From Moscow To Sochi With Train

Russia is a big country. From the times of the SU there was a great migration of the persons from one to other part of it. Somebody wanted to find best life, other looked for romantic, many young persons went to very far places, where the Motherland sent them after she finished to educate them (logicaly, the Motherland needed them in the places where nobody wanted to live or to work).

So, today we have the situation that many families have members all over the ex-SU. To visit our parents and relatives we use trains mostly (when possible). The peculiarity of our trains is that they are slow. So, to to make a little trip like that I had to do, only about 2000 km, you need some days. I had a very rapid train, I came in Sochi after only 24 hours.

Here is the second class sleeper. My place was that upper there. And it was very comfortable travel.

All you can do in this days is to look through the windows. Sleep, read and eat. One day it is possible to survive, specially if you found a very good company in your carriage.


Our train had only some stops on it's road. And it is good. I remember when I was a little girl, my parents wanted to visit my grandies that lived in Nord Kazachstan and Altai. We travelled about 5 days, our train stopped near every post, people went down to pick up flowers, than train began to move and they jumped in it. Fortunatelly nobody remained on the way... Our family was in the last carriage and we, children, set in the open door of that carriage with the legs out in air...

Today it's unpossible, I think. But the stops remain a great joy of the travellers. They go out and walk here and there, buy something in the shops if they have time. For the persons that live near these railway stations it's a good way to sell something the travellers need. Something to eat mostly. Like hot potatoes, cakes, vegetables, fruits, drinks. If they have fish in that village, they sell fish, if honey, they sell honey. Everything they can. Women -mostly- come to the trains with great bags full of all that and go from one carriage to the other and offer it to travellers standing near them.



The most loved and eccellent way to pass time in good company in train is to drink tea.
There are tea-lovers that drink it all the way paused only by train-stops, toilet and sleep (if they decide to sleep).
Till today we have this special model of glass with glass holder that seems to be the most important part of travel in train in Russia. Well, everybody takes own glass from home in train today, but these glasses are there in the carriage, and the conductor gives it to you if you ask about it. You have to pay tea now, but you can do it only the first time and then use your own tea or coffee with this glass till you come on your destination.

Odd Shot Monday

If you want to join ODD SHOTS, see Katney. for the blog roll

I have no clue as to what kind of farm machinery this is, Let me know if you do. But a closer look at this, surely lets you know that this thing has been sitting a LONG LONG Time

Click on photo to see what is in it. Looks like they chopped it off to get it moved . So this is my Odd Shot for the week

Roundabouts In Bend Or

My Part of the World #2

A new Meme is being launched called That's my world. so click on the Icon and join.

So in my part of the world which is Bend Or, we have a lot of sculptures around town especially in our Roundabouts, so you ask "What is a Roundabout"? Well this is what they say about them

"Modern roundabouts are the prettiest and safest form of traffic control in the world. Roundabouts slow all vehicles, provide refuges for pedestrians, and are the only traffic control device in which trees can be planted, fountains can bubble or spray, statutes can sparkle into the next century. When constructed as part of new road construction they are cheaper to build than signalized intersections. If used instead of traffic signals they save us all money. Their maintenance cost is almost zero. They require no electricity, no regular tune-ups, no annual replacements of parts, suffer no blackouts and cannot be blown away."

But they are a pain in the rear at times. Do you have roundabouts where you live?

So what are your gas prices? Ours went down to $3.14 for unleaded

Today's Flower's

Visit Luiz to sign Mr. Linky and see more flowers from around the world.

Happy Birthday Princess/Camera critters

Join Misty and post your favorite pet or critter. Click here for blog roll

Well its another yr for Miss Princess Cocoa she is 2 yrs old now, it is hard to believe how time flies. So last yr i made her a yogurt pie which she didn't like, so this time i got her a cupcake for the Halloween season since its so close, and again she says nope to this cake. So i guess i am going to have to stick with Fillet Mignon. Don't understand why she don't want it, she eats everything else..... Maybe cause it don't say Happy Birthday. Well anyway sweet girl we love you.

