Sigulda New Castle, Sigulda , Latvia

The manor center began to develop in the fore-castle area of Sigulda Medieval Castle during the 17th century. There are still a few remaining 18th and 19th century buildings built during the ownership of the Von Borghs and Kropotkins in neo-gothic style by Jānis Mengelis from Cēsis.

During WW1 this building was destroyed. In 1922, following the agrarian reforms, New Castle became the Writers’ Castle because it was used by the Latvian Union of Writers and Journalists. The building was in unusable condition after the war so the Union had to invest a large amount of money for restoration. In the 1920’s and 30’s, full room and board was offered to writers and literary types as well as other visitors. The themes of farming, woodworking, and craftsmanship abound.

In 1934 the castle was acquired by the Latvian Press Society. From 1936 to 1937, major reconstruction work was done under the leadership of architect August Birkhans. Building plans were completely re-drawn. The overlook tower was heightened, the terrace around the building was expanded and a new balcony was added to the second floor. Inside, a new modern–age interior design was installed. It became the most notable example of national modern design in the Baltic region. Many famous artists of that time such as Niklāvs Strunke, Pēteris Ozoliņš, Kārlis Sūniņš, and Vilhelms Vasariņš took a part in creating it. Pictures of the castle were found in French art magazines as the press at the time would report. The Writers Castle became a popular visitor's destination after the renovation. It is still a place where new artists are featured and nurtured.

Consent by Vanessa Springora

There are quite a few layers of shocking and horrible events in this compact memoir of a woman who was stalked and seduced as a 13 year old by an author of some renown who was more than three times her age at the time. I read it because it was one of several books that an article I read in The Economist recommended as a way to understand modern France. The first thing that is a bit shocking is that young girls are not better protected from predators in France. The age of consent is 15 years old, which this girl was younger than, but it does seem fairly tilted in favor older and much older men taking advantage. Then there is the response to the author himself. In 1990 Gabriel Matzneff is a guest on Bernard Pivot’s influential literary TV chat show Apostrophes to discuss his recently published memoir, about his sexual conquests of very young women. The only person present to take exception to Matzneff’s comments is the Canadian novelist Denise Bombardier, and she is then mocked left and right in the press and a few days later the writer and critic Philippe Sollers calls her a bitch on television. Then comes this, a very explicit and detailed account of Matzneff's largely sexual relationship with a girl, and the gradual dawning that she undergoes as a teenager, and then as a more seasoned adult of what exactly happened, and how it was not just tolerated but accepted, as well as being widely known. She touches upon his abuse of much younger, pre-pubescent boys as well. Even in the wake of the #MeToo and what we have come to know were common practices of powerful men sexually exploiting women, this is still hard to read.

Sigulda Medeival Castle, Sigulda, Latvia

The Livonian Order Castle of Sigulda was built in 1207 as a castella type castle, however, it was later rebuilt into a convent type building. The Livonian Order were known as “warrior monks”, German crusaders who had travelled to the Baltic region to fight and Christianise the local pagans.

It was from this castle that these crusaders controlled the entire Gauja Valley. This made Sigulda Castle a pivotal regional stronghold for centuries under the control of the Order. After the region got caught up in the war between Sweden and Poland in the 17th century, this castle sustained damage and quickly lost its significance.

We spent the night in Siguldaa in order to be able to visit this and other castles in the area, and I would recommend it. We had a very nice evening meal, rented an apartment that had a washer and dryer (always nice mid trip to get everything clean once again), and was nice to walk around in. If you are going to do something beyyond Riga in Latvia, and are not thinking a beautiful outdoor place, this should be considered.

The Wall by John Lanchester

The book is set in Britain in the not-too-distant dystopian future. There is no more freedom of movement, or freedoms of any sort. Ever since a climatic event known as the Change, movement between countries is outlawed. There isn’t a single beach left anywhere in the world. Britain’s coastline has been obliterated by a National Coastal Defense Structure, known to everyone who serves on it as the Wall. It is the embodiment of what Trump saw as his legacy along the US southern border, but extrapolated throughout what is left of humankind. Every British youngster is conscripted to spend two years of their life as a Defender, patrolling 10,000km of concrete walkways looking for Others who might appear at any moment from the sea. Life on the Wall is cold. It is boring. It is utterly grim. Kavanaugh, our hero, is a rookie Defender from the Midlands who manages to find countless amusing ways to describe his dark, unforgiving stretch of the Wall in north Devon. Then he, along with his breeding companion, are exiled, cast out to fend for themselves. The story is an amalgamation of anxieties about rising sea levels, anti-refugee populism, and post-Brexit isolation and scarcity, mixed with insight, and leaving you with something to think about.

