you don’t want to lie, not to the young”. Anyway, this young woman must have been either extremely discerning or should have gone to Specsavers, as she said that I looked ‘handsome’. Was my wife jealous? Amused, I thought!

Before we left Königsberg Cathedral, Yury had raised a red flag by telling us that his car was having problems with the cooling system, but so far, so good: no need to top up with water. Just before we left the finishing line, he did, however, top up the tank with fuel, and I was intrigued to see that he could check how much was in the tank using a small dipstick located in the boot. Please refrain from the obvious joke; I was standing three feet away.

We left Gvardeysk as a cavalcade, with a police escort from the square to the town limit and to a fanfare even more enthusiastic than the one that had greeted us. Vintage cars seem to have that effect upon people, evoking respect, affection and enjoyment. Many people stand on the side of the road taking photos on their phones and making videos; people in cars toot their horns and wave as you pass by. It is all good stuff!

Today, on the return journey to Kaliningrad, we were pulling into Valdau Castle, the drive to which runs parallel with the main highway, and as we folded back upon ourselves, facing the way from which we had travelled, we were treated to a most magnificent sight, that of the club’s cars forming a long uninterrupted procession, the polished chrome and paintwork glistening in the afternoon sunlight and the car flags bearing the club’s name and logo fluttering resplendently in the breeze.

Regrettably, Valdau Castle would only be a pit stop today, but no sooner had we crossed the threshold into the grounds than I felt that ‘portal into the past’ sensation. So profound, exhilarating and organic it was that this familiar call from bygone days could not go unanswered for long. Olga was of the same mind, for she expressed dismay when she discovered that there was no time today to investigate the grounds and property further. “We will be back!” she asserted to whomever it was who was listening to her, going on to grumble about me to Yury for ‘never wanting to go anywhere … just sit in the churdak and write”. As a man to whom writing was not unfamiliar, I knew he would only empathise.

Vintage Soviet cars, 29 May 2021, Valdau Castle, Kaliningrad Oblast — **Cars of the Auto Retro Car Club Kaliningrad at Valdau Castle ~ Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021**

The grounds to the front of Valdau Castle are not as one might expect, vast, in fact they are copse-like, forming a central island of trees and grass, with one road in and out and a path on the opposite side. The approach widens at the front of the building, and as the cars filed into this wider area one by one and very slowly, a group of five ladies who were lined up in the castle’s doorway were cheering, waving and laughing as each car made its debut. This jolly group were dressed one and all dirndl style and played their part so convincingly and with such perspicacity to the scene in which they were cast that no one, but no one, was able to assume a contradictory attitude. As each car turned the corner, the occupants were smitten with the sincerity of this greeting. It lit faces up as though someone had turned them into human lanterns. Nobody, nobody that is except the president of the club, Arthur, who was dashing up and down trying to fit too many cars into not enough space and only just succeeding, went uninitiated; the conviviality was infectious and spread like emotional wildfire. Even the imposing Gothic building could not feign disapproval. There was so much of everything bright and cheerful, including more than a touch, and in all the right places, of Moll Flanders’ better attributes.

Staff in traditional German costume cheer on vintage Soviet cars at Valdau Castle, Kaliningrad Oblast — **Greetings from Valdau Castle ~ Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021**

Mick Hart & Olga Hart at Valdau Castle, 29 May 2021 — **Mick Hart & Olga Hart with staff of Valdau Castle 29 May 2021**

From the castle the line of cars broke up as each took its preferred route back to Königsberg Cathedral, but met again at the Cathedral entrance to an applause and welcome fit for conquering heroes.

On landing, there was time enough to buy a snack from one of the food outlets and a coffee and relax on one of the wooden benches in the best patch of sun you could find, after which it was time for the moment of truth. Who had matched the rally clock, completed the course as specified and attained one of the first three positions.

There were three main trophies for the first three contestants, together with smaller cups and certificates for those who did not do as well as they would have liked but were gratefully acknowledged for their participation. We came second place, being only one second out from coming first.

Once our status had been announced, we hopped back into the Pobeda and Yury, deftly and at speed, whipped the motor up onto the elevated car ramp after a fashion that I could only dream of aspiring to.

It was trophy winners’ acceptance time and speeches.