Trees

Don't get to see too many fall colors here, so i really enjoy it when i do get to see some.
But i think the bottom photo is one that the tree hasn't seen any leaves for sometime.
I like how this tree and the old barn seem to be in things of the past.

Jewish cemetery in Bucharest vandalized

Unknown vandals toppled or otherwise damaged as many as 200 grave markers in the largest Jewish cemetery in Bucharest. There is a slideshow of the damage on yahoo news.

From what I can tell from news reports, the cemetery is the vast 20th century cemetery, still in use by the Jewish community, in the far south of the city at Soseau Giurgiului 162. This is where my own great-uncle, Pinkas Gruber, who died in 1980 at the age of 98, is buried.

Jewish spaces and places -- my new Ruthless Cosmopolitan column

My new Ruthless Cosmopolitan column deals with the concept of Jewish space(s) and Jewish place(s). It's a bit peripheral to concrete issues of Jewish heritage and Jewish heritage travel, but it fits within the broad context of the discussion and in the rich tapestry of culture, history and heritage. I also describe some surprising new places to "travel"... (By the way, you can see all my columns aggregated on my Ruthless Cosmopolitan blog.)

RUTHLESS COSMOPOLITAN
Places and spaces: Exploring
what makes up the Jewish tapestry

Ruth Ellen Gruber

Avner Gruber, the first cousin once removed of Ruth Ellen Gruber, visits a Jewish cemetery in Hamburg, Germany.

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

Published: 10/23/2008

ROME (JTA) -- We've all played the "Jewish geography" game -- you know, questioning someone we've only just met in order to discover common Jewish connections, friends or even family.
n doing so, we are mapping out our experiences, delineating a sort of Jewish topography of interlinking

backgrounds, histories and far-flung mishpocha.

Somehow I feel a sense of profound satisfaction when I discover an unexpected link with a stranger. It's like a gift, an almost magical sense of communion with the densely woven tapestry of Jewish life -- or at least with an individual or a place that helps make up that tapestry.

The idea of Jewish topography and the spaces and places -- physical and metaphysical -- in which Jews live, dream and interact forms the basis of a fascinating new book.

“Jewish Topographies: Visions of Space, Traditions of Place” (Ashgate Publishing House, 2008) is a collection of essays by a score of international scholars who participated in a six-year research project at the University of Potsdam in Germany.

Called Makom, or "place" in Hebrew, the project aimed to explore the relevance of space and place in Jewish life and culture.

In my own writing, I have dealt frequently with "Jewish space" in the way that the Paris-based historian Diana Pinto framed it. She coined the term in the 1990s to describe the place occupied by Jews, Jewish culture and Jewish memory within mainstream European society, regardless of the size or activity of the local Jewish population.

CLICK TO READ FULL STORY

Sky Watch Friday

If you would like to join Sky Watch Friday please Click here and join Tom, Imac,Sandy & Klaus

I took these on 10-21-08 in the evening
I love this hole

I took this on Sunday 10-19-08 going to Redmond I loved the snow cap on the mountain.



Streamers in the sky, I took these last Thursday 10-16-08 in the morning. Must of had a lot of planes coming and going.

Lost Wooden Tombstones from Jewish Cemeteries in Eastern Europe

Tomek Wisniewski, the pioneering Jewish heritage expert in Bialystok, Poland, has just published a fascinating article -- with lots of rare pictures -- detailing the lost wooden tombstones from Jewish cemeteries in eastern Europe. The oldest such tombstones date back to the 18th century, he reports -- the photographs he includes, from the World War I period, show evocative views of many such wooden markers, standing side by side with traditional carved and often painted stone mazzevot.

Most of the wooden markers were flat-faced planks. But Tomek includes extraordinary photos of wooden ohels, or shrines, and tombs resembling miniature wooden peak-roofed houses.