The Alpinist (2021)

This documentary is about an extraordinary climber, Marc-André Leclerc. His mother describes him as a kid who struggled in school, and didn't even much want to live indoors. In the mountains he is in his element, and on the mountains he is impossibly talented. The jaw-dropping ascents accomplished by this prodigious mountaineer are the work of a skilled athlete and a master technician. At such dizzying heights, to be anything less would undoubtedly prove fatal. The film is directed by Peter Mortimer and Nick Rosen, both 20-year climbing veterans themselves, and the movie is most electrifying in how it documents Leclerc’s preternatural calm, even as he free-solos some of the most hazardous mixed-climbing routes imaginable. Up high, where the rest of us would lose our nerve, this young man often appears to be dancing. However impossibly, Leclerc seems in scenes like these to belong to the mountains he climbs, traversing their granitic spires and glistening ice columns with intuitive grace. Each crevice, each invisible edge, reveals itself under his touch, and it’s breathtaking to observe his procession across such steep faces. Climbers often talk about a zen-like state of “flow,” in which one’s body and mind are in perfect alignment and at which point one’s skills are ideally matched to the challenge ahead. Leclerc doesn’t just live in this flow state; it’s his higher power, and he withdraws to it as a disciple to the divinity, or perhaps a moth to the flame. The commentary is delivered by veteran aplinists past and present, and all in all, I would highly recommend this window into the sport and what drives the people who do it.

Mi Cocina by Rick Martinez

When I read this cookbook I did not know the origin story of why this chef and food writer had enough time on his hands to spend a year traveling through Mexico, collecting the very best food that each region has to offer. He was a senior food editor at Bon Appetit and rumor has it that he asked for equitable pay and treatment, and when that didn't go his way, he hit the road--literally--and this book is the result. Several things to say about this book. One is that the recipes are well written, spectacular, and easy to follow. He has included the measurements of all the ingredients by both volume and weight, making everyone happy. And, as he correctly points out, "one Jalapeno" can be vastly different in both size and weight, and since there is heat invcolved, precision is at least a helpful start. He also is a proponent of add some, taste, and adjust. You cannot take it out but you can add it. The book is organized by regions, which I love because that is also how I think about Mexico, but it may not suit everyone. In my mind, a regional cookbook is meant to teach you something that you might not know about a place or a cuisine, but it is possible not everyone agrees and the organization might seem a hindrance. Finally, there are vibrant pictures, lots of stories, and what the food looks like is pictured throughout. All of which I loved. This book is well worth reading as well as cooking out of!

Tacos Gobernador

This comes from Rick Martinez's new cookbook Mi Cocina, which is a food tour through regions of Mexico. His enthusiasm for the recipes he chose for the book is infectious, and I was very happy that I used my shrimp for this. A wildly popular weeknight dinner when paired with a simple salad. 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound (453 grams) large shrimp, peeled, deveined, and tails removed 3 tablespoons (42 grams) unsalted butter 1/2 medium white onion (154 grams), thinly sliced 1 medium chile poblano (125 grams), stemmed, seeded, and thinly sliced into strips 1 medium celery stalk (49 grams), thinly sliced crosswise on the diagonal 1 medium chile serrano (24 grams), stemmed and thinly sliced into rings 2 garlic cloves, finely grated 1 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican 3/4 teaspoon (4 grams) Morton kosher salt, plus more to taste 1/2 teaspoon crushed or ground coriander seeds 8 flour tortillas 6 ounces (170 grams) queso asadero, quesillo, or Monterey Jack cheese, grated In a large skillet over high, heat the oil. Arrange the shrimp in an even layer in the skillet and cook, turning once, until just starting to brown, for about 1 minute per side. Transfer to a medium bowl and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium and melt the butter. Cook the onion, chile poblano, celery, chile serrano, garlic, oregano, salt, and coriander, tossing occasionally, until the onion and chile poblano are beginning to brown, for 6 to 8 minutes. Add the tomato and cook, tossing occasionally and scraping up any browned bits, until the tomato begins to break down, for about 5 minutes more. Transfer to the bowl with the shrimp and toss to combine. Taste and season with salt. Wipe the skillet clean with a paper towel. Working with 2 or more tortillas at a time (if you can fit 2 tortillas in your skillet), cook the tortillas until lightly toasted on one side, for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and add a small mound of cheese in the center of the toasted side. Top with some of the shrimp filling and fold over like a taco. Cook the untoasted side until the cheese is beginning to melt and the tortilla is lightly toasted, for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip to toast the second half. Continue with the remaining tortillas, cheese, and shrimp.

