SOME BASIC RUSSIAN INFO

Russian Info Good to Know

            Our first morning in Russia our guide whet our appetite for a fabulous trip with, “You’ll experience the dynamic city of Moscow and the opulent splendor of imperial St. Petersburg. Cruising between these cities you will discover the unknown Russia where daily life has remained virtually unchanged for centuries. Along the canals, waterways, and lakes is a land of ancient monasteries, shimmering forests of silver birch, thriving street markets, and churches filled with the sound of chanting voices.”                          

The country of 147 million people represents 40 nationalities. The Ural Mountains divide the country into two main areas; European Russia, and Siberia. European Russia is the lesser half but houses the majority of the country’s population.

The huge country has plains, mountains, rivers and lakes. The Volga River starts as a spring and runs 2325 miles to the Caspian Sea. The Siberian rivers Ob, Lena, Yenisey, and Angarta are so wide that when standing at the river’s edge one cannot see the opposite side. Lake Baikal is the world’s largest fresh water basin. The water is pure in the world’s deepest lake (5714 feet). The lake has only one outlet, the lower Angarta River, but 336 rivers feed it.

Oil fields lie between the Volga and the Ural Rivers. To the west iron ore is on the edge of Ukraine.

            In Moscow the Russian word tsentr, meaning center, designates the down town area, but throughout the country, tsentr refers to Moscow itself as the center of everything Russian. The sprawling city of Moscow has 2500 historical and architectural monuments, 70 museums, 125 cinemas, 50 theaters, 4500 libraries, and 540 higher education and research institutions.

Stalin built the Moscow subway system in 1932-35. They were to be the best and most beautiful in the world to outshine capitalism. Each station is a museum in itself and each is different. We learned the subway system is closed only four hours a day for cleaning. The wheat design bronze vents change the air in the system three times a day. Some of the system is 350 feet below ground level, and Stalin had an underground command post within the metro system.

The stations were so clean! There was no graffiti and they really were beautiful. The first station we entered was lined with huge bronze statues of fighting men—the protectors. Another station had beautiful crystal chandeliers, and yet another was literally an art museum.

Like all subways systems one must act quickly to get on and off the train. Trains run frequently, are inexpensive and easy to use.

Vodka is the national drink and lots and lots of it is consumed each day.

            Everyone in Russia referred to WW II as the Great Patriotic War.

This was a wonderful and most informative trip. My journal is thick and there are many more stories to come.

TULIPS

              The Netherlands in Springtime

 

            The tulip originally came from Asia and the Mediterranean. The word is said to come from

tuliban, meaning turban. The upside down turban-like flowers were cultivated for centuries in Persia before the first bulb arrived in Europe. The first bulbs sent to Europe were sent to Vienna, and the Crown Imperial tulip takes its name from the imperial gardens of  that city.

            The first tulips were long stemmed red cultivars and were illustrated in 1559. After 14 years at the Viennese Imperial Gardens, botanist, Clusius, moved to Leiden, Netherlands where he founded the first botanic garden (Hortus Academicus) to focus on ornamental plants rather than medicinal ones.

            He developed a private tulip collection from which he sold specimens for outrageous prices. Unwilling to pay the steep price, yet desirous of the plants, local gardeners broke into his gardens one night and stole many specimen tulips. It is from this that the now famous Dutch bulb industry developed.

            Today tulip bulbs are a major Dutch export product. About 93% of all bulbs in the word come from the Netherlands. 2700 growers cultivate 52,000 acres of bulbs, plus more than 23,000 acres of land are dedicated to greenhouse production. The industry employs 20,000 people. However, the average bulb farm is only 20 acres. Over 9 billion bulbs are produced annually, one third of which are tulips. Those three billion tulips, if planted four inches apart, would circle the globe at the equator seven times!

            Tulip mania occurred in the early 1600s. This sprang from the tendency of tulips to be infected with a virus, resulting in odd, yet often attractive colored streaking in the flowers. These broken tulips became prized, sought widely, and worth many guilders (money). This led to widespread trading and speculation until in 1637 when there was a sudden market collapse. Those lovely tulips are depicted in the art of Dutch masters and today tulips with streaking, but without any virus, are called Rembrandt tulips.

            Tulips adapt well to any soil type that is well drained. Tulips require cool spring temperatures to bloom at their best. Between September and December, tulip bulbs are planted in the ground at a depth equal to twice the bulbs' height.

            One must visit The Netherlands in mid springtime to see the absolutely gorgeous displays of tulips growing in fields creating huge pallets of vibrant color.