September 29, 2005

01:36:46 am Benelux Diary I  

Thursday, September 22, 2005 - London, England, UK; Calais, France; Brussels, Belgium

A three-country day, taking the train under the English Channel from London to Calais; picking up our leased car there and having lunch; and then driving on to Brussels. Belgium is a small country, slightly larger than Maryland, but our first impression of it is one of openness and spaciousness in contrast to the UK. The narrow roads and stone fences and hedges of the English countryside give way here to wide-open fields reminiscent of the American Midwest. That Belgium is actually more densely populated than the UK seems hard to believe (the UK has six times Belgium's population of 10 million, but eight times the land. England is probably more densely populated than the UK as a whole (I do not have separate figures for it), but still it would not be that different from Belgium. How different two countries only a couple dozen miles apart can look is amazing. In addition, the weather is much better--bright sunshine and 75 degrees--it was cloudy and at least 10 degrees cooler in London. Stayed for the first of three nights at the NH Atlanta Hotel in the center of the city.

Friday, September 23, 2005 - Waterloo, Belgium and Brussels, Belgium

Brussels does not get high marks as a tourist destination, but we went there anyway as we have found many places interesting--e.g., Brasilia, Canberra--that are not on the normal tourist route. Not coincidentally, these are all government centers, which explains why they don't have a touristy reputation--no nightlife--and why we find them interesting: loads of government spending on interesting buildings and museums. Surely, Brussels as the main location of the EU and NATO must be the same. Surely, though, it is not. This is why we switched to plan B on our first full day in the city--Brussels as a central location to see other places.

I always assumed that Waterloo, where Napoleon met his final downfall in 1815 (his first downfall being the decision to invade Russia in 1812), was in France. It is actually in Belgium, just south of Brussels. I took a local bus there in the afternoon, about a one-hour ride. There's a Wellington Museum in the town of Waterloo, dedicated to the British commander, and about two miles away at the battlefield site there is a visitor center and giant commemorative hill and statue known as Lion Mound. It is all of medium interest at best, making it superior to much in Brussels, but skipable unless you are a real history buff.

Brussels does have a central square--Grand Place--that is fantastic, one of the best squares in all of Europe. They also have numerous museums, which if you speak French, may be worth going to. As an English speaker, you are out of luck. The very helpful English-speaking person who takes your money at the front will tell you that there are translations in English and technically, they are correct. A portion of each museum--in percentage terms a portion less than 10%--is available in English. Available may mean a pamphlet with English words on it that in theory correspond to a particular exhibit, but you would have to be more adept than us to figure out which words go with which exhibit.

Let me tell you how bad the language provincialism is in Brussels' museums. Belgium is a bilingual country--the northern part of the country, about 60% in of the people in total, is Flemish and thus Dutch speaking. The southern part is Walloon. They comprise 30% of the population and speak French. In addition, a very small portion of the eastern part of the country speaks German. There is a significant immigrant population from Arab countries. This makes up maybe 10% of the population, and they appear to have learned French. Finally, because of the EU and NATO, significant portions of all workers are from outside of Belgium. One figure I saw suggested one-quarter of all workers were foreign--this may include the Arab immigrants, I'm not sure. Everyone we encountered can speak English well. So you might think that the cultural institutions in a tolerant, multi-cultural modern city that serves as a quasi-capital of Europe and the actual capital of the country of Belgium would provide their information in Dutch, French, English, possibly German, and maybe even Arabic. But you would be wrong. Some overachieving museums managed to put their information in Dutch, the language spoken by the majority of the people in the country. But others assumed French-only was good enough. This appalled us. This is the capital of the country and not every museum has information in the dominant language of the country!

This French-language bias did not extend to the people. They all willingly spoke English, and were very friendly and helpful to me, probably more so than I would get in the US. For example, I spoke with four different bus drivers on my journey to Waterloo and they patiently explained bus times, departure and pickup points, when to get off the bus, and one even provided a timetable schedule without me asking, so that I would know when the return bus would arrive.

Another perfect weather day, low 70s and sunny.

