The "lost" trip to Russia and more

We took a 16-day trip in a group of total 47 to Russia and Scandinavia countries from 8/1 to 8/16 in 2014. I won't write an essay about the trip because the similar subjects have been well written by others which can be viewed online. I only share my personnel experiences and lighthearted moments during the trip.

For this journey, losing things seem to dominate our entire journey so I call it:

The "lost" trip to Russia and beyond
俄國北歐「失落」之旅

Lost our tour guide: Two days before the trip, we were notified that our original tour guide won't make the trip due to the serious injury he suffered two months earlier. Fortunately, a very experienced veteran travel guide stepped in at the last minute to save the trip.

Lost two luggage from Hong Kong to Moscow: First day of the trip, two of the group members from Taiwan lost their luggage through Hong Kong. Fortunately, the luggage were safely delivered two days later.

Lost a camera: The third day, an expensive professional camera was stolen from our group at the hotel dining room in St Petersburg.

Lost 23 luggage, ouch: 
On the 7th day, 23 luggage out of a group of 47 were lost from St Petersburg to Copenhagen. It was a total chaos at Copenhagen airport since everyone was trying frantically to find his/her luggage. The only thing we could do was filling out missing luggage reports to the airport and hope for the best.

The airport was very compassionate and gave each of us an overnight care kit, consisted of a pair of long black socks, some personal hygiene items, such as tooth brush, tooth paste, brush, etc. Interestingly, the kit included a large undershirt but no underpants. 

I wonder if the locals do not wear underpants, prefer being butt naked and letting it all hang out. Or perhaps it would be more sanitized being naked down under than wearing the same underpants for days. I also noticed an extra large tube of deodorizing cream, not sure if that was a hint that the luggage might take a long long time to arrive. SIGH!

你們的行李找到了，還要點除臭劑嗎？

According to our guide, for her entire career, she encountered a few missing luggage, but this was the first time ever, 23 luggage were lost at one time.

Luckly, these luggage were located and delivered to the port before the ferry left. We were told that the ferry was actually delayed 30 minutes, never happened before, in order to accommodate the delivery of the luggage.

Lost two passports: Two days before the end of the trip, while checking into the hotel a thief managed to steal a backpack from a couple while they were chatting with other members at the lobby. Two US passports and some cashes were all gone. Fortunately, temporary passports were able to be issued by US Embassy the next day which was Friday, one day before returning home.

Beware of thief and pickpockets signs can be seen throughout Russia. 


Check out this video below and be prepared for the next trip:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=824653544226219&id=100000447438404

Moscow

One of the highlights of our trip was to visit Red Square in Moscow. At the square, I saw and touched St. Basil's Cathedral, it was awesome.

Do you recall seeing a picture which showed big shots of Soviet Union stood on top of Lenin's Mausoleum viewing the parade and acknowledging the crowds below?

Photo downloaded from the web

I think this photo was carefully cropped in order to make the viewing stand appeared to be much grandeur when comparing it to the current picture which I took below:

I walked on the square which was crowded with tourists; it appeared small and less intimating than it was in Cold War days.

A little past: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and officials review a parade of Soviet troops in Red Square

The next day we visited  Kremlin.  

Photo downloaded from the web

We walked pass a non descriptive big office building and the local guide said Russian President Putin works there.

Photo downloaded from the web

I was not able to see or grasp the size of the entire complex and would not able to compare it with our White House but was told that Putin does not live in the building where he works. I dare not to peek through the entry and see if Putin really was working there. When I returned home, I found the site plan of Kremlin:

Photo downloaded from the web

From what I saw in about an hour or so, Kremlin was not as mystery and scary as I thought it would before the trip.  For more about Kremlin, please visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Kremlin

St Petersburg

Russian Empire Catherine Palace

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Palace

Photo downloaded from the web

 Peterhof Palace garden

Photo downloaded from the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterhof_Palace

It's not fair, being a drought stricken Californian like me, to see so much water are being "wasted". Maybe soon it would be cheaper to travel to St Petersbug for a hearty shower without feeling guilty.

加州缺水，能將這裏噴泉改成澡堂，多理想呀！

I find it'd be impossible to learn the Russian history in five days, but I have found this hour long clip, Engineering an Empire: Russia, to be extremely helpful.



American Invasion

I saw American culture everywhere in both Russia and Scandinavia countries which we visited during the trip. We saw a McDonald, I forgot to get a menu to see how they would call Big Mac or Quarter Pounders' equivalent in metric, we dined at a Hard Rock Cafe 

and saw all the same decor and displays as if we were still in the US. The hostess looked like an American teenager and happily posted for a picture.

We stopped at a busy section of Karstad, Sweden for lunch and saw many US fast food joints, such as McDonald, Burger King, and Subway and on and on. Not sure if Walt Mart was hiding somewhere. When I turn around I saw a roll of Tesla super charging stations all eight of them.

