{"id":11855,"date":"2024-12-12T21:25:04","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:25:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=11855"},"modified":"2024-12-12T21:25:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T19:25:06","slug":"surviving-new-years-eve-if-i-can-so-can-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/surviving-new-years-eve-if-i-can-so-can-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Surviving New Year\u2019s Eve: If I can so can you"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Would you Adam and New Year’s Eve it!<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

12 December 2024 ~ Surviving New Year\u2019s Eve: If I can so can you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh no, it\u2019s that time of year again: what are we going to do at Christmas and where are we going to go on New Year\u2019s eve?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve heard tell that some party people are so far ahead of those like me who are not that they begin planning how they will spend their Christmas and New Year almost before the last one is over. I don\u2019t disbelieve it. Do you know that there are people who actually plan their summer holidays! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retrospectively> How to deal with a vaccinated liberal family member at Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yesterday, when I was young, planning Christmas was not an issue. It was taken for granted that Christmas Day, and often Boxing Day, would be spent at home with the family. Thereafter, I would traditionally mosey along to catch up with my friends in Rushden, Northants, for some inter-New Year\u2019s pubbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I enjoyed those family Christmases. Ours was quite a large family, which permitted us to indulge in a circuit of Christmas parties held consecutively at the homes of aunties and uncles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Year, however, was a different basket of presents altogether. Had I have owned a kilt, a set of bagpipes and a large hairy sporran, then I might have seen in the New Year in style ~ if you can call such fetishes that ~ but within my family circle Christmas was the favourite. New Year\u2019s either trailed in second or sometimes never ran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, it would not be too far-fetched to say that I have endured more disastrous, that is to say anticlimactic, New Year\u2019s Eves than I have experienced successful ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I recall one New Year\u2019s Eve, when I lived in London, trying to evade the issue of where to be doing what at midnight by drinking with friends during the day and then, come 9pm, scooting off home double quick and diving under the bed sheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hah, fooled it this year! Problem was that I had forgotten to tell the rest of the world to do likewise. On the stroke of midnight all hell let loose. Fireworks flashed and blasted, the club up the road cranked out music at fever pitch, there was merriment in the street ~ blast it! ~ with people crying \u2018Happy New Year\u2019 and mawkish peels of auld lang syne came kilting through the letterbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nearly<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I never got back to sleep that night, and my New Year\u2019s day was like everyone else\u2019s: faded, jaded and tired. I never went to the party, but I reaped the rewards of it second hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surviving New Year’s Eve<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Deriving what your average extrovert might see as a perverse pleasure in being on my lonesome whilst everyone around me obeys the 11th<\/sup> Commandment, \u201cThou shalt party\u201d, appears to be a forte of mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, I am probably one of the very few people, if not the only person, to have surprised himself and the organisers by not turning up to a surprise 21st<\/sup> birthday party which was in fact his own. Now let that be a lesson to me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One year\u2019s New Year\u2019s Eve was deliciously more disastrous than even the best of the worst. I had been left on my own in Rushden ~ What a place to be left on your own!\u00a0 What a place to be with someone! (Dear old Rushden, I love you really \u2026). My wife, having received an invitation to spend New Year’s Eve in Paris, snook off with my blessing. And that was a lesson for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some reason, an idealised one I suspect,\u00a0she seemed to harbour\u00a0 the strange misconception that the Paris she was going to would be the Paris of the 1920s and 30s, which sadly it is not. I blame Humphrey Bogart and his Casablanca\u2019s<\/em> \u201cWe\u2019ll always have Paris \u2026\u201d, when it is evident we wont and obvious we don\u2019t. It\u2019s like singing anachronistically,\u00a0\u201cThere\u2019ll always be an England \u2026\u201d when there isn\u2019t anymore and will never be again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My good lady wife returned from her New Year\u2019s jaunt jaundiced by the revelation that Paris no longer possessed the style and panache of its glory years but resembled in parts a ghetto from some dark subcontinent back of beyond; and talk about aggressive begging, it was worse than the streets of Kolkata!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst she had been busy upending a dream, I was sitting alone in the office of our antiques emporium, watching Christmas unfold through the lens of the CCTV camera. Almost every house along the street had friends or relatives calling, all of whom were in party mood. For me, with a Christmas dinner of beans on toast, listening to the festive strains of Leonard Cohen\u2019s Christmas Hits<\/em>, it felt as though the world was having a party to which my invitation had arrived too late. Yes, that must be the answer; my invitation was still in the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am sure that anyone normal would have been distressed by this exclusion, but somehow it seemed a perfect fit for my innate sense of Gothic melancholy, and I have to admit, hand on heart, that I have never enjoyed a Christmas like it. The only way to have gone one better would have been to put the cat out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surviving New Year\u2019s Eve<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve probably guessed by now that I am not the world\u2019s most enthusiastic party goer. I don\u2019t go a bundle on them, and I care for crowds even less. This could explain why during the 20 years I lived in London, I never attended the fireworks display held in the capital on New Year’s Eve and have no inclination still to this day to patronise large-scale events whatever they are and wherever they may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Year\u2019s Eve at a pub, waking up the following morning aching from head to toe, having slept it off in the back of a car, now that would be a New Year\u2019s to remember. If only I could<\/em> remember. I must have the details written down somewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retrospectively> Why Happy New Year?