Saturday, September 24, 2005 - Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and Brussels, Belgium

Drove two hours to Luxembourg, saw the sites there, and drove back to our hotel in Brussels. Luxembourg City is a medieval town, founded in the 10th Century. We visited the Bock Casements, a series of underground tunnels built into the rock on a hill that form a fortress to defend the city. You could get lost for hours in this maze of often poorly lit caverns; in fact, we met a family of four from Germany who had been in there for the past 10 days. As we led them to safety, we explained to them that their recent national election had resulted in both Merkel and Schroder claiming that the other side had lost, and that both of them were correct.

Next, we went to the National Museum of History and Art and the Museum of the History of the City. Now each is an impressive building, with nice displays, but each seem to be put together with the same provincial attitude that we experienced in Belgium. Excuse me for thinking that a country with fewer than a half million people and a size less than Rhode Island, with the highest per capita GDP in the world and half of its GDP from international banking, and a sizable contingent of guest workers from all over Europe, might want to provide information in its relative brand-spanking new museums in the global language. Over 80% of the English entries in the comment book at the city museum suggested the same. Scandinavia, the formerly communist Baltics, currently communist China, and many other countries throughout the world understand that in today's interconnected world you need to provide information in the one language common throughout the world, but to parts of rich, prosperous Western Europe, this is news. That the majority of visitors they come in to contact with speak English, seems to have no bearing on how they put together their museums.

Overall, though, I liked Luxembourg. The casements were unique, and the city was a quaint place. I'd recommend it over Brussels, but I would only spend one day there.

The weather continues to be excellent, in the low 70s. Perfect college football Saturday, although no games seem to be on the local schedule.

Sunday, September 25, 2005 - Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Netherlands

We stopped at the Army Museum on the way out of town. On Friday, the eager, helpful, friendly person at the tourist information booth in Grand Place said they had audio guides in English, which of course they did not. Beware--half of all information provided by eager, helpful, friendly people in tourist information booths around the world is wrong. Again, my heart warmed as I read entry after entry in the comment book criticizing the museum for its lack of English. One entry really made my point better than I could have. It was written in English, but signed by the writer in his native language, Chinese. An increasing number of museums around the world now have information in Chinese, but most still do not, so English is the only lifeline for a Chinese person (or a Japanese person or a Korean person or dozens of other nationalities) to understand anything in foreign museums. This is why English is necessary--not so much for the native English speakers, but for citizens of all countries who may only know one foreign language.

Now, ironically, just as I'm writing this, I receive a rather appropriate e-mail from Peter Magee, my Tuck classmate who lives in London, following up on a similar conversation we had our last night in London:
Today is a big day in the history of the English language. On this day, in 1066, William the Conqueror of Normandy arrived on British soil. Having defeated the British in the Battle of Hastings and on Christmas day he was crowned the King in Westminster Abby.
At the time the British were speaking a combination of Saxon and Old Norse. The Normans, of course, spoke French, and over time the languages blended. To the Saxon word "house" came the Norman word "mansion." To the Saxon word "cow" came the Norman word "beef" and so on.
So the English language now contains more than a million words, one of the most diverse languages on earth. Cyril Connelly wrote, "The English language is like a broad river ... being polluted by a string of refuse-barges tipping out their muck." But Walt Whitman said, "The English language is the accretion and growth of every dialect, race, and range of time, and is both the free and compacted composition of all."
I must confess that today actually refers to September 28 as I am writing this three days after the fact.

Final impressions of Brussels--an unimpressive capital for a developed country/continent; somewhat dirty (trash and graffiti); not much to see beyond Grand Place. I should note that disappointingly, we did not get to see any of the EU buildings, as the last tour of the week they offer is 10AM Friday and we learned of this around 11AM Friday. Other countries make their government buildings available for tourists on weekends, because that's when most tourists (and citizens) are able to see them, but here the European desire for not working hard seems to have won out. It brought to mind Bill Bryson's joke about "How many people work at the EU?" The answer: "About one-third of them!"

The weather is a bit cooler, down in the 60s, and cloudy as the day wore on. Stayed for the first of four nights in the Museum Square Hotel, next to the major art museums in Amsterdam, a bit away from the city center, but still within walking distance.

