 Midsummer has just been and gone, and the years days are now – gradually – drawing in. Midsummer is celebrated throughout the Baltic – with long evenings never really getting dark. I am reminded about the Finnish anecdote concerning Jean Sibelius, drinking and gambling with his friends at Helsinki’s famous Kappeli bar. Informing them at 4am he had to go away to St. Petersburg for a few days to work on some compositions, he returned, only to find his friends still drinking, and still playing cards where he had left them. “Jean!†they admonished him†“For Goodness sakes stop wandering in and out all the time and close the door!â€
Tallinn City
Tallinn is one of Europe’s oldest cities, being established in the 11th century; its beauty lies still within its 13th & 14th century buildings, and of course the charm often associated with ex Soviet states close to Russia. Staying at the Schlossle Hotel – part of the Leading hotels  of the world group  I usually try and utilize – I found myself in the center of the city, yet quiet and historic. Bird song woke the Baroness and I up each morning, and vivid blue skies dominated. The city is just gorgeous and the cuisine amazing – foods such as Lampreys (a fish so delicious, Henry V died from “a surfeit†of them (meaning he pigged out on so many he croaked) to Wild Boar and Smoked Salmon. Plus of course Vodka – and to celebrate that I purchased from one of the antique stores a solid silver Estonian vodka cup from the Russian Imperial days, with sufficient capacity for a double shot. I carried it with me everywhere I went. It did not go neglected in terms of fulfilling its purpose. Tallinn is just beautiful, and my dear readers, you must visit. Small it may be, but Estonia is just stunning.
An overnight cruise took us to St. Petersburg and the main events – two nights at the Mariinsky Theatre. Those who know me will recall I am a big fan of Russian opera, and as Moscow’s Bolshoi is to Ballet, so the Mariinsky is to Opera. Valery Gergiev is a hero of mine, and it was he who took the conductors baton for a contemporary reading of Mussorgsky’s opera par excellence, Boris Gudonov. It’s a big event, any Boris production, requiring timber rattling male bass parts and chilling dialogue as the ghost of Dmitry, the child prince murdered by the main character drives the protagonist slowly insane and ultimately to his death. It is of course, both very Russian, and great fun, in that curiously morbid yet entertaining manner that only Russians and their music are able to convey. The performances were stunning, and I applauded for long after the curtain had fallen on the three hour production.
The rest of the evening was taken, appropriately enough, by several cups of Russian Standard Imperial Vodka (in my new Russian silver vodka cup) at the Hotel Grande Europe which remains up there with the Ritz and Claridges when it comes to expensive opulence. The hotel also serves Bossner Baron cigars; which are almost impossible to find outside of Russia but are made from leaves grown in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Funded by a Russian oligarch, Bossner’s are hard to find but well worth looking out for. I recommend them, and I purchased two boxes for my humidor at home. I also recommend taking up with a woman who can abide such matters, and the Baroness can. Indeed, if I forget to provide an early puff on one of my cigars, I am reminding of my duties with a sharp kick to the shin. Which with the type of shoes Italian women like to wear can be both sharp and painful. Consequently, my humidor is kept full, and my manners towards the fairer sex are exemplary.
Taking our Pet Bear for a walk.