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was one year in London when the New Year\u2019s festivities ended up in a pub brawl worthy of John Wayne. It was not my fault, I hasten to add, I was an innocent bystander, but I was carted away with the rest of them and with them sat out the early hours of a hazy New Year\u2019s Day down at the local cop shop. As luck would have it, however, the venue we were taken to happened to be in Bethnal Green, where I knew of several pubs. So, after they\u2019d booted us out with a caution, it was the hair of the East London dog for us, even though the rest of the dog was rather bruised and battered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

^: <\/strong>My first New Year in Kaliningrad, 31 December 2000: an introduction to party games<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Russia, New Year\u2019s Eve is the big one, the ultimate annual celebration and most eagerly awaited public holiday. At this time of year, every year, Russians push the boat out, and they manage to do it impressively, even without a kilt. (\u201cExcuse me, is it true that you don\u2019t wear swimming trunks under your kilts?\u201d \u201cNot to the office, no. But we do when pushing the boat out.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing I wasn\u2019t prepared for at Russian New Year\u2019s parties was the obligatory playing of games. Playing games, not one but many, is an integral, unavoidable part not only of Russian New Year\u2019s parties but any Russian party. I couldn\u2019t abide them at first, but twenty-four years on, I seem to have acquired a satisfactory adaptive immunity to the professional and self-appointed maestros who it seems will stop at nothing to get you up on your feet and jump you around the room. With irrepressible party spirit, they hoik you onto the dance floor, where they make you perform\u00a0embarrassing feats or assign a comedic role to you in an improvised mini-drama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It cannot be said that these masters of ceremonies, self-styled or otherwise, are not good at what they do. They create a tempo, maintain engagement and prevent the party from flagging, but turbo-charged with extroversion and, in professional cases, the additional lure of fees,\u00a0they give no concessions and take no prisoners. Woe betide the shrinking violet, the carefully cosseting introvert, the poor self-conscious soul should they fall into the sphere of influence controlled by these unrelenting cheerleaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retrospectively> New Year’s Eve at the Hotel Russ, Svetlogorsk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have heard it said about people, and I am sure that you have too, that they can adapt to anything in the fullness of time. I am not so sure about that, but a word in your shell-like if you please on the subject of party games. You have doubtlessly heard that a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down, well, three or four shots of vodka does for party games what sugar does for medicine. Neck two or three at the start of the party and before the evening is out, your chaperone Self-Consciousness will have left you to your own devices and, mark my words and make no mistake, you will be up their strutting your stuff with the rest and the best of the extroverts. By the end of the evening, you might even believe that you have been speaking Russian fluently and even if you haven’t, nobody will have noticed. That’s the beauty of sugar. Trust me! Your razzling-dazzling party-game prowess will have knocked them all for six.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

^:<\/strong> Mick Hart finding rhythm<\/em> at a Russian party with the help of vodka and a fancy hat<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time last year I had no need to prep myself on vodka or brush up on my party games act, I was on my own again. (It can be addictive.) This bothered me not a jot. I togged myself up and tootled off to Kaliningrad city centre. The proposition was to have one or two libations in town, have a nightcap on my return, shout Happy New Year to myself too early, as my watch is always wrong, and then immediately hop into bed. Unfortunately, however, it didn\u2019t happen that way. Forgetting that New Year\u2019s eve is Russia\u2019s most important holiday, no allowances had been made for every bar and restaurant being fully booked. Beer and vodka everywhere and not a drop to drink. Luckily for me, our neighbours came to the rescue, as they have before on New Year\u2019s Eve. They invited me to join them, and I spent a pleasant evening in their company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did they save me from the Billy No Mates stigma, sitting alone on New Year’s Eve, but they also gave me access to a telly, something we don\u2019t have, and whilst I am more than happy to do without a telly for 364 days of the year, on the 365th a telly comes in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am not keen on the stage-crafted jollity, the forced frivolity and razzamatazz of celeb-laden New Year\u2019s Eve shows, but my enduring fascination with our allotted  place in the slipstream of time magnetises my interest in counting down the seconds to midnight, besides which I have a thing for the Russian national anthem and the New Year’s presidential address.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mick<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

