TRIVIA---5

Beehive Huts

On the Dingle peninsula in Ireland we stopped to visit some beehive huts. Made of stone in the shape of a beehive they date back to the 5-6^th centuries. They were in remarkably good condition and amazingly large inside.

Ice Breaker

Although we were in Russia in June, the ship ran into ice. The captain 


had to lay anchor while we waited for an ice breaker to arrive. We stood 


on deck watching huge chunks of ice float by as the ship followed the 


ice breaker to an alternate route and clear water. We missed a couple 


of scheduled ports of call, but the captain added a couple of different ones.

Foot Binding

In China we had a pleasant visit with a 90-year-old woman who had had her feet bound when she was five years old. The 1000-year-old custom of foot binding was outlawed in 1911, but was practiced in rural areas for some time longer. Foot binding started with concubines in the imperial court and spread to the city, then to rural areas. Tiny feet showed high class. The thinking was that wealthy women would have servants to address their needs. Bound feet made a woman less mobile and therefore under control of the male. Able to walk only short distances, she was unlikely to get into trouble. Curling the toes under, they eventually grew into the foot and were quite painful.

A Small House

Probably the biggest attraction in Ambleside, England is the bridge house, the country’s smallest house. The stone structure spans the river and is only a few feet wide. Originally built to store apples, the water running in the river below kept the structure cool.

Bridges

The 101 islands making up St. Petersburg, Russia, are connected by 380 bridges. Each bridge is different and range from a footbridge to the high palace draw bridge Many display a variety of statuary, towers, obelisks and grilled fences. The wrought iron designs and work are beautiful, and the variety is amazing. They are art themselves. The bridges are as interesting as the well known sites.

 Camel Train

It is a long overnight train ride from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the Australian outback. Once upon a time, camels made the 980 mile run so it acquired the nickname, camel train.

With modern technology, the camels have been replaced with a train called the Ghan train, after the original Afghanistan camels.

Much of the ride is over boring flat and desolate terrain, so it was good to make the trip at night. The train was comfortable. Each of us had a cabin to our self, so we enjoyed a bottom bunk, a real plus for seniors!

It was a smooth train ride and sure beat a long bus ride. The train left after the dinner hour and arrived early morning, so meals were before and after the trip.

Trolls

Trolls are to Norway what leprechauns are to Ireland. Norwegian trolls live in the mountains, and stories about them abound. Children grow up hearing troll stories, many of which teach a lesson.

Trolls are popular items in gift shops. Some are pretty ugly and others are rather cute. I couldn’t resist photographing several three-foot high ones outside of various establishments.

St. PETERSBURG,RUSSIA

                          A Lovely City Full of History

            The city, and Russia’s largest seaport, sprawls over 600 square kilometers and 101 separate islands. St. Petersburg, with its 70 canals and 300 bridges, is Russia’s loveliest city. Even though the city is the same latitude as Alaska, the Gulf Stream moderates its winter climate, which tends to be milder than that of Moscow.

            The population of 2 million enjoys 50 museums, 20 theaters and concert halls, 60 stadiums, and 4500 libraries. With 200 monuments and stunning palaces, typically of baroque and neoclassical styles, the city is a museum of architectural beauty. Nicholas I once remarked that St. Petersburg is Russian but is not Russia. Soft northern light twenty-four hours a day in summer contrasts with long foreboding winter nights. Our guide told us, “Once known as Leningrad  its citizens possess a peculiar kind of arrogance and Muscovites consider them snobbish.”

            Described as a city of water bridges and wrought iron railings, the city’s bridges range from a single foot bridge to the high elaborate decorative Palace Draw-Bridge. The bridges have a high degree of ornamentation with statues, towers, obelisks chains and grille rails everywhere. It is said that there are 90 miles of wrought iron railings in the city, often works of art in their own right. In 1932 the first permanent bridge replacing a pontoon bridge was built over the Neva River.

           In 1703 Peter the Great hiked the marshy-mosquito infected island in the Neva River delta. He decided the area was perfect for his future navy and cut two strips of soil, laid them in the shape of a cross declaring here would be his city. He forced Swedish prisoners and Russian destitutes to dredge the area, dig out a system of canals, and lay foundations for the initial structures. Then the czar compelled his subjects to inhabit the place.

            In his European metropolis his first concern was building a fortress. He also wanted to consolidate a major trade route from the Baltic Sea to Russia’s inland waterways. Despite the laborers carrying dirt in their shirts and dropping dead of malaria, scurvy, and starvation the first wooden structures of the new city were erected just five months after the ground breaking. The first structures of fortifications and a church formed the basis for the Peter and Paul Fortress.

In 1710 the imperial family moved to St. Petersburg. Two years later Peter declared St. Petersburg the capital of Russia. The aristocracy and merchant class were more horrified of moving to the uncivilized northern swamp than they were of the loss of power. However, given the choice of losing their heads or relocating, they reluctantly moved to the young city only to learn they were obliged to build large structures at their own expense. In addition 40,000 masons flocked to the city because stone buildings were forbidden to be built anywhere else.

Floods routinely plagued the island and wolves roamed free at night. In 1725 when Peter died, 100,000 people inhabited the city, and 90 percent of Russia’s trade moved through it. Except for Peter’s grandson, Peter II, who moved the imperial court to Moscow for a couple of years before his death from smallpox in 1730; future monarchs remained faithful to Peter’s dream.