Monday, September 26, 2005 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Went to Van Gogh Museum; Verzetsmuseum (Dutch World War II Resistance Museum); and Anne Frank House. My criticism of the Belgium museums' provincial attitude on language was reinforced when I noticed no less than nine languages available via audio guide at the Van Gogh museum, and the exhibit information at the Anne Frank House translated into eight languages. The less well-visited resistance museum only offered two languages, but importantly one was the global language of English. Here is a country that gets it. Probably not a coincidence that their native language (Dutch) is not French. They do seem aware that the French lost a half-dozen wars to the English in the 18th and early 19th century, largely fought over colonial supremacy, and thus the global language today has become English.

The Van Gogh Museum has the largest single collection of Van Gogh paintings in the world (about 200 of the 900 known to exist). Van Gogh is my favorite artist, so I was looking forward to this museum, but I must admit a bit of disappointment. Throughout Europe, we have seen Van Gogh's, with a good art museum typically having a half dozen of his paintings, including one or two that I had not previously seen that jumped out at me as incredibly well done. Here there were dozens I had not seen, and many I liked, but none that really moved me. There is a version of one of my favorite paintings, "The Bedroom," here, but since it is nearly identical to the painting in the Art Institute in Chicago, it was not something new to us. Overall, though, this is an excellent art museum, making it a must visit for anyone with the slightest interest in art. The most significant thing I did learn was that nearly all of the art he is known for was produced in a four-year period! He was only an artist for the last 11 years of his 41-year life, and spent the first part of that period training himself on how to paint. When he moved to Paris and was able to work with the impressionist and post-impressionists of the late 1880s, his talent and painting really flourished.

We have been in German resistance museums in Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and now the Netherlands. The first two countries were invaded by Germany in April 1940, the last two, along with Luxembourg and France, were invaded in May 1940. Overmatched, each country capitulated quickly, ranging from a few hours to about two months. The Netherlands lasted less than one week, Belgium about two weeks. Thus, for each, most of their involvement in World War II was in the form of a resistance movement, and these museums chronicle the experience of the general population: strikes, sabotage, persecution, people in hiding, Jewish deportations, and even collaboration. The museum here in Amsterdam is the best so far, followed by Denmark, Norway, and Belgium (the only one not in English).

The Anne Frank House is moving, another must see. The area they hid within is bigger than I expected, although they did have eight people in it. What would get you though, is the boredom. Spending four days trapped in a two-bedroom apartment with eight people in Manila in 1989 during the coup, the overwhelming feeling I had was one of immense boredom. I can't imagine having to spend over two years in this condition, not to mention the knowledge that, if found, you would likely die.

High today only around 60, cloudy.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 - Amsterdam, Netherlands

Cold, rainy, 55-60, warmer in the late afternoon once the rain stopped. Went to Rijksmuseum, the main art museum, covering Dutch Masters. Under renovation, it had only its best paintings on display, which probably made the visit more enjoyable. The museum was good, but 17th Century art is not my favorite. Afterward, went to Amsterdam Historical Museum, a better-than-average city museum. Spent the afternoon and evening reading about Germany, figuring out where to go, and beginning to book travel.

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01:34:59 am Final London Diary  

Tuesday, September 20, 2005 - London, England, UK

Drove from Stratford toward London, going through Milton Keynes. Milton Keynes is a new town, planned after World War II and built in the 1960s and 1970s. It would likely win the title of most un-English city if there were such an award. Except for the roundabouts, Milton Keynes is more American than British, but it's not really American at all. To us, it resembled Brasilia, set in a developed country (see our log on Brazil). This is definitely a city planned when cars were on the ascendancy, with no concerns about pollution or future energy limits. There is an area designated as the city centre, where the train and bus stations are, but there is no real walking around area, just a series of disconnected buildings surrounding by parking lots and nice landscaping. In a country where most of the towns are charming but similar, there is certainly room for a new town like Milton Keynes that is different from everywhere else (there are a few other new towns that we did not see, but they are not as radical in reputation). If designed again today 50 years later, I think Milton Keynes would be different, at least in the central area, with the city centre probably resembling the old towns. The other areas of a redesigned Milton Keynes might look similar to how they are today. If time has revealed some inadequacies of Milton Keynes original design, then nonetheless it is interesting to see what the planners of 50 years ago considered an ideal city to be.