This was not an easy task for me to accomplish. Apart from being the only Anglichanin in the race, I was not about to inflict, either upon the crowd facing me or upon myself, my incomparable Russian. This meant that I would have to address the crowds in English. I am sure that there must have been one or two people in the facing throng who knew what I was talking about. There was my wife, for example, who never knows what I am talking about, so why should she start now? And anyway, after I had concluded my few words, Yury rendered a brief translation.

It had been a long day, a rewarding day, a different day. There is, as they say, a first time for everything, and we had enjoyed this first time immensely!

Kaliningrad Vintage Car Rally 2021: Yury Grozmarni & Mick Hart receiving a rally award — **Mick Hart & Yury Grozmani receiving a trophy at the Kaliningrad Retro Car Rally 29 May 2021**

More about Auto Retro Club Kaliningrad
Auto Retro Club Kaliningrad 2021 Calendar
Fort XI Kaliningrad Hosts Retro Car Club Day
See 1930s’ Buick at Fort XI Kaliningrad

I Have Had my Covid Vaccine!

I Have Had My Covid Vaccine ~ so many times that I’ve lost count

Published: 28 May 2021

These are the coronavirus vaccine statistics from ourworldindata.org as of 25 May 2021 (not easy to see from this screen grab, but you get the picture):

😉The Covid-19 Vaccine Race from Gaydock Park🤞

Never before in the history of transmissible disease have governments embarked upon and pushed an agenda like this one. But is that agenda honourable or there is a subtext to it that neoliberal global politicians, Big Tech and Big Pharma are exploiting for their own elitist ends?

Coronavirus has polarised the world. There are those who believe everything they are told by the powers that be, and in the process seem to have resigned themselves to a lifetime of lockdowns, mask-wearing, new strains, mutations and an ever-expanding cycle of vaccinations, and those that suspect that as nothing about coronavirus and, more to the point, coronavirus restrictions appear to add up, then someone must be up to something ~ and up to something on a global scale.

The UK is a perfect example of this polarity, divided as it is by those who are falling over themselves in the panic to get the vaccine ~ the same group of people that advocate enforced lockdown and mask wearing ~ and those whose distrust of the establishment’s official vaccination line is only exceeded by their utter contempt for the WHO.

The West’s liberal-controlled media routinely rounds up all coronavirus sceptics and labels and thus discredits them as conspiracy theorists. But what if they are? In the words of Joseph Heller, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”

The ‘we don’t trust them as far as we could throw them’ camp entertain myriad theories, which when gathered up coalesce into one or another of the big three. These three theories have one thing in common, which is that the perpetrators of the biggest hoax in history are neoliberal globalists. The three scenarios play out like this:

1. Coronavirus restrictions, particularly lockdowns, mandatory mask-wearing and state-enforced mass vaccination programmes are a covert way of reconditioning the collective mind, controlling the masses by fear in preparation for something worse to come. That worse being the neoliberal New World Order.

2. Both the virus and the vaccine are man-made entities (Sorry, let’s be woke here, I mean person-made entries. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so who knows what ‘it’ and ‘others’ can unleash!). Both have the capacity to liquidate, and both have a job to do, which is to reset the world’s population, in other words, to cull.

3. The vaccine is a long-term project which will inevitably pour endless amounts of wealth into the globalist’s coffers through the symbiotic relationship between Big Pharma and the neoliberal mega-rich. Yes, the vaccine may be free now, but as mutations and new strains emerge requiring, so we will be told, new or modified vaccines, someone will have to pay ~ and that will be you and me.

For the sake of argument, let us play devil’s advocate and say that the endgame involves elements of all three scenarios but, neoliberal globalists being what they are, money must figure first and last, so is it proposition number three on which we need to focus, or is all of it just tabloid pie in the sky?

Responsibility for the propagation of distrust, its entrenchment and the vast number of citizens throughout the world who are either unsure of the vaccine or vow they will never accept it, lies in the contradictory messages with which the public has been bombarded since day one of coronavirus. Making sense of it is like trying to put together a sabotaged jigsaw puzzle, the vital pieces of which are missing: nothing fits, nothing adds up and very little is logical.