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington

This is yet another book about what happened throughout Eastern Europe when the Nazis descended on them, but told from a slightly different angle, which is how to use a valuable skill in limited supply to survive an otherwise unsurvivable situation. This is the strange story of a group of women who sewed to survive. Fashion-conscious Hedwig Hoss, wife of Auschwitz comandante Rudolph Hoss, put together a salon made up of Auschwitz prisoners to make her fashionable clothing. Up to 25 seamstresses eventually worked in the Upper Tailoring Studio to make clothes not only for Hedwig but also for the wives of Hermann Goering and other Nazi leaders. There were no labels on the clothes that the women sewed, but the clients were well aware that they were made by the very people their husbands were trying to eradicate. The author, a clothes historian, does not sugar coat the brutality and cruelty of all people who conspired to and benefited from the Nazi focus on genocide, but also highlights how talented these women were, and how they managed.

Cēsis Castle, Latvia

We began our Latvian exploration with a series of semi-ruined castles—-this trip was without offspring, but my kids could all pass on buildings with curtains (ie. roofed dwellings), but a good ruin can occupy them happily. I myself love both but a ruin is always fun. The first up was the Cēsis Medieval castle, starting about 800 years ago and around which in the 13th century a town was built. Over the centuries the castle shared its destiny with the city of Cēsis in battles with Russian, Polish and Swedish troops.

Repeatedly rebuilt and expanded the castle got its present architectural appearance at the beginning of the 16th century. Special note to those of you of our generation. This is the master bedroom (I think the terminology is apt in this case) which has an attached latrine. This castle did not allow much clambering over the ruins, but were otherwise stellar. Added plus--there is a generous discount for seniors in the Baltics! Bad news is that none of it is the least bit handicapped accessible.

Groundskeeping by Lee Cole

This is a coming of age story set in Kentucky, which is where the first time author's home is. There is an unusually broad spectrum of people represented for this sort of book. The wide-angle perspective may owe something to the fact that the main character, slightly older is slightly older and has a lot of experiential miles behind him. Owen is 28, a University of Kentucky graduate from a blue-collar background recently emerged from a period of drug abuse, unemployment and homelessness to reluctantly move into the basement of his grandfather’s falling down house in Louisville. He’s taken a groundskeeping job at nearby Ashby College so he can take a writing workshop; employees are allowed one free class, but he and one other employee are the only ones there for that. There he meets and becomes involved with a Muslim woman who was born in Yugoslavia in what is now Bosnia. Despite them having a meeting of the mind (and body) the cultural gap between them is great, something they discover and confront as they meet each other's families. This is a well played story that shines a mirror on the mix of people that make up millennials.

JOYCE, Tartu, Estonia

We had lunch at this Michelin noted restaurant which is attached to a hotel. We ordered mostly sea food, as we are enjoying being in a small country with a lot of coastline, and we were not disappointed. Almost every place we ate the whole time we were in the Baltics there is a fish tartar or ceviche that is delicious and this was no exception.

The highlight for me was these small donuts that were stuffed with a lemony crab salad and topped with some roe. The abundance of fish eggs is another constant in this region, and quite an enjoyable one as well. I would definitely recommend this if in Tartu, but would not seek it out if far away. The food in the region was consistently good and no need to go out of your way to eat well.

Monkey Boy by Francis Goldman

The genre of what is termed auto-fiction--which is essentially fictionalizing your memoir, is one that I am not hugely fond of, but does seem to be all the rage. There is quite a bit of the underbelly of American style racism and discrimination, mixed with what have been a slightly annoying kid that makes the book interesting as a commentary of the author's experience. The year is 2007 and 49-year-old Francisco (a.k.a. Frank or Frankie Gee), just off a dangerous stint doing investigative journalism in Mexico City, is on his way from New York City to Boston to visit his Mamita in a nursing home. That’s the plot. But the literal train ride is mostly a pretext for the train of thought Frank conducts along the way, with stopovers at key points in his past, reflections on recent political history and speculations about his romantic prospects. While hoping to coax some old secrets out of his memory-challenged mother — about her ancestry, her girlhood, her long, unhappy marriage to his father — Frank (both the man and the author) is clearly trying to make sense of his own experience.