We dropped the car at Stansted airport and took the express train back to Liverpool Station in London. This allowed us to check the car into a unbusy location, avoid London traffic, and the central congestion charge (the charge working exactly as intended, discouraging driving into the central city). In addition, Liverpool Station is quite close to the Club Quarters St. Paul's where we were to stay two nights. After nine months of continually arriving in unfamiliar places, arriving in London was a joy. We knew the airport; we knew what train to take; we knew the station we arrived at; we knew where the taxis were; we knew how close the hotel was; we knew the hotel and the staff, as we stayed there eight nights previously; we knew immediately how to access the Internet; we knew that before unpacking we should check the strength of the wireless signal as it is weak in some rooms (it was fine in ours, so we unpacked); we knew where to get lunch; where the nearest drug, grocery, and book stores were; we knew where to do laundry and how much it cost; we knew people who lived in the city and we were able to make social plans; we could read the newspaper as it was in English, and upon deciding to attend a football (soccer) match, we knew who to e-mail to tell us where the stadium was and how to get there; we had a subway and train map already with us, so we could follow easily the directions we received; and so on. The point of that never-ending sentence is every one of those steps and many others are not known most places we arrive, even if it is an English-speaking country. This of course is true for anyone on vacation, but while dealing with this uncertainty is a bit of fun the first, second, or third time, it can get a bit monotonous the 100th time. We can figure it all out with world-class efficiency now, but the continual unfamiliarity does begin to wear on you as time passes. It's not really a longing for home, more it's a longing for routine things to be familiar so that everyday tasks can be completed more quickly, leaving more time for what you really want to be doing.

At night, we see a football match between Charlton and Hartlepool United. Charlton is a newly promoted Premiership team (top English soccer league), currently second in the early-season standings. Hartlepool is a lower division team, in either the second or the third best league. The Carling Cup, formerly the League Cup, is an in-season tournament among all 80 or so teams from all four leagues. Charlton won 3-1, after trailing at the 40-minute mark. The game was exciting, mainly due to Charlton's superiority leading to many scoring chances, but not so one-sided that the outcome was certain. Still, I have to be honest; soccer is a sport that needs more excitement. Therefore, during the duller moments of play, here are the rule changes we came up with:

- The goalie can only pick up the ball if the last person to touch it is from the opposing team. I've heard of a rule similar to this, perhaps in the US or perhaps in the World Cup, but it is definitely not present in the Carling Cup and would be most welcome. Penalty: penalty kick if the infraction prevented a scoring chance; corner kick otherwise.
- A ball punted by the goalie cannot cross the half line on the fly. This rule and the prior rule would eliminate the boring style of the defense kicking the ball back to the goalie and the goalie booting the ball two-thirds of the way down the field. Penalty: corner kick.
- All passes in your defensive zone must be forward--backward passing is not allowed. Penalty: indirect kick at the spot where the pass began. Deanna did not agree with this but I think it would make things more exciting as you would always have to be on the attack. Naturally, this would lead to more risky situations and turnovers in your defensive zone, and thus more scoring chances for the opposing team.
- More radical would be to introduce a basketball-like team fouls system where after six fouls and then every two fouls afterward (indirect kick fouls counting one, direct kick fouls counting two), the non-fouling team gets the option of putting the ball back in play with a corner kick.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - London, England, UK

Our last full day in an English-speaking country for the next two months. Thus, it was a day full of errands, all of which are easier to do here than elsewhere. Being my birthday, we naturally started the day's celebrations by getting long overdue his-and-her haircuts. For Deanna, this was her first cut of the year, and for me it was only my fourth of the trip, the last being about 11 weeks ago. The hair stylists thought it romantic that we did everything together. We just laughed.

At night, we had dinner with three Tuck classmates: Peter Magee, Vivina Berla, and Bill Kennish, along with his wife Kristen. Peter, who has been a never-ending source of local sports knowledge on all things cricket and football related during our two London stays, was the only native English person in the group. We overlook this as seven years in the US has civilized his accent. Bill is Canadian, his wife American, and Vivina, who we also visited with in July, is Italian. Once again it was great to catch up with old friends with whom you have a shared past. That has been one of the best parts of our trip. Even though I had not seen Peter and Bill in five years, we took up right where we left off. Peter and Bill themselves had not seen each other since Bill arrived in London five years before, while Peter and Vivina's sole meeting consisted of a 30-second chance encounter on the tube, so it was a good chance for everyone to get together. Many of Chicago's Tuck alums are similarly poor at keeping in touch, especially those spread out among far-flung suburbs with young children taking up all of their spare time.