At the centre of this programme of obscurantism is the liberal media and at the epicentre the liberal-oriented social media, which, instead of upholding free speech, the number-one tenet of democracy, have decided ~ inspired and emboldened by its track record for crucifying dissenters on the altar of censorship ~ to persecute anyone and everyone who dares to contest, question or doubt the rubber-stamped version of coronavirus.

Now, I do not have a Twitter account or Facebook account for obvious reasons, but I hear tell that if you post anything on Facebook that calls into question the official coronavirus narrative, especially as it pertains to vaccination, first your post is blocked and then you are ‘politely’ redirected to a source of information that purports to tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. But whose truth is it?

I am also told by those who use Facebook and other liberal-orchestrated social media sites that if you post anything that challenges pro-lockdown, pro-mask wearing, pro-vaccine enforcement, you run the risk of being banned from such sites for a month or in severe cases, for example if your argument is too cogent or too plausible, face permanent exile, destined to live out the rest of your unliked days in a social media wasteland every bit as dire as the ironic political wilderness into which Enoch Powell was cast when he told the truth about immigration.

The reality is that apart from liberals, nobody trusts Big Tech. Why should they, when it is the same mega-corporations prohibiting alternative viewpoints on coronavirus that routinely censor and remove the numerous accounts of those who dare to expound the cultural and moral tragedy of state-sponsored social and gender engineering programmes? And don’t forget that this is the same Big Tech that banned the President of the United States and attempted to atom bomb Parler, an alternative social media platform for those who mainstream social media have arbitrarily deplatformed.

The EDL, Britain First, Paul Joseph Watson, Katie Hopkins, Tommy Robinson, all enemies of the neoliberal state, wear the same badge of honour: they have all been banned from either Facebook, Twitter or both, as have a good many other ‘ordinary’ people. According to the social media monopolisers, these individuals and/or groups are guilty of using their squeaky-clean sites to incite racial hatred, religious hatred and call it what you like. But the truth is that this arbitrary definition is a convenient way of silencing anyone who dares to question, contradict, make a stand against or even invite discussion on subjects that run counter to the liberal-left’s world view and to its global aspirations.

And it does not matter how cogent the argument is or by whom it is addressed ~ acclaimed scientists, long-serving public health officials, eminent virologists and so on, are summarily struck down for speaking out against coronavirus protocols which, in their opinion, have a scientific margin of error that render them at best questionable or at worst not fit for purpose. Woe betide you if you post the views of these renegades on Facebook!

These distinguished dissenters ~ doctors, professors, scientists and so forth ~ who, it would seem, have nothing better to do than to incite the ire of the powerful and the media megalomaniacs, are summarily dismissed by the same as misinformation peddlers. Some of these eminent personages question the shaky empirical foundation on which mass vaccination is based; others claim that vaccines are already causing significant harm and that there is evidence of deaths directly linked to the vaccine, but, as any search on Google will confirm, absolute proof of such does not exist [as of 25 May 2021]. All media-owned signposts point in the same direction.

Now, I am not a Facebook subscriber (I wonder why?) but I have been told that pricks ~ people who have had the vaccine ~ have been cajoled and coerced by Facebook to wear their vaccination status with pride. Apparently, once you have been vaccinated, you can change your Facebook profile image using a ‘I have had my vaccination’ template, a circular frame surrounding your mug for all the world to see.

Is it my imagination, or do some of these silly little roundels come complete with frames in limp-wristed rainbow colours? Hmm, when I see such things, I am put in mind of that excellent Orwellian TV programme The Prisoner, in which a spy who has resigned from his post is gassed, abducted and wakes up in a terrifying fantasy world known as The Village, a high-tech concentration camp masquerading as a utopian democracy (sound familiar?).

In this happy realm of many nationalities, the good citizens, those who have been brainwashed and soul-destroyed, do everything they are told to do and say everything they are told to say. They are deliriously model citizens, who, deprived of free will and no longer capable of independent thought, literally dance to their masters’ tune wearing rainbow-coloured clothes whilst toting rainbow-coloured umbrellas (It certainly was a programme ahead of its time!).

