Our shot in Havanna? ... or from Moscow with love?

In Germany, I fall through the grid again: 55 years old, no preconditions, not medical staff, not teacher nor police. My work is a lot about travelling to risk areas. Does that count? … No! … I can show contracts and invitation letters, and I have parents above 80 who I need to take care of. Counts? … No! ... How do you dare, trying to jump the cue? Have solidarity! Don't be antisocial! ... Me, antisocial? Why? When do you think I can get vaccinated? ... Okay, I was just asking. Sorry. German efficiency is a lot about criminalizing people who don't fall into the pattern. Even Germany is actually not efficient - but that's a different story.

So, let's do things the good old way and forget about Germany. I actually do have access to vaccinations. But stealing is unethical. And that would be really jumping the cue because these doses are scheduled for others. Some German local politicians did that - well, not stealing of course - but taking personal precautions so that they can better serve their constituency. Others were taking fees for facilitating deals for medical equipment, to better protect the public. I appreciate their efforts, but I am not a politician.

However, for me, vaccinations are available in Moscow, Tel Aviv, Havanna, Dubai or Hong Kong. In some of these places, you still have to quarantine, though. You can choose either two trips to a nice place or do a long one. Moscow is my favourite European city, anyways. And a vaccination centre is in the ГУМ Department Store, just opposite the Kremlin. It’s wonderful Russian architecture from the end of the 19th century, with a glass roof. And you still get a Sovjet style ice cream, wrapped in aluminium foil in the basement. That in itself would be worth going. It would also be interesting to see what changed in Havanna. In Hong Kong, when you choose Sinovac instead of BioNTech, it comes with a Visa to Mainland China. That’s great. Tel Aviv is just around the corner, and I am very interested in how the Israeli tech industry and research are doing. Dubai is a little too much shopping for my taste. And last but not least, there is Malta. When it counts, Malta often proofs to get the job done.

Museum of Russian Impressionism

There is only a small body of Russian Impressionism, mainly because of the Russian Revolution gave culture a more monolithic spin. In the All-Union Congress of Sovjet Writers in 1934, Maxim Gorky centred all contemporary literature around Socialist Realism, and this put Russian Impressionist painting into a dead end - until the 1950s. A collection of Russian Impressionist works is exhibited in the Museum opened in 2016 in the former sugar and flour warehouse of the Bolshevik chocolate factory at the Leningradsky Prospect in Moscow (the Museum of Russian Impressionism). It is a small but excellent museum showing paintings of Konstantin Korovin, Igor Grabar, Konstantin Yuon, Petr Konchalovsky, Yuri Pimenov and some selected pictures by Boris Kustodiev and Valentin Serov. My personal favourite though is none of the above, but Tit Dvornikov's "By the Sea" (1912) showing a scene of a gathering of women around a table at Odessa. But I liked the entire exhibition a lot, which is located on the upper two floors of the round building. The basement showed an exhibition on Spanish Impressionism, and I found it interesting to see the differences literally side by side. The former chocolate factory is entirely refurbished and rebuilt into a cultural centre and high-end office space, which appears a good mix, also on the commercial side of the project. I just arrived in Moscow, and I really like the city. It is my favourite European capital. Not that cold yet, in December, but around - 8 to -2 °C, but it feels like in the next few days temperatures will drop, and so the weather forecast said.

“By the Sea” (1912) by Tit Dvornikov (with kind permission of the Museum of Russian Impressionism)

Moscow - one of my favorite European capital cities

When I visited the city last year in spring, I already stated that Moscow is the new London. Now, I went again and I can truly say that Moscow is one of my favorite European capital cities. The FIFA Worldcup, was the latest opportunity to tidy up and internationalise. Even I am not a soccer enthusiast, I appreciate it as another piece in brining the city again steps forward. What I really like about Moscow is the rich cultural life. We strolled through museums and watched La Boheme in the Bolshoi. This opera is for me like the "Pizza Margarita of performances" - in the sense that you can use it very well to compare performance quality across geographies. The Bolshoi was outstanding and far ahead of the Opèra Garnier (and most others). This did not surprise me, but I enjoy it when institutions live up to their reputation. But also just walking in the streets in inner Moscow is a real pleasure. People are very friendly and polite, and you find quite a number of outstanding characters. I also had the chance to see the amazing campus of Moscow School of Management Skolkovo. Really impressive, but I could not help estimating payback periods for this investment with a smile. 

Moscow's south bank of the river. These buildings were once up for demolition. But luckily this undertaking was stopped and now this area is a lively and attractive part of town.

Staircase to the upper floor in the Maxim Gorky House. It does not appear to be such a bad life as a working class hero.

Milk ice cream with chocolate coating. No reason for Soviet nostalgia, but really nice. We had a very similar one in the Waldschwimmbad Neuwied (Westerwald) in the 70s. It was the only one I could afford back then, on a week's pocket money.