Tomek's new book, A History of Lost Jewish Shtetl Cemeteries, will be published in the coming months and will include further information on Jewish wooden grave markers.

In his article, published in the online Jewish Magazine, he writes:

With a few exceptions, small-town Jewish cemeteries in Poland 'exist' only on old maps and old photographs. Their rich artistic heritage has been lost, or survives only in fragmentary or merely symbolic form, e.g. walled cemeteries behind whose walls practically nothing is to be found. The most interesting and impressive tombstones (matzevot) have disappeared. They all met the same fate. The Germans used them to cobble roads and pavements, to reinforce escarpments and clad the beds and banks of rivers. They were used in the construction of flights of stairs and farmers used them as sandstone knife-sharpeners. Despite these years of destruction, tens of thousands of the most beautiful stone tombstones managed to survive in Poland, but not one single wooden one has been preserved.

For centuries the Jews erected wooden tombstones. Typically they were to be found in the poorest communities in areas where stone was in short supply. . . . .

Surviving photographs show that wooden tombstones are very similar to each other, being made from long slender wooden planks of oak or pine whose shape is vaguely reminiscent of a primitive human form. The top resembles a head and the remainder offers just the suggestion of the human body. The slender, elongated, wooden tombstone is unique in shape, in minimalist ornamentation and, especially, in the manner of accommodating the inscription to the narrow register. Although association with the human form may be unintentional, the minimalist ornamentation and accommodation of inscription to the narrow register are clearly deliberate.

Read the Full Article, on jewishmag.com

Exhibition on Turkish Synagogues in Istanbul

An exhibition of photographs of historic synagogues in Turkey opened this week at the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul and will run until October 31.

The photographs were taken by Devon Jarvis, and the project as a whole was directed by Joel A. Zack, an architect, author and expert on Jewish heritage in the Mediterranean region. Zack, a former Fulbright scholar, carried out a ground-breaking survey of Moroccan synagogues for the World Monuments Fund that was published in 1993, and he later founded a travel company concentrating on Jewish Heritage tours to Spain, Turkey, Morocco and elsewhere.

The Turkey project documented 50 synagogues and resulted in 30,000 photographs and 130 measured architectural drawings. It is the first such detailed inventory of synagogues in what today is the Muslim country with the largest Jewish population -- some 15,000 to 18,000 Jews, mainly in Istanbul.

Read Full Story in the Turkish Daily News

My part of the world # 1

A new Meme is being launched called That's my world. So although i am late i thought i would join in, so click on the Icon and join.



A passion for recreation is what brings many people to Bend, Oregon. Located in the high desert of central Oregon, Bend is famous for its many forms of outdoor recreation. Kayakers and rafters shoot through the exciting triple waterfalls of the Deschutes River. The Deschutes, Metolius and Crooked Rivers also offer fantastic fly fishing, with more than 500 miles of streams and rivers stocked with trout and steelhead. Golfers have over 20 top-rated courses nearby, offering every kind of golf challenge. Mountain bike cyclists can choose off road riding in uncrowded lush forests, high mountain peaks, lava fields or desert.

Mt. Bachelor's ten alpine lifts, six of them high speed, give skiers 3,683 skiable acres of slopes, with 1,600 acres groomed daily. Parks and pipes for snowboarders are a priority, making Mt. Bachelor one of Oregon's premier snowboarding areas. Cross country skiing on the 56 kilometers of trails on Mt. Bachelor is a popular winter sport. Snowmobilers have 560 miles

of groomed trails to choose from in the Deschutes National Forest, with 175 miles of that in the Bend District. Snow tubing, snowshoeing and sled dog rides are also exciting and me

morable activities for your family.