I have nothing against taking the vaccine myself, in spite of the fact that I would never allow the likes of Facebook or Twitter to manoeuvre me into taking it and provided that I am not forced to take it under duress and threat of not being able to travel, not being able to get a job, not being able to visit a pub, in fact, not being able to do anything or go anywhere without my vaccine passport. All this smacks of a cheap protection racket: Buy our Brand or else!

But the last mistake I would want to make was to discover all too late that between them they have murdered me and, in the process, have conned me into celebrating the fact that not only was I stupid enough to have bought the lies they sold me but that they have also had my leg up to such an extent that they had me advertise my gullibility in a circular social media frame surrounded by rainbow colours ~ the final insult!

If I was Facebook inclined, I personally would not entertain such a frame. It is not nearly woke enough for my liking, and until they include a clenched BLM fist, preferably certified by Sadiq Kahn, if I were you, I would refuse to use one, at least until you are sure that you have been well and truly exploited.

At the end of the day, it is not up to social media or governments to force you to have something stuck in your arm or anywhere else for that matter, especially when it bypasses the usual strict requirements for vaccine testing and approval and even more especially when Big Pharma, Big Tech and ultimately Big Brother have a get-out clause in the small print which exonerates them from any blame or compensatory comeback in the ‘unlikely’ event that it all goes terribly wrong.

To conclude with the inconclusive, I will leave you in the safe hands of Facebook’s Mr Zuckerberg and his team. Ruminate on their words and then ask yourself the question: are these the words of humanitarians, or is something else at work?

“These new policies will help us continue to take aggressive action against misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines. We will begin enforcing this policy immediately, with a particular focus on Pages, groups and accounts that violate these rules, and we’ll continue to expand our enforcement over the coming weeks. Groups, Pages and accounts on Facebook and Instagram …” ~ source: An Update on Our Work to Keep People Informed and Limit Misinformation About COVID-19, published by Facebook, 16 April 2020 [my highlights]

The British Medical Journal (BMJ) response to Facebook & other social media censorship:
Covid-19: Who fact checks health and science on Facebook? | The BMJ

At the close of this article, I have provided three or four links to alternative views: Are these the words of crackpots or of well-informed and enlightened people who genuinely fear for our future and are attempting to shine a light to avert us from the very dark place to which we are being taken?

How will history judge our shepherds? Will they be praised and exonerated as the angels of our salvation, or eventually tried Nuremberg style for crimes against humanity?

Living through history is certainly not the same as reflecting on it, but these must be interesting times indeed for those out there in the future to whom Facebook and its kind are just amusing anachronisms, a spent and obsolescent force harking back to the days when Big Tech, in its naivety and arrogance, mistook its short-lived era for the promise of eternity. I wonder what lessons the new generations have learnt from our coronavirus ‘conspiracy’ era, and what they will do to prevent it from ever occurring again.

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.” ~ Abraham Lincoln

Alternative Views on the Coronavirus Pandemic, Media Censorship & Why {don’t take their word for it ~ draw your own conclusions!}

Why are we being censored? ~ Professor Dolores Cahill
Dr Reiner Fuellmich, international lawyer has all the evidence that pandemic is crime (rumble.com)
Did some scientists use ‘scare tactics’ during lockdown? – YouTube

Disclaimer: No animals were harmed in the making of this post, but we are sorry if we have insulted them.

Image credits:
Sheep face: https://pixabay.com/photos/sheep-animals-cute-nature-3727049/
Donkey face: Gilles Rolland-Monnet on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/photos/Y-gQdCSvMbo
Halo emoji: http://clipart-library.com/clipart/piqKy7qi9.htm
Middle finger: Jonny Doomsday; https://publicdomainvectors.org/en/free-clipart/Man-in-suit-showing-middle-finger/6429.html
Parrot: Christopher Alvarenga on Unsplash; https://unsplash.com/s/photos/parrot

The Natural Beauty of the Baltic Coast Kaliningrad

We will find them off the beaches

Published: 20 May 2021 ~ The Natural Beauty of the Baltic Coast Kaliningrad

The Kaliningrad region has two main coastal resorts, Zelinogradsk and Svetlogorsk. When I first came to this part of the world twenty years ago, both were quiet, sleepy and remote, rundown by the destabilising repercussions of perestroika but no less charming and appealing in the history of themselves and the beauty of their location.