Tartu Cathedral, Tartu, Estonia

Taru was our last Estonia destination. In planning the trip, I wanted to visit because it is not only the second largest city in Estonia, but also the intellectual center, with Tartu University being located here. In retrospect, it might have been more reasonable to choose a national park or a place of natural beauty, but this ruin of Tartu Cathedral, located on the beautiful Toome Hill on the Tartu University campus, is well worth seeing. It is huge and the only mediaeval church with two spires in Estonia. The construction of the church started in the 13th century and the church was fully completed in the beginning of the 16th century.

Devastated during the Livonia War (1558 - 1583), it was left in a state of ruin and in the 1760s, the high twin towers of the church were demolished. As part of the reconstruction of the University of Tartu in 1804-1807, rooms of the university library were built in the cathedral choir. After the completion of the new university library building in 1981, the University of Tartu Museum moved in. The ruins of the Tartu Cathedral are one of the most prominent examples of brick-Gothic buildings in Old Livonia. Really lovely.

Shrimp Fried Rice

I most often make shrimp with pasta, but because my youngest son has declared 2022 to be the year that we stir fry more, our every other week shrimp dish was this one, and it was excellent. Do not skip the Yum Yum Sauce--it is easy to throw together and greater than the sum of it's parts. ¼ cup olive oil, plus more as needed 1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp, thawed if frozen Salt ½ teaspoon garlic powder 1 medium onion, diced 1 ½ cups frozen mixed vegetables (any mix of carrots, peas, corn and green beans) 6 cups cooked jasmine or other long-grain white rice, preferably cold and day-old ¼ cup soy sauce, or to taste 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 4 large eggs Heat a very large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over high. Add the olive oil and shrimp, and sprinkle with salt and the garlic powder. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp is no longer translucent and begins to turn golden at the edges, 2 to 4 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer the shrimp to a plate and set aside. Add the onion and mixed vegetables to the shrimpy oil and cook, stirring occasionally, just until the onion loses its raw edge but is still crunchy, and the vegetables are mostly thawed, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the rice and soy sauce and cook, stirring occasionally, until well combined and the rice begins to crisp underneath where it meets the pan, 5 to 7 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning with more soy sauce as needed. Scooch the rice to one side of the pan, lower the heat to medium and melt the butter on the empty side of the pan. Crack the eggs into the melted butter, break the yolks and stir vigorously to scramble the eggs, cooking just until they have set but are still tender, about 1 minute. Stir the soft scrambled eggs into the rice, add the reserved shrimp and any accumulated juices, then remove the pan from the heat. Let the fried rice sit for a few minutes so that it can continue to crisp in the pan’s residual heat. (If you haven’t already made the yum yum sauce, this is the perfect time to do it.) Drizzle most of the yum yum sauce over the fried rice in the skillet, leaving some back, if desired, to serve in a small dish on the side for dipping the shrimp. Yum Yum Sauce 1 teaspoon garlic powder ½ teaspoon sweet paprika 1 tablespoon warm water ½ cup mayonnaise ¼ cup ketchup 2 teaspoons rice vinegar 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil In a medium bowl, stir together the garlic powder, paprika and warm water. Add the mayonnaise, ketchup, rice vinegar and sesame oil, and season generously with salt. Stir until smooth.

Central Market, Tallinn, Estonia

There are several things that we love to do when we travel that we do pretty much every time we go to a new place, and one of those is visit the market. First, we need to have a little bit of food on hand, and a regular supermarket is a good way to not only pick up some food but also to see what is on offer. On our first day in Tallinn, unenergetic and sleep deprived as we were, we managed to go into a little neighborhood market, kind of like a 7-11 sized place, but the fragrant smell of ripe fruit greeted us when we opened the door, and we got some cheese, fruit, and charcuterie that was both delicious and reasonably priced. A very good sign for the quality of food in Estonia!