World class rock climbing and miles of hiking trails at Smith Rock State Park makes it a popular retreat for climbers and hikers. Backcountry hikers and campers head into the solitude of the Three Sisters Wilderness, while others take a hike in the more than 2.5 million acres of national forests in the Bend area. Parks and picnicking abound in and around Bend. Almost all of the parks, lakes and rivers in the area have picnic areas. Bend has recreation fun for

everyone!

Walking, shopping or dining in historic downtown Bend enhances your recreational experience. Drake Park's Mirror Pond, the jewel of downtown Bend, is a small lake with ducks, Canadian geese, and a pair of swans from Queen Elizabeth's royal swannery in England. The wide stretches of green grass provide a restful counterpoint to the old brick and masonry buildings that compose Bend's business area. Galleries, restaurants, outdoor eateries, boutiques and specialty shops are all within easy walking distance.

the Old Mill District, located on a site previously used for lumber mills, features upscale shopping, trendy restaurants and an outdoor amphitheater which is used for summer concerts. A selection of shopping malls and factory outlet shopping is available in the

areas outlying Bend.

For a panoramic view of Bend and the volcanic peaks around it, take a walk or a drive to the top of Pilot Butte. From this 511 feet high volcanic cindercone, you can see a vista of the high desert region, including nine snowcapped Cascade peaks. A few of the peaks you'll see are the Three Sisters, Broken Top Mountain and Mt. Jefferson. An even finer view can be found at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. This monument stretches from Paulina Peak to the Deschutes River and includes hiking trails, lava formations, obsidian fields, and waterfalls, as well as incredible scenery. Also in the Newberry Monument area is the 18 square mile Newberry Crater, which includes Paulina and East lakes, two of Oregon's best mountain fishing

lakes.

Spelunking, also called caving, in the lava tubes at Skeleton Ca

ve, Arnold Ice Caves or Lava River Caves will show you how the underground half lives. Lava River Cave, Oregon's longest continuous lava tube, is a good beginner cave for families to explore. Geocachers can look for the Earthcache located at this site. All cavers should bring their own light, and wear warm clothing and boots - the cave temperature is approximately 40 F.

So now you have a bit of my part of the world.Hope you enjoy

My Travel Column on Centropa.org is back on line

I'm happy to report that my travel column on centropa.org is back on line after several months out of action while the web site was under redesign.

About a dozen articles are archived and accessible -- from Hungary, the western Balkans, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and elsewhere.

There is also an interactive forum -- and a quick link to this blog and to amazon.com where you can purchase my books...

New articles will be coming soon!

Meanwhile, take a look at the entire centropa.org site, with its trove of family photographs, interviews and other material on Jewish life in central Europe.

From the Top Tier Gallery, Vienna

As noted in a previous post, I spent much of the High Holy Day period moving around Europe, in a sort of mini-Jewish Heritage tour of Siena, Vienna and Budapest.

Vienna on Yom Kippur provided the most traditional Ashkenazic experience -- services in the historic "Stadttempel," the lovely neo-classical synagogue on sloping Seitenstettengasse, in the heart of the city's core First District. From the outside, the synagogue, built in 1824-26, looks like a plain, anonymous building -- many synagogues across Europe (including that in Siena) are hidden behind featureless outer walls that face the street. This was either for protection or in compliance with edicts that allowed direct access to the street only for churches. (This positioning saved the synagogue during Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938; it was not torched for fear that the entire block could go up in flames and survived World War II almost unscathed. All of the other nearly 100 synagogues and Jewish prayer houses in Vienna were either destroyed or severely damaged.)

What sets the building apart these days is the security outside -- including armed guards.

Designed by the architect Josef Kornhausel, the Stadttempel features a graceful oval sanctuary encircled by two tiers of women's galleries and topped by a sky-blue dome sprinkled with gilded stars. Twelve fluted ionic columns support the galleries and partition the perimeter, and a gilded sunburst tops a rendition of the Ten Commandments that seems to float above the ark.