Fast forward to the coronavirus summer of 2020, and we open the TARDIS doors onto two highly developed and equally commercialised venues teaming with people, not only bonafide Kaliningradians but Russia’s World and its Wife.

Closed borders, bans on international air travel and a finely tuned and successful alternative ‘holiday at home’ programme have seen tourism rocket, the word on the street being that virtually every hotel in and around the two main coastal resorts and in Kaliningrad itself are pre-booked for the summer season. Last year, a friend of ours who has a dacha in Zelenogradsk that she rents out during the summer season was able to grant us a couple of weeks free accommodation, which we were pleased to accept. This year, her dacha is fully booked. We will have to sleep on the beach.

The natural beauty of the Baltic Coast, Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad Oblast, the Kaliningrad region, is a relatively small piece of land. In fact, locals refer to it as ‘small Russia’ as distinct from the Russian mainland, which is ‘Big Russia’. Although transport facilities have greatly improved, with good rail connections and upgraded rolling stock together with a spanking new road system of motorway standard, the sheer volume of people that flood here in the summer months and the increasing number of people moving here from Big Russia or, as a friend of ours put it, people with deep wallets who can afford to buy holiday homes, can, when the sun comes out, create if not a logistics nightmare at least a logistics headache.

For beach bums this is a bit of a bummer. The last thing that young, toned bodies eager to exhibit themselves on the best stretches of sandy beach want is to be stuck where they cannot be seen, all hot and sweaty, in a three-mile traffic tailback. What about my new tattoos or my little skimpy bikini! It is at times like these that Kaliningrad ‘O Blast’ really lives up to its name!

But take heart! All is not lost! For those of us who appreciate natural beauty, free from the face- and buttock-lifting Botox of commercialisation, the Kaliningrad region possesses many unique off-the-beaten-track locations that have not yet entered the telescopic sites of the cash-quick entrepreneur.

What these secluded coastal places do not have in terms of grand hotels and expensive restaurants, they more than make up for in timeless quality, and whilst they may be lacking in sandy beaches and ever-rolling waves they are also lacking in hordes of people. In other words, such places are the preferred habitat for the solace-seeking discerning coastal visitor, a haven for the sleepy backwater type who values the natural world above artifice and seclusion above high-density beach bathers.

The Natural Beauty of the Baltic Coast Kaliningrad

It may take a little more effort to find where you are going to than it does when you go to the coastal resorts, but once you have arrived there you will be glad you made the trip.

True outdoor types will marvel at the idyll of small inlets shaped and shuttered by wetland reed beds that form a pie-crust pattern of coves along a rambling scenic coastline unmolested by change, a coastline replete with all kinds of waterfowl, a fascinating ecosystem offering beautiful views across the lagoon including inspiring sunrises and magnificent sunsets.

This chain of small coves is so tucked away from the modern world that as you sit there on one of the water-worn breakers gazing out to sea, Gates, Shutterbugger, indeed the entire Silicon Valley mob, seem as distant and insignificant as second-rate villains in a Marvel Comic (just don’t forget to switch off your mobile phone!).

Baltic Coast Zalivino — The Natural Beauty of the Baltic Coast Kaliningrad

Here, the only connection that you need are those that connect you with the real world ~ your natural senses. Tune your mind to these and sentience just takes over.

The large boulder that you are sitting on could be one of a group, one of an arched construction that follows the shape of the cove, or an early rock in the long parade that stretches out into the bay. It is a good place on which to perch and contemplate, if it wasn’t, then why would those sea birds mimic you?

**Mick Hart & Olga Hart, Baltic Coast (May 2021)**

In some places the coves are beaches in miniature, wide enough to lay a blanket and to bed down on for an afternoon’s duration; in others, they are a natural composition of millions of small shells and tubular reed fragments.

Closer to civilisation, extensive gardens of old German and Soviet houses nestle just a few yards away from the waterline, whilst gnarled, split and hollowed out old crack willow trees, which generations of children, before PlayStation came along, made rudimentary playgrounds out of, still support swings and climbing ropes from their strong, low-lying, outstretched branches.