We love to go to big central markets, with lots of vendors and food on display, and Tallinn has an excellent one. It is located in a very uncharming neighborhood just south of Vanlinn (old town) and it did not disappoint. In particular, the fish and seafood are amazing to behold. The roe that we had almost everyday was so delicious, and just look at the woman scooping it out of big bins into slightly smaller ones! It is plentiful as well!

America On Fire by Elizabeth Hinton

This book is all about looking back on the police who murdered George Floyd triggering the wide spread Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020 and seeing it as not so much a culmination of police murders of black people recently, but as part of police incited violence in black communities going back to the 1960's. History has been told by the victors, or in this case, by the state and federal government who both protect and fund the police. This narrative sets that perspective upside down, and does so convincingly. For most of U.S. history, the conventional narrative has had law enforcement authorities responding to widespread community violence, necessitating the so-called war on crime. This framing has provided advance justification for the use of force by police and set the conditions for a political economy that supplants reasoned governance with empty sloganeering. Slogans like “law and order” act as a talisman that has served to immunize police from accountability and politicians from their failure to address the myriad social problems that disproportionately affect citizens of color. The reality, the author contends, is that Black communities have for decades responded to police violence with acts of rebellion. The follow up to the protests, largely peaceful, is not a happy story either, with the funding of police forces to community services at a rate of 10:1 and no publicized efforts to rid police forces of white supremacists. So the fight continues.

Kalamaja, Tallinn, Estonia

We stayed in the Kalamaja neighborhood in Tallinn. I really loved the location, an easy walk to the old city, but easy to drive around, a neighborhood grocery store where we bought some cheese, fruit, and charcuterie that smelled like a farmer's market, the fruit was so ready to eat, and a lot of bus stops for using local transport to get to further flung places.

It is a wooden architecture district situated between the fortified Old Town and the sea. It is one of the oldest suburbs of Tallinn and a hundred years ago was populated mostly by fishermen, harbor workers, and craftsmen. When Tallinn was connected to Saint Petersburg by rail in 1870 and the nearby central railway station (Baltic Station) was built, the area changed immensely. The industrial revolution and factories needed workers, so extensive apartment buildings were erected in the end of the 19th century. Much of the housing stock was built between 1890 and 1940, mostly apartment buildings in timber and brick.

During the Soviet occupation, Kalamaja was seen as a somewhat run-down, undesirable address – the communist utopia favoured large apartment blocks in the new districts, such as Mustamäe, instead – but during the last decade, the area became ultra-trendy and is now locally known as “hipsterville” of Tallinn. I am sure I would find this a real pain to maintain, but I find it absolutely charming to behold. Here are a few examples!

The Duke (2022)

This movie was perhaps a little too cerebral to watch on a trans-Atlantic flight, but in the end I did enjoy it. The movie is based on a true and slightly odd art caper: the 1961 theft from the National Gallery of a Goya portrait, painted around 1812, of the Duke of Wellington. Jim Broadbent, who is always enjoyable to watch, plays Kempton Bunton, an enlightened working man in Newcastle on Tyme whose detailed and fervent beliefs concerning the rights of the lower classes and the elderly consistently get him fired from whatever job he manages to procure. We see him progress from a cab driver, to pushing loaves about at a bread factory, all the while petitioning for the BBC fee be waived for all viewers. He’s always in trouble, and his much suffering wife, a surprisingly dowdy Helen Mirren, is always both disappointed and exasperated by him. They have a shared loss of their teenaged daughter, which plays a pivotal role in how the whole thing ends up, and it is a quiet movie well worth watching.

Kadriorg Palace, Tallinn, Estonia

Kadriorg Palace, or “Catherine's Valley,” was commissioned by Peter the Great of Russia for his second wife, Catherine I, and while less opulent than their St. Petersburg digs, there is a strong resemblance to them. Surrounded by acres of wooded parkland with an ornamental lake, formal gardens, and several museums, the complex sits on the edge of Kesklinn district of Tallinn. The palace, designed by famed Italian architect Nicola Michetti, is an exquisite example of Petrine Baroque architecture, which flourished in St. Petersburg in the 17th and 18th centuries. As it seems that a trip to Russia is not going to be possible in the short run, this will give a sense of the oppulence and wealth that Peter the Great commanded.

