In order to get the feel
of the town I walked the couple of
kilometers from
Detskoye
Selo railway station to Sadovaja Ulitsa 7, where I expected Hotel
Ekaterina to be. I saw no hotel but the impressive Catherine
Palace. The gilded cupolas were under wraps and so was the whole north
annex. To my "Hotel Ekaterina?" the milice officer shows by
hand: go
through that gate!
 |
|
I NEVER ASKED
WHERE THE FAMOUS IMPERIAL LYCEUM IS. NOW I
KNOW THAT IT WAS THE
BUILDING UNDER WHICH I ENTERED CATHERINE PALACE OUTER COURTYARD IN MY
QUEST FOR
HOTEL EKATERINA.
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Instructed by another milice
officer I finally find the entrance to Hotel Ekaterina in the
servants' wing of the palace. Yes, the fiesta balloonists are living
there but not the Jury. Inga, the helpful receptionist, starts making
phone calls and I start waiting. After two hours I hear that I should
go to a place called Kochubey, whatever that is. After one more
missunderstanding I arrive by taxi to Kochubey in the nick of time.
Everybody is ready to leave for the opening ceremony, wherever that may
be. After quick settling down and dressing up I find myself quite
alone. Luckily
there
is one balloon vehicle left at street side and I get an one and half
hour ride to Peter
and Paul's Fortress
in the heart of St.Petersburg. That is where I just came from...
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|
ENTRANCE TO A SMALL BUT EXCLUSIVE HOTEL EKATERINA IN THE
SERVANTS' WING OF
CATHERINE PALACE. BUT IT IS NOT FOR ME...
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| OPENING AT
PETER AND PAUL'S FORTRESS. I find Jury President
Jean-Claude Weber and Dimitri Klokov, the Event President. I stick to
them and Dimitri's three body guards and end up in
a small tent behind the open air stage. Max Bishop, the General
Secretary
of FAI, Jean-Claude, and Oscar
Lindström, the Champion of the first hot air airship Worlds in 1988,
prepare to deliver their speeches at the stage where a very loud rock
band blazes away.
On the stage
Jean-Calude is introduced as the President of FAI, not as the President
of FAI's Ballooning Commission.
That did happen again at the press
conference and at the prize giving. Jean-Calud's protests went to deaf
ears. Why? Because the organizers were not overly enthusiastic to
present
him as the president of CIA, which is the acronym for
Comité
International Aéronautique. So what! That is known as
shirokaya
russkaya natura.
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|
FROM LEFT: THE
FIRST WORLD CHAMPION OSCAR LINDSTRÖM, MASTER OF CEREMONIES
MARIANNA MINSKER, JURY
PRESIDENT JEAN-CLAUDE
WEBER, MAX BISHOP, GENERAL SECRETARY OF FAI, AND DIMITRI'S RIGHT
HAND TATYAJANA AZOVA. THE POINTING FINGER BELONGS TO
DIMITRI
KLOKOV, THE ORGANIZER.
|
|
After the speeches we are taken to one of
the cruising boats that
ply the river Neva. The large fountain installation in middle of the
river is all the time turned on for the opening spectacle.
We have what is called food for eys, and we have it plenty.
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|
A VIEW FROM THE
FORTRESS. ADMIRALTY AND ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL ON THE LEFT,
FORMER STOCK EXCHANGE ON THE RIGHT. RIVER FOUNTAINS SPOUTING.
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Not that we had to be hungry.
In mid-river we are changed to a big banquet boat for some food and
drinks. We live in luxury. Neva and its banks in colours of sunset are
hard to beat in a beauty contest.
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BANQUET ON
BOAT.
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The bell tower
of Peter and Paul's cathedral is 122,5 m high, and since its creation
has it been the tallest architectural point in the city. Energy giant
Gazprom plans now to raise a 396 m high building,
like a sharp tooth, on riverbank directly across Smolny Cathedral. I
have signed a petition
against the plan.
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THE SPIRE OF
PETER AND PAUL'S CATHEDRAL IS STILL THE HIGHEST IN THIS VERY HORIZONTAL
METROPOL.
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It is curious that so few
(only 235) have signed against Gazprom's
controversial plan, and many of them anonymously. Perhaps Chuang Tzu's
words are better known than I have believed:
"Do you not know the fate of the praying mantis? It angrily stretches
out its arms, to arrest the progress of the carriage, unconscious of
its inability for such a task..."
P.S.
March 2011
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