**Mick Hart & Olga Hart, Baltic Coast, Russia (May 2021)**

Away from the villages, nature takes over completely: on one side, the relatively still water surface shimmers on the lagoon, on the other, tall encompassing reeds, wetland meadows or dense woodland complement the sequestered scene.

The Kaliningrad region has two main coastal resorts, Zelinogradsk and Svetlogorsk. They are well publicised, and rightly so, as much for their beautiful sandy beaches and tantalising seascapes as for their history and their architecture. But the Kaliningrad region also has an evocative natural coastline, an ecological treasure trove that is as near and dear to the heart as it is far from the madding crowd. It is a many jewelled retreat in this extraordinary region’s crown; not somewhere where you go to, but somewhere where you go to be.

Kaliningrad Street Food Festival a Cathedral of Taste

Food festival in the grounds of Königsberg Cathedral

Published: 17 May 2021 ~ Kaliningrad Street Food Festival

On 9^th May, after honouring Victory Day by paying our respects at the Mass Grave of Soviet Soldiers and the Monument to 1200 Guardsmen, we were driven by our hosts, Arthur and Inara, to the street food fair, held this Easter in the sculptured parkland and cobbled grounds of Königsberg Cathedral.

Kneiphof Island, as this area was once known and now more commonly referred to as Kant’s Island for the very good reason that it is the historic resting place of the great German philosopher Kant with whose name it is eponymous, has undergone a series of successful gentrification programmes over the past few years, making its long, broad thoroughfare, which stretches from the Trestle Bridge on one side to Honeymoon Bridge on the other, the perfect place for cultural events.

Tourists and the majority of Kaliningradians approve but, as in every sphere of life, pleasing all of the people all of the time is as unobtainable as the Holy Grail, and the food fair, as well as other events held in this vicinity, is not without detractors, its critics arguing that the proximity of the cathedral and the hallowed ground on which it stands should prohibit such acts of sacrilege.

I personally do not hold with this. Reincarnation, as in the case of Königsberg Cathedral as much as in any other, is about breathing new life into something that would otherwise cease to exist, and the historical Phoenix that Königsberg Cathedral most assuredly is, is a good enough argument in my books for holding events nearby that celebrate life and, whilst I myself do not go in for Facebook snapshots of plates of grub, most people would agree that food and drink plays a not insignificant part in celebrating life or is, at the very least, a rather indispensable ingredient of it ~ something very much up there with oxygen and sunlight.

Thus, silently mediating between the cultural polemics by which my actions were guided, I was able to wend my way without a sullied conscience, heading towards the food fair by way of the riverside walk that fronts Kaliningrad’s ‘Fishing Village’ ~ an attractive architectural fantasy of swish hotels and well-appointed restaurants that has nothing to do with fishing but a lot to do with tourism.

Kaliningrad Street Food Festival

Someone, I believe it was my wife, suggested that we rest our weary bones at one of the outside tables and take light refreshment before going on to the fair. This was an odd idea considering that over the other side of Honeymoon Bridge there was about forty or fifty food stalls. But wives, as you know, know best …

Mick Hart & Olga Hart at the Fishing Village, Kaliningrad — **Kaliningrad Fishing Village ~ on our way to Kaliningrad Street Food Festival**

The first mistake was quickly followed by the second, which was that the spot we had chosen was firmly in the shade and subject to strong gusts of wind; the second mistake was the restaurant/café itself. Foodwise, it had not been a good choice, even for snack standards, although I did enjoy my pint of Leffe!

You might infer that having crossed Honeymoon Bridge we would be plunged into the troubled world of real life, but this was not the case.

Mick Hart with Inara Honeymoon Bridge Kaliningrad — Mick Hart with Inara: Honeymoon Bridge,Kaliningrad

Königsberg's New Synagogue — Mick Hart with Inara: Honeymoon Bridge,Kaliningrad

The continuous row of brightly coloured stalls and milling crowds was a sight for sore self-isolating eyes, a coronavirus-contagious nightmare for your mask-wearing six-foot distancers, but for me, today, a much-needed carnival atmosphere ~ a cornucopia of pleasing sights, foot-tapping sounds and sizzling smells ~ or, as I put it earlier, a celebration of life.