The art that is housed here pales in comparison to the building itself. The Great Hall at Kadriorg is pristine white, with light streaming in through its many windows and an exuberance of stucco ornamentation. Stylized monograms of Peter and Catherine are crafted on opposite walls above the highly ornate fireplaces. The ceiling has a beautiful mural, depicting a scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The goddess Diana is seen bathing in a celestial spring along with her nymphs, while an enraptured Actaeon watches, as yet unnoticed. Peter died before the palace was complete, and the Baltics became less popular once the Russians had captured Crimea, and there was a Black Sea option open to Russians. Sound familiar?

Death on the Nile (2022)

I have to say that I continue to be disappointed by Kenneth Branagh's adaption of the classic Agatha Christie character Hercule Poirot. The reason is two-fold. First, his depiction of Henning Mankell's Wallander is so pitch perfect. He clearly got inside the character's head and did a beautiful job in the setting and staging of the series. Secondly, he can make an excellent film--his retelling of his childhood in Belfast in the movie of the same name is just beautiful. So what goes wrong here? There are excellent actors here--Gal Gadot, Annette Benning, Arnie Hammer, and Branagh himself, but everyone comes off in a wooden and unnatural way from start to finish, much in the same way that Murder on the Orient Express felt. The reason I liked this better is because I loved my trip to Egypt and some of the iconic places we visited are depicted, and the memories are strong and pleasant for me. It is also a one and done place for me, and so lovely to be able to revisit it in another way, but as a murder mystery it falls flat, and is probably worse even if you are not a fan of the genre.

Kuma Museum, Tallinn, Estonia

The aim of the Kumu Art Museum, opened in 2006, is to preserve and interpret Estonian art from the 18th century to the present day. It is a stunning building, and accessible on public transportation, and should not be missed. There is no place else to quickly immerse yourself in the the history of Estonian art. There is an interesting introductory film (in English with Estonian subtitles) that describes the diaspora of Estonians post-WWII and the influences both within Estonia and from abroad. Kumu views its role as being an initiator of a social and cultural debate in connection with both expositions of art history and events in the Gallery of Contemporary Art, which is the funkiest floor of the museaum.

There is an interesting interplay in the works on display between oppression and freedom. It is helpful to do a quick run through of Estonian history and keep the time line in mind when viewing the art and when it was made. Besides preservation, important tasks of the museum include displaying the works of art in its collections to initiate debates on their meaning and to shape various interpretative environments. In the fifteen years before Kumu was opened, people did not have constant access to the classics of Estonian art and the permanent display of Soviet art only became possible once Kumu opened. The expositions speak to different audiences: to the well-versed and the relatively unknowing, the old and the young, local and foreign visitors, schoolchildren and to their teachers, art lovers and art experts.

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

The novelist's first novel and this one are set in similar circumstances, slightly set apart by time but the elements of poverty, alcoholism, and parenting that is either absent or cruel. Shuggie was a boy and Mungo is a teen, but they could have been living on the same street there are so many overlaps. That does not in any way detract from the genius of the author's story telling and his ability to bring difficult things to the reader's attention. Mungo Hamilton is the youngest of three children. The family lives on a Glasgow scheme rife with sectarian violence. Mungo's people are Protestants, with the oldest brother, Hamish, the leader of a gang of teenagers who rob and intimidate the local Catholics. Jodie, Mungo’s sister, is a bright and ambitious young woman in a miserable and manipulative relationship with a teacher at school. Mungo is awkward, handsome, and sensitive. With their father long dead, all children live in the shadow of their mother, Mo-Maw, an alcoholic with the same mixture of charm, compassion and cruelty. Horrible things happen, and Mungo survives the best he can. Do not miss this, especially if you loved Shuggie Bain.

Lore Bistro, Tallinn, Estonia

This is another bib gourmande restaurant in Tallinn, and the location couldn't be nicer, right on the pier. The interior has warehouse height ceilings, big and airy, and if the weather is nice you can eat on the patio. I was a bit leary of that option, but was happily surprised that the food came out at the appropriate temperature, and it was overall quite enjoyable. The down side is that the service was just so so.

The chef, Janno Lepik, was awarded the Michelin Young Chef award, which highlights those up and coming chefs with outstanding food preparation quality. We tried a variety of things on the menu, mostly coming out of the water rather than from the land--the trout pictured is one such example--and all of it was well prepared and delicious.