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September 22, 2005

04:21:01 am Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England Diary  

Friday, September 17, 2005 - Glasgow and Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Yesterday, took a 9PM easyJet flight from Belfast, Northern Ireland to Glasgow, Scotland. easyJet is another discount airline like Ryanair. I think easyJet is based out of Belfast while Ryanair's main hub is Dublin. Saw sights in Glasgow today until mid-afternoon and then took one-hour train ride to Edinburgh. Glasgow is an old city, but somehow it streets are organized with a grid system, with names that do not change every few blocks--not something that is common in the UK or Ireland. Toured the Glasgow School of Art, designed by Charles Mackintosh, a Scottish Frank Lloyd Wright. Glasgow has good architecture from the early 20th century. Saw Pride and Prejudice at night in Edinburgh--very good. The book was assigned reading in my General Honors 101 class my first semester in college. Now I know what was being discussed those two or three weeks. Stayed at Quality Inn in Glasgow and two nights at Apex International Hotel in Edinburgh. Glasgow hotel booked ahead of time; Edinburgh hotel booked at Edinburgh train station at a lastminute.com booth, a great service for a GBP5 fee.

Now not to be disrespectful, but I must poke fun at the Scottish, who pretend that they have their own language, known as Scots. To my culturally insensitive eye, Scots is simply English with the regular spellings replaced with phonetic spellings that reflect the peculiar Scottish accent. It's a sort of North Britain Ebonics. I picked up an English-Scots dictionary, read several entries that made sense to me, and then realized I was in the Scots section. Wow, here's a language I can read with no prior training. My linguistics skills have become highly developed on this trip!

I'm being a bit unfair because Scots does have words you will not understand, or words you understand but with different meanings than what you are used to. Here's a sample sentence:

The philosophour jugit him to be subtile of engine

Now if you know English, you can read that sentence as:

The philosopher judged him to be subtle of engine

That does not quite make sense, but once you know that "engine" in Scots can mean "mental capacity," the meaning becomes clear:

The philosopher judged him to be of slight intelligence

Now to finish up yesterday's entry on Northern Ireland. We highly recommend the black taxi tour of Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. You can see the murals in each neighborhood in the Image Gallery. As an outsider, it's hard to say if the murals are honoring martyrs or glorifying perpetuators of violence. Our image captions reflect the questions we have, and not knowing the answers, we'll leave it at that. Our driver and tour guide, confirmed my thought, written here a few days ago, that some Catholics in Northern Ireland do not want to be part of Ireland. I thought it was for social reasons--e.g. although Catholic they did not agree with Catholic Church policy on social issues--but he cited more economic issues: people think they are better off economically in the UK than in Ireland. I had thought of that, but wondered if that is more of a historical reason than a current reason now that Ireland's per capita GDP has caught up and surpassed that of the UK.

The city centre of Belfast has lots of activity but many abandoned buildings. It is one of the more run-down cities we have seen. Having said that, there are signs of new building, and I would not be surprised if the current opportunity for peace will usher in a revitalization of Belfast. Having not been here before, and lacking a prior comparison, perhaps the revitalization is already underway.

The border between Ireland and Northern Ireland--which of course is the dividing line between two countries, Ireland and the UK--is completely unmarked. You have no idea when you switch countries. There's no immigration, no signs, nothing. We could only tell we were in the UK (Northern Ireland) because a store had prices in pounds rather than euros. A few miles down the road, we stopped for lunch and the prices were back in euros, the first notice we had that we were back in Ireland. The other noticeable indication is that if there is smoking inside, it is the UK, although some UK restaurants and pubs near the border ban smoking anyway, so this rule is less certain.

Saturday, September 18, 2005 - Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Went to Museum of Scotland; stopped at exhibition on World War II espionage at National Library; went to Edinburgh Castle, and war museum inside; at night saw movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Reviews of it were excellent, generally saying it was better than the original Willy Wonka movie, but Deanna and I--our expectations raised--were a bit disappointed. She thought Willy Wonka was better; I don't remember enough of that movie to have an opinion.