A giant radio at Königsberg Food Festval

Kaliningrad Street Food Festival

The pink stalls with their colourful, whacky wallpapered fronts, looked well in the sunlit environs, with the hefty walls of Königsberg Cathedral acting as their backdrop. There was food galore, which was not a bad thing for a food festival, but this being Russia it was a foregone conclusion that most of it would be meaty. For vegetarians such as myself, options are rather limited.

Unphased, since I am a ‘baked beans on toast’ sort of person anyway, there was nothing for it but to turn my attention to the beer they had on offer.

Stall at Kaliningrad Street Food Festival

Old Brick Pub Kaliningrad Street Food Festival

Olga discovered one stall selling warm beer; not warm as in ‘Ugh my beer is warm’ (an ironic grumble in England where everyone seems to have forgotten that beer is supposed to be served at room temperature), but warm in the sense of heated. Being nothing but adventurous ~ where beer is concerned, that is ~ I sampled some of this, and I must admit that, contrary to my bigotry, I found it remarkably palatable.

Mick Hart Kaliningrad enjoying special warmed beer — **Mick Hart samples heated beer at Königsberg Cathedral Food Fair**

At the corner of the pedestrian walk where the cobbled street widens to form the plaza at the front of the cathedral, a group of vintage vehicles were on display, among which was our friend’s, Arthur’s, Volga.

Mick Hart with the Auto Retro Club Kaliningrad Königsberg Cathedral

Speciality warm beer, vintage cars, good company & Königsberg Cathedral: Food Festival Kaliningrad 2021

To the right, the one-time silver refreshment caravan in the shape of an American diner has been replaced by a permanent parade of gift and refreshment cubicles and even a proper restaurant. Again, some people criticise, but I like them. They reflect Königsberg Cathedral’s increasing popularity as a tourist destination and are just enough and not too much.

At this point in the cathedral grounds the land rises, and it is necessary to climb a brief flight of steps to ascend to the higher and wider concourse, on either side of which today food stalls took pride of place.

The variety of food on offer was really quite astonishing, so much so that you would have to be suffering from indigestion, experiencing an attack of consummate vegetarianism, or just being rather peculiar should you not be able to find yourself something to sink your choppers into.

As I fall into at least one of those compromised categories, I continued to stay on the beer, which, like its solid counterpart, offered incomparable sustenance of a most diverse and most diverting kind.

All of a sudden standing went out of fashion. It was fortunate, therefore, that the municipal makeover of our immediate vicinity had pre-empted this condition, a contingency not found wanting in the number, style and seating capacity of the scrolled and slat-back benches dotted around the park.

Being difficult as well as vegetarian ~ same thing? ~ I immediately ignored these, and we eventually came to rest on the well-thought-out and positioned wooden steps that aligns the seated with the magnificent facade of Königsberg Cathedral.

Mick Hart, Olga hart and friend Arthur on steps front of Königsberg Cathedral — **Mick Hart & Olga with Arthur (feeding himself) on the steps in front of Königsberg Cathedral (May 2021)**

From this spot we refused to move (OK, I refused to move) for the rest of the afternoon, with the exception of forays for food and beer ~ Oh, and Olga’s impulse purchase of a silver and amber ring (good job my beer requirement was not overstretching our budget!)

Said Olga, whilst we were sitting where we were sitting: Have you noticed how the front of Königsberg Cathedral has an unreal aspect about it? It has an ethereality, a lightness that most ecclesiastical buildings do not possess. Cathedrals in general have a formal and officiating presence, commanding deep and unquestionable reverence, but this cathedral seems to hang in the air ~ to float. Now remember, it was Olga saying this and not my beer, but was it the beer that made me respond that it looked from our perspective as if the cathedral could have been drawn on the natural canvas donated by this calm and relaxing day by our friend and artist Victor Ryabinin?

Some things you can never be sure of and others even less so, but one thing we agreed on was that Kaliningrad’s food festival had given us plenty of food for thought.

9th May Kaliningrad Victory Day 2021

Kaliningrad Honours its Veterans

Published: 14 May 2021

9 May Victory Day 2021, and in Kaliningrad, as in the rest of Russia, young and old turned out in thousands to pay their respect to their forebears ~ those who survived and those who died in the awesome and bloody struggle to deliver their country from Nazi tyranny and to honour the inestimable contribution made by the Soviet Union to the defeat of Hitler’s Third Reich.