^:<\/strong> Midnight New Year’s Eve, Kaliningrad<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the period when we owned and ran our UK antique emporium, we held a succession of New Year\u2019s parties\u00a0in the adjoining barns at the back of the building. They were, of course, not my idea, but I must confess, with barely disguised astonishment, that most went off successfully, with the unforgettable exception of one, when we all came down with the flu. A quick recovery was necessary, as racked in the room where the party never took place, perched a 72-pint barrel of ale with a shelf life of five days. Downing it before the deadline was not an easy task, but the commitment and enthusiasm with which we went about it was a remarkable example of collaboration at its best. We may have missed New Year’s Eve but only to make it last for a week rather than one evening. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”\u00a0– Winston Churchill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surviving New Year\u2019s Eve<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

These back-of-the-building New Year\u2019s parties were always much of a stamina tester, since given our Russian connections, respect for our Russian guests and a sentimental attachment to Kaliningrad, first we would celebrate Moscow\u2019s New Year, an hour later Kaliningrad\u2019s and finally at midnight GMT, we would raise a glass (or several) to our own UK New Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We didn\u2019t have a TV, but with the aid of a projector and a slice of white brick wall, we would screen recorded videos of a patriotic nature, belting out Russia\u2019s National Anthem to coincide with two Russian New Year\u2019s and \u2018God Save the Queen\u2019, the Royal Salute, on the stroke of UK’s midnight ~ or sometimes at 30 seconds to midnight or 30 seconds past, as nobody had the exact right time; in the depths of our party bunker nobody\u2019s smartphone worked. These sequential celebrations led to three volleys of popping champagne corks in as many hours. We even played some Russian games and added a few of our own. Who said that it couldn’t be done! And me not a party animal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holding these parties at the back of the shop from which we sold vintage clothes meant we were never short of a prop or two, so should someone have the secret desire to see New Year in as Lenin, or transform himself into Winston Churchill, the fulfilment of their fantasies was not beyond their grasp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

^:<\/strong> 1920s’ New Year’s Eve party in the back room of the antiques\/vintage emporium<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These parties would typically stretch into the wee kiltish hours, so that the full effect of the hangover would not be felt until late afternoon, the antidote for which was either to wend one\u2019s weary way to the pub or sit at home feeling dreadful, reciting next year\u2019s resolution, \u2018never, ever again!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Older now and wiser, such casting caution to the wind is over. No more shall I encounter the sort of reckless New Year’s Eves outlined in this post and certainly not the kind that occurred in 2002, when we arranged to meet Victor Ryabinin<\/a> after a New Year\u2019s party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arriving at 1am, we left Victor\u2019s Kaliningrad art studio at 9 o\u2019clock in the morning, having conversed and drunk through the twilight hours. The snow was thick underfoot and a blizzard up and blowing, and yet in spite of the hour and all we had drunk the memory of that morning trudging back to our flat is as clear as if it had happened yesterday. I can see the snow and I can see my boots mechanically tromping up and down, but only through one eye. I had one eye open, and one eye shut. Autopilot is not recommended, but it got me back safely that morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all is said and done, surviving New Year\u2019s Eve is small potatoes. It is the 365 days that follow which pose the greater challenge. The big issue is not what are you going to do on New Year\u2019s Eve, but how are you going to spend the rest of the year. What are you going to do with it? What is it going to do with you? Perhaps if you set your mind on making New Year\u2019s Eve not quite so happy as you have in the past, the year to come may be brilliant. We\u2019ve had a lot of practice, but will we ever get it right? In the last analysis, does it matter? The countdown has begun: 2024 is quickly slipping away from us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever you do, Good Luck!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below:<\/strong> The ghosts of New Years’ past. Hotel Russ, Svetlogorsk,
since demolished …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2024 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Would you Adam and New Year’s Eve it! 12 December 2024 ~ Surviving New Year\u2019s Eve: If I can so can you Oh no, it\u2019s that time of year again: what are we going to do at Christmas and where are we going to go on New Year\u2019s eve? I\u2019ve heard tell that some party […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2303],"tags":[2467,2470,2464,2465,2466,2463,2469,2468],"class_list":["post-11855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mick-harts-diary-2024","tag-games-at-russian-parties","tag-mick-hart-kaliningrad-2000","tag-new-years-eve","tag-new-years-eve-in-kaliningrad","tag-new-years-eve-in-the-uk","tag-surviving-new-years-eve","tag-what-to-do-new-years-eve","tag-where-to-go-new-years-eve"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Zelenogradsk-Xmas-Decorations-Giant-Clock-zzz-min.