Company reports and economic news continue to point to a consumer slowdown here. House prices are stagnant, and consumer spending is down. B&Q, the UK version of Home Depot, is closing stores and laying off staff. Profits are dropping at Next, the UK Gap. The UK central bank has a tough call going forward--should it drop rates to offset a slowing economy or should it raise rates to offset rising inflation. Their last move was to lower a quarter-point to 4.25%. With US rates likely heading up again next week to 3.75%, rate trends continue to be bullish for the US dollar.

At night, listened over the Internet to St. Louis Cardinals clinch the Central Division Saturday afternoon. That this occurred in Wrigley Field at the home of the archrival Chicago Cubs made the victory even sweeter. You could hear the chant "Let's Go Cardinals" loud and clear as it reverberated off the ivy to my tinny PC speaker.

Sunday, September 19, 2005 - Keswick, England, UK

Drove from Edinburgh, Scotland to the Lakes Region of England. Along the way, we stopped to see Hadrian's Wall, built in the 2nd Century by Roman Emperor Hadrian to keep out invaders from the north. Only parts of the wall remain, and what is there today cannot restrain grazing sheep. Many of the stones from the wall were later used to build houses and other structures in the area. We also stopped in Durham. It has an extremely well preserved 11th Century cathedral. An official inside immodestly claimed it was the "most impressive Romanesque cathedral in all of Britain and maybe the world" and we could not really disagree. Pictures of the wall, the cathedral, and other Durham sites are in the Image Gallery.

Stayed at Keswick Park Hotel, a B&B in the city centre. Our rental car has GPS and the navigation program is far more accurate and easier to follow than any program I've experienced in the US. The car is a Vauxhall (GM), but the radio/GPS is an Opel (Ford) CD 70 Navi. This system is especially useful in the UK or Europe given narrow, complicated roads and the lack of a grid system. It's far harder to drive here than in the US, and this system helps greatly. Further, it can warn you to traffic delays and route you around the obstruction.

Monday, September 20, 2005 - Stratford-upon-Avon, England, UK

Drove from Lake District down to Stratford. Stayed at the first hotel we stopped at, Grosvenor House Hotel. Along the way stopped at numerous places of note. Blackpool is the most visited English seaside resort. I had read much about it, most of it not good, so of course we had to see it. It is off the charts of the kitsch scale. It's arcades, fish & chips shops, and tacky souvenir stands for miles along the seashore, with everything having a modern circa-1970 motif. I've never been to Coney Island or the Atlantic City boardwalk. Maybe they are like this, but I'm not sure any place is quite like this. It's really awful, but I'm glad we saw it, for at this point in the trip we seek out unique things that we have not seen elsewhere and Blackpool definitely is uniquely bad. Prior to Blackpool, we stopped in Morecambe, a down-and-out seaside town about 20 miles north of Blackpool. Bill Bryson mentioned it in his book, "Notes from a Small Island." He said that it was a viable competitor to Blackpool until the 1950s, but since then it had fallen straight downhill. He wrote this in 1990, so I was interested to see if things had improved since then, but there was no indication that they had. We also drove through the city centres of Manchester and Birmingham, two large industrial cities that have rebounded over the past 10-15 years.

The German election results were a disappointment. Merkel's party won, but only by the slimmest of margins, and together with their main coalition partner, they only have about 44%-45% of the votes. So they will have to seek another party with views different from their own to form a governing coalition; alternatively, Schmidt's incumbent party could form a coalition. In any event, it's a stalemate for now, and whatever coalition does emerge will not have the power I hoped for to make the economic restructuring changes that Germany needs. The sliver lining for us is that the euro is down on the news, to $1.21 now.

Tony Blair criticized the BBC for anti-American bias in their Hurricane Katrina coverage; he's absolutely right. I see where Clinton also said the BBC's reporting was wrongly set up to make everything seem Bush's fault. The Telegraph had an editorial agreeing with Blair and taking the BBC to task for blaming everything on Bush and not examining the faults of state and local officials, including New Orleans' mayor, who the newspaper labeled as cartoonish. The coverage has been snobbish, with a steady undertone of maybe-they-brought-it-all-on-themselves. It was the same during the Rodney King riots in 1992 when I lived here. It's a regrettable human condition to criticize whoever is on top, whether a celebrity, sports figure, politician, business figure, company, or country. A similar tone of disdain was not present as the BBC reported on subsequent rioting in Northern Ireland.

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September 18, 