I arrived in Vienna just in time to enjoy a pre-fast meal with my friend Antonia before we took a taxi to services. We had to climb to the top tier of the women's galleries, where we stood at the back -- if we had been in a theater, we would have been in "the gods." From almost no seat in either of the women's galleries, however, is it possible to see anything of what goes on on the ground floor, where the men are seated. You have to lean right over the edge of the galleries and look down -- not good if you have a fear of heights.

Throughout the service, boisterous and cute little children ran in and out, and the other women around us, unable to see (and only to hear with some difficulty) used the opportunity -- as usual in such cases -- to schmooze. When I could hear, it was a pleasure. (Even though Antonia and I arrived too late to hear Kol Nidre). The cantor was excellent, and the melodies sung in the service here are the same ones I grew up with at my Conservative JCC in suburban Philadelphia...

The crowd was well-dressed and prosperous-looking; all ages represented. Afterward, we milled about on the cobbled street outside, greeting friends in the congregation -- these included Edward Serotta, the director of Centropa.org, the central European Jewish research institute. (I write a travel column for Centropa -- it was on hold for a few months during a redesign of the web site, but is now back up on line.)

Odd Shot

If you want to join ODD SHOTS, see Katney.
Sorry this guy is a bit blurry, but i got the shot on a drive by, they had him stuck between the gas tanks. "GO DUCKS"

New Book on Jewish Cemeteries in Europe

Houses of Life: Jewish Cemeteries of Europe has just been published in England. It is written by Joachim Jacobs, a German landscape architect who has worked on designing or restoring Jewish cemeteries in Germany, with photographs by Has Dietrich Beyer.

The book describes thirty cemeteries in several countries and tells their story, with maps, photographs, paintings and text. They cemeteries chosen date from the Roman period through Islamic Spain and medieval Italy to baroque and 19th-century Germany and present-day Britain and France. (There is a "search this book function on the amazon.com.uk listing.)

Mega Conference on Jewish Art in Poland to Begin

The first Congress of Jewish Art in Poland, a mega-conference drawing dozens of speakers, is due to be held Oct. 27-29 in Kazimierz Dolny, a beautiful town on the Vistula River. It will be devoted to Jewish artists (painters, sculptors, graphic artists, architects) who from the period of the Haskalah until WWII created art centres in Central-Eastern Europe or were connected with these centres, active in Western Europe, Russia, America and the Palestine.

Click here for the program.

Kazmierz Dolny has a long Jewish history and striking Jewish heritage sites.


Holocaust monument at Jewish cemetery, photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber


These include the stone synagogue, originally built in the second half of the 18th century, which stands just off the main market square, and a striking Holocaust Memorial, a mosaic-like wall made of fragments of recovered tombstones, at the site of one of the town's two destroyed Jewish cemeteries.

Virtual Shtetl in Lower Silesia

The Museum of the History of Polish Jews has announced that a project called ‘Virtual Shtetl in Lower Silesia, Opole and Lubuskie Regions’ was launched in south-western Poland in September.

The announcement says that the primary objective of the project is to develop an internet portal that will give information on some 60 Jewish shtetls in Lower Silesia, Opole and Lubuskie Regions. The portal will comprise detailed data, including texts and images, on German Jews who resided in those areas up to World War II and on Polish Jews who formed the largest Jewish settlement in Poland after the war.

A catalogue of Judaica from the Lower Silesia, Opole and Lubuskie Regions, a book devoted to Jewish schools in Wrocław, 12 interviews with members of the Jewish community who graduated from the Sholem Aleichem Jewish Common School and Jewish High School in Wrocław will complement the project.

Click the links above for more information on the general ‘Virtual Shtetl’ project -- an internet portal dedicated to the history of Jewish life in small towns within historical Polish borders. It will feature old and recent photographs, preserved Jewish memorabilia, film clips and interviews. It will also give practical information – GPS coordinates, charts, landmark locations.

Camera Critters

Click on photos for better viewing
If you would like to join Misty click here