Boarder crossing at a Tax Refund building between Sweden and Norway along route E18. The unassuming building looked more like a gas station convenience store. I did not see gates, tall fences, barbwire, concrete walls and check points, guards with Uzi or Ak47 or Storm Troopers. No immigration offices, people come and go as they please. What about illegals aliens, drug smugglers, terrorists and what about Homeland Security? NAAAH, not a problem, unless you are an America, SIGH!


While members of the group were filing tax refunds for big purchases, people could use the free public restrooms, yes there were free to do business here unlike many rest rooms in Russia which you would have to pay in order to deposit your DNA.
 When I approached the rest room, or they are called toilets outside of US. I noticed this sign:

Yes, Europeans are very compassionate and thoughtful toward to all kinds of people.
這是給沒頭沒腦人尃用的.

Gustav Vigeland park, Norway

Yes, we saw the famous Angry Boy sculpture. Do you know why he is so angry?  

鴿子又在你頭上撒野啦, 當然生氣，憤怒啦

Little Mermaid of Copenhagen

Do you know the Mermaid is 101 years old?

Still watching a naked old women? You are sick!

Her life hadn't been all that easy; she was beheaded twice, right arm was cut off, her body was blown off, etc., but she recovered and still looked beautiful. For continued reading, please visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_%28statue%29 

 

R.I.P. Robin Williams (1951-2014)

During our trip somewhere in Norway, I heard the sad news about my favorite comedian Robin Williams on Aug, 11, 2014.

赫爾辛基尿尿小童

Last day of the trip, we had some free time before catching the flights in Helsinki so we did some sightseeing. We saw this gigantic stupid sculpture at the river front.

I did a little search after the trip and below is the excerpt from an article:

Tommi Toija is better known for his gigantic sculpture of a boy peeing in the river flowing through Örebro, Sweden, called BadBad Boy. What we normally see from this artist are smaller, clay works of little unsmiling boys doing everyday things like throwing tantrums, standing on the sidelines, holding onto balloons. His intriguing works are at the Amos Anderson Museum as part of the Helsinki Festival.http://www.helsinkithisweek.com/articles/cultivating-culture

我建議換隻尿尿狗狗比較恰當

From my point of view, the sculpture should be considered as a decorative item for backyard gardens but not for public places. If I had my way, I would replace it with my own design which I think is more elegant, WOOF!






















The trip was not just about the lost, I also found Mr. Know-it-all.

I encountered Mr. Know-it-all in our group twice; one was at on the first day of the trip at JFK airport where all members met for the first time. Not even aware that he was standing next to us, he immediately start interrogating then scolding us for giving in to the airline agent's request by removing the jackets from the passports. He chew us out that it was a no no and demonstrated how tough he would deal with the airport personnel. What a nonsense and very rude. Apparently he tried to establish his superiority by making us feel so insignificant, small and worthless. Since then I would try to maintain a safe distance from him and ignore his unsolicited advices to all of us. Unfortunately the last unpleasant encounter was when we crossed path at the Stockholm Town Hall tour and he rudely barked "SHHH" at me and another member of the group for behaviors which might not have met his approval.

Oh well, I had not been treated like a child for a long long time so actually it's a blessing and refreshing that he made me feel sooooo young again, Thank you Mr. Know-it-all.

你，不夠格

萬事通先生

在我們旅程的苐一天，各地來的團員在紐約甘乃迪機場集合，大家都還不認識，就來了位仁兄指著我們護照，審問為何將䕶照從封套拿出了？他不滿意我們的回答，很嚴厲的指責說我們應該堅持要求櫃檯人員自己將護照套拿出來等等， 我們驚呆了，哇噻，居然這老中有種，敢向權威硬槓，佩服呀，我們自比不如，所以從那時起就對這位漢子敬而遠之，

遊途中他經常自動熱心給大家指導，顯然他博學淵源，無所不知，尊称萬事通先生不為过. 团員中也有人讚賞他的言行，很敬佩的說從來沒見过這麼衝的人，

下一次有幸承蒙萬事通先生的指奌是在参覌斯德哥爾摩市政廳，他居然对我和另一团員很粗魯的嘘了一記，顯然他又不屑我们的言行了，我非常慚愧，居然不當心又惹了他.  

說真的，現在年紀一大把，还有人對我像孩子般的的苛責，讓我感觉有再年轻，又回到快樂童年時光. 多谢您，萬事通先生.

世界有很多傲慢和自大的人， 認為自己是最聰明的，什麼都知道，除了他們以外都是笨蛋.  有幸遇到這種人，可以參考以下方式來對付：


How to Deal With a Know-It-All | eHow http://www.ehow.com/how_2107585_deal-knowitall.html

Fortunately, losing things are painful but none of us have lost their minds and we all returned home safely and happily. It was a good trip. 

Let's all be better prepared for the next trip:

 

http://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20140825003783-260408 

Back to the US, let's celebrate the Labor Day on September 1, 2014

什麼粗活都是咱們做，人類居然有臉慶祝勞工節.
Published on Orinda News, http://orindaassociation.org/online-edition/