Marry Me (2022)

I watched this on a trans-Atlantic flight, which is a setting where one is willing to forgive a lot, and probably you whouldn't watch a cinematic masterpiece when you are fluying in coach and your screen is smaller that the one on an iPad. So a predictrable romantic comedy is going to fare better with me as an audience in this setting than in any other. That said, I did enjoy this. It is completely predcitable, and very sweet. Think Notting Hill but the drop dead gorgeous and very rich woman is a pop singer, played by Jennifer Lopez and the bumbling but very decent guy who is way out of her league but believably cute and nice is played by Owen Wilson, who can do a character like this in his sleep. He makes you think he isn't even acting he has played this kind of guy so often. I had just spent two week in the Baltics, three countries that have a million things going for them, and an expansionist Russia to fear, and an uncomplicated movie where the decent guy has a shot at real happiness was well received.

Estonian Maritime Museum, Tallinn, Estonia

There are two sites for this museum, which chronicals the history of the relationship that Estonia has with the sea. The avowed mission of the Estonian Maritime Museum is to be the institution for collecting, preserving, studying and presenting Estonian maritime culture and history, and to promote knowledge about, respect for and love of the sea. I really liked this site, which has both models of boats going back to the time of the Hanseatic League, and one actual relic. The Museum was founded in Tallinn on the initiative of former captains and sailors in 1935. During its long history, the museum has moved on a number of occasions and since 1981, its main exhibition is located in the 500-year-old Fat Margaret tower in Tallinn Old Town. Don't miss the roof terrace, which offers food and drinks as well as a splendid view of the passenger harbour, the city centre and rooftops of the Old Town.

The Seaplane Harbour, including the Seaplane Hangar, was built to become part of Peter the Great’s naval fortress 100 years ago on orders from the Russian emperor Nicholas II. The architecture of the Hangar is remarkable, featuring the world’s first columnless thin-shell concrete domes of such volume. The building was used for seaplanes until the Second World War It is a hanger-sized museum where you can walk around the floor on on a catwalk abovce looking down. It accommodates the Lembit submarine, built in 1937 by the British Vickers–Armstrongs shipyard; a Short 184 seaplane; the Maasilinn ship (i.e. the oldest sunken ship discovered in Estonia’s waters); and numerous other genuine items, like sail ships, boats and naval mines.

There are also an exhibit about the German invasion of Estonia in August of 1941, which was an unmitigated disaster on a far larger scale than Dunkirk. The Soviets held Estonia as part of their secret pact with the Germans until then, and were forced into a hasty evacuation of Tallinn. They did succeed in evacuating 165 ships, 28,000 passengers and 66,000 tons of equipment, but at least 12,400 are thought to have drowned in circumstances little known outside the former Soviet Union. The event was long downplayed by the Stalinist regime after the war and as with many things we experienced in the Batic countries, there is an effort to expose Russian atrocities that occurred there. The evacuation wasn the bloodiest naval disaster of the war.

A Burning by Megha Majumdar

This is a sad and frightening takedown of the notion of the Indian Dream—the promise of social mobility, if not riches, in one of the world’s most class- and caste-bound societies—peddled by the current government as possible, this novel diabuses one of that notion. Jivan is born poor and Muslim and with the exception of winning a lottery to get an education, she has nothing going for her in a country that is increasingly nationalistic on top of everything else. She is falsely accused of committing an act of terrorism and she is jailed. Jivan naively details her innocence to the press in the hope that she will get a fair hearing, but it all goes horribly wrong. Every aspect of the Indian system betrays her: the police, social services, real estate agents, doctors, and more. It is a jarring story, well told, and I read it while the January 6th hearings in the United States have been revealing how the entire Republican Party supported and protected a leader hell bent on dictatorship. None of us is altogether safe it turns out.

Siuru Literary Movement, Tallinn, Estonia

Siuru, named after a fire-bird in Finnic mythology, started here, in this bookstore in Vanlinn, or Old Town Tallinn. It was a literary group of the utmost importance in Estonia’s cultural context, founded in May 1917. It was the second-to-last year of World War I, bringing pivotal events that included the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and Estonia achieving extensive autonomy from the Russian Empire: a hint of freedom was in the air. Political exiles of the 1905 Russian Revolution were allowed to return home. According to the plaque outside, it was a neoiromantic and expressionist movement that also had an affinity for futurism and impressionism. In a country that had been jockeyed about since before the times of the Hanseatic League, Siuru philosophy stressed the freedom of the human spirit. The group had mottoes that included Carpe Diem! and May The Joy Of Creation Be Our Only Moving Force! Its symbol was the white chrysanthemum. A major result of the group's activities was popularizing literature among the Estonian population, which led to the development of original Estonian literature in the youg republic. The movement was short-lived, but the members rose to be major figures in 20th century Estonian literature. Those who write tell the story. This period of freedom between the World Wars was a template for independence when the Soviet Union crumbled in the late 20th centry.