Last year Victory Day was a rather muted affair owing to coronavirus, but this year Russia’s second most important holiday after Easter was firmly back on track, led by the traditional Victory Day parade in Moscow and marked elsewhere throughout the country with celebrations and remembrance services.

9th May Kaliningrad Victory Day 2021

At 12pm, Olga and I rendezvoused with our friends, Arthur and Inara, at the Home for Veterans on Komsomolskaya Street, Kaliningrad, a large complex of buildings which, as the name suggests, provides homes to veterans who no longer have kinfolk to support them.

Although the service is a private affair, held behind closed gates, it was still possible to see something of the formal ceremony and the cadets of various denominations who took part in acknowledging the debt that is owed to one of the most remarkable generations in modern history.

Cadets in Kaliningrad Victory Day 2021 — Cadets at the Home for Veterans

Cadets Victory Day Kaliningrad 2021 — Cadets at the Home for Veterans

From the Home for Veterans, we walked the short distance to the Мass Grave of Soviet Soldiers and placed red roses on the eternal-flame-lit monument, before driving to the city’s foremost WWII remembrance site, the Monument to 1200 Guardsmen, an impressive obelisk and statue-flanked shrine to the soldiers of the 11th Army who died in the assault on Königsberg.

9th May Kaliningrad Victory Day 2021 — **Mass Grave of Soviet Soldiers**

Mick Hart & Olga Hart Victory Day Kaliningrad 9th May 2021 — **Mick & Olga Hart placing flowers at the Mass Grave of Soviet Soldiers, 9 May 2021**

9th May 2021 Kaliningrad: British & US flags fly with Soviet flags — **Russians do not seem to have the same problem that Brits and Yanks have**
**when it comes to remembering** **their allies!**

Victory Park, an elaborate, grassed, landscaped area criss-crossed with winding pathways and studded with series of steps, lies at the foot of the Monument to 1200 Guardsmen. Today, it was a sea of people, many of which were family groups, proudly carrying the national flag, and also in many cases the flag of the USSR, along with placard-mounted portraits of their relatives who had taken part in the battle of Königsberg or the wider conflict.

Russians carry portraits of war veterans in Kaliningrad

Kaliningrad Russians carrying photos of war veterans

As well as photographs, flags and flowers, numerous participants wore medals and many more were wearing the black and orange striped Georgian ribbon, one of Russia’s most powerful symbols of national pride and patriotism. Some children were dressed in the type of military uniform that their grandparents would have worn during WWII, or, as the Russian’s refer to it, the Great Patriotic War, and both children and adults alike had in some instances donned the Soviet army side-cap, the olive-green pilotka, with its red or green-painted Soviet star badge.

Russians wearing the George Ribbon as a mark of Victory Day respect 2021

Olga Hart & friend Inara place roses at Soviet war monument 9 May 2021 — **Olga Hart & Inara place roses at a monument in Victory Park, Kaliningrad** (9 May 2021)

Sadly, but inevitably, with each passing year the veteran population diminishes, but today we were fortunate to meet a 91-year-old lady veteran, who had braved the crowds and temperamental weather to attend the annual ceremony.

WWII Lady Veteran Kaliningrad Victory Day

During the Second World War, she had contributed to the war effort by providing vital work in the Soviet munition factories. Today, she wore her medals with pride.

Her husband had been amongst those Soviet regiments that had fought their way across the East Prussian region, a punishing military campaign that had culminated in a ferocious artillery assault on Königsberg followed by gruelling street-by-street close-quarter combat in and out of the web of ruins.

One of the lady’s granddaughters, who spoke perfect English, told me that in recognition of her grandfather’s bravery during the Königsberg campaign, not only had he been highly decorated but also a street had been named after him in one of the region’s outlying towns.

It was an honour and privilege to have met and talked with this veteran and her family today and to have had the opportunity to witness such a profound and open expression of respect and patriotism here in Kaliningrad extending across the entire generational spectrum.

Monument to 1200 Guardsmen, Kaliningrad, Victory Day 2021