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8129,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/kaliningrad-retro-car-club-in-a-festive-mood\/","url_meta":{"origin":11855,"position":0},"title":"Kaliningrad Retro Car Club in a Festive Mood","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"25 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"In the club on Christmas Eve Published: 25 December 2022 ~ Kaliningrad Retro Car Club in a Festive Mood A big thank you to Inara and Arthur for inviting me to the Kaliningrad Retro Car Club end-of-year party last night and to the members of the club for making me\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2022"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2022","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2022\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kaliningrad Retro Car Club group photo Christmas Eve 2022","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Group-Photo-Kaliningrad-Retro-Car-Club-Party-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Group-Photo-Kaliningrad-Retro-Car-Club-Party-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Group-Photo-Kaliningrad-Retro-Car-Club-Party-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Group-Photo-Kaliningrad-Retro-Car-Club-Party-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Group-Photo-Kaliningrad-Retro-Car-Club-Party-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8204,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/zelenogradsk-christmas-decorations-win-first-prize\/","url_meta":{"origin":11855,"position":1},"title":"Zelenogradsk Christmas Decorations Win First Prize","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"10 \u044f\u043d\u0432\u0430\u0440\u044f, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Zelenogradsk ~ streets ahead with imaginative decorations Published: 10 January 2023 ~ Zelenogradsk Christmas Decorations Win First Prize In the UK, the festive season is well and truly over. Unless you had a better time than most, the last remnants of the New Year\u2019s Eve hangover will have sailed way\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Kaliningrad Region Photo Gallery"","block_context":{"text":"Kaliningrad Region Photo Gallery","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/visitors-guide-to-kaliningrad-region\/kaliningrad-region-photo-gallery\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Zelenogradsk Christmas Decorations","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Zelenogradsk-Xmas-Decorations-Signpost-feature-min.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Zelenogradsk-Xmas-Decorations-Signpost-feature-min.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Zelenogradsk-Xmas-Decorations-Signpost-feature-min.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Zelenogradsk-Xmas-Decorations-Signpost-feature-min.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13838,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/new-year-in-russia\/","url_meta":{"origin":11855,"position":2},"title":"Celebrating New Year in Russia: Different but Familiar","author":"Mick","date":"4 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Once you understand Ded Moroz (\u0414\u0435\u0434 \u041c\u043e\u0440\u043e\u0301\u0437) and yolka (\u0435\u043b\u043a\u0430), you're halfway there 4 December 2025 - Celebrating New Year in Russia: Different but Familiar They do things slightly differently in Russia at Christmas, or rather, they do things the same but at different times and with different names. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "DAILY LIFE in KALININGRAD"","block_context":{"text":"DAILY LIFE in KALININGRAD","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/daily-life-in-kaliningrad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Vintage postcard ofv Father Frost, Russian Father Christmas","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Father-Frost.jpg?fit=566%2C398&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Father-Frost.jpg?fit=566%2C398&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Father-Frost.jpg?fit=566%2C398&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":143,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/christmas-in-gdansk\/","url_meta":{"origin":11855,"position":3},"title":"Christmas in Gdansk","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"11 \u0444\u0435\u0432\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044f, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Christmas in Gdansk Updated: 11 February 2022 | First published: 5 October 2019 ~ Christmas in Gdansk Christmas in Gdansk\u00a0is the fourth article in a series of posts that recount my first visit to Kaliningrad in 2000, and my first impressions of the land, the people and its culture. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2000"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2000","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2000\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Christmas in Gdansk Mick Hart & Joss Hart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Mick-Hart-Joss-Hart-in-Gdansk-2000.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":477,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/svetlogorsk-gothic-rauschen\/","url_meta":{"origin":11855,"position":4},"title":"Svetlogorsk Gothic (Rauschen)","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"5 \u0444\u0435\u0432\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Rauschen (Svetlogorsk) Gothic Architecture This is one of my all-time favourite buildings in the Kaliningrad region\u2019s coastal resort, Svetlogorsk (German: Rauschen). Without genning up on its history, I would estimate that it dates to around the 1920s and is designed and constructed in a neo-Gothic style. The wooden cladding, turret\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Kaliningrad Region Photo Gallery"","block_context":{"text":"Kaliningrad Region Photo Gallery","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/visitors-guide-to-kaliningrad-region\/kaliningrad-region-photo-gallery\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/20200102_121900.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/new-years-eve-at-the-hotel-russ-svetlogorsk\/","url_meta":{"origin":11855,"position":5},"title":"New Year’s Eve at the Hotel Russ, Svetlogorsk","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"6 \u044f\u043d\u0432\u0430\u0440\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"New Year's Eve at the Hotel Russ 31 December 2019 Note: Rumour has it that the Hotel Russ has not only closed but in 2021 was demolished to make way for a brand-spanking new development complex. I am glad that I had the chance to visit this iconic building before\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2019\/2020"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2019\/2020","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2019-2020\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hotel Russ Svetlogorsk Russia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Hotel-Rus-Main-Pic.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Hotel-Rus-Main-Pic.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Hotel-Rus-Main-Pic.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Hotel-Rus-Main-Pic.jpg?fit=960%2C720&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}