The Freedom of Privacy

I came of age in what was apparently a golden age of women being near equal citizens to men in the United States. The Supreme Court, illigitimately composed by the GOP voted to overturn Roe vs. Wade, saying that it was a 50 year long mistake that needed rectifying by a majority that includes a rapist, a sexual harrassing misogynist who's wife should be prosecuted for plotting the overthrow of the government, liars all at their confirmation hearings. It is gauling and appalling that my granddaughter's face more restrictions than I did. The Handmaid's Tale was actually a blueprint for the future that the current SCOTUS took to heart to make a reality rather than a work of fiction. What remains to be seen is what will voters do about it. We already know that Republicans are surpressing the ability of black and brown people to vite, and that they control state government in many states, even purple ones. So in order to turn the tide against this tyranny, it will take overwhelming nmumbers of people who do not usually vote to trun out. Will this and the January 6th inquiries light that kind of fire under voters at the midterm elections? I hope and pray they do, because it really an emergency. I am so very angry. Who will join me?

KGB Museum, Tallinn, Estonia

The KGB were everywhere in occupied countries in the post WWII Soviet Union, and Estonia was no exception. The Baltrics were pawns in a chess game that Germany played with Russia, trying to appease them with territory they had lost in the wake of the Russian Revolution so they wouldn't come to the aid of Europe, at least not to begin with. On August 23, 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union surprised the world by signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, in which the two countries agreed to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years. The pact also contained a secret agreement in which the Soviets and Germans agreed how they would divide up Eastern Europe, divvying up countries between them in a very aggressive way. The museum of this underground prison from the Soviet times tells this story as well as the story of Estonians who fought against the Soviet invasion, both during and after the war.

On August 23, 1989, several months before the Berlin wall came down, and on the 50th anniversary of the pact that destroyed Baltic independence, two million people joined hands from Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius, spanning 675 kilometers, each nation singing their own national songs. The event was organised by the Baltic pro-independence movements: Rahvarinne of Estonia, the Tautas front of Latvia, and Sąjūdis of Lithuania. The protest was designed to draw global attention by demonstrating a popular desire for independence and showcasing solidarity among the three nations.

Mantel and Korsten, Tallinn, Estonia

The Michelin Guide comes to Estonia! I am not sure, in the light of the fact that the Nordic White Guide, that it is a huge boon, but it has been a guide for us in the past. We have very much enjoyed the bob gourmande restaurants, which are excellent cooking at a good value--who can argue with that? Even though we had a car, we had just arrived in Tallinn the day before we ate here, and we were happier negotiating on foot and mass transportation. Having traveled before there was an affordable data plan and google maps to navigate public transport, we were very grateful to be able to do so without too too much trouble (a little trouble is all). This restaurant is in a house in a neighborhood, but near to Kadriorg Park and the museums therein. The restaurant is Italian, with a nice wine list and a short menu that changes. The pictured dish was my favorite of the evening--a monk fish that actually tasted a bit like shellfish, and the tomato raviolis, which had a bit of soup within each one, such a pleasure to bite into. I would happily eat here again, and would recommend it if you are visiting.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

There is so much contained within the pages of this relatively short novel that you will be thinking about it for days to come once you finish reading it to the end. There will be things that you hear or read about, and it will take you back to Eleanor. She is the ultimate outsider. While she knows that she is unlike other people it isn't until the middle of the book that you start to get a sense of why it might be. Eleanor feels instantly and insistently real, as if she had been patiently waiting in the wings for her cue all along. Most workplaces have an Eleanor: the slightly odd person who scuttles away from all communal enterprises; who rarely says a word that isn’t about the matter in hand; whose home life can only be speculated about, not always kindly. She is developmentally disabled by the traumas of her youth, and ever so slowly she starts to make slow, believable progress towards becoming more engaged, both in her life and in the lives of others. It is, in the end, a book about not judging a book by it's cover, about being more generous and allowing yourself to be exposed because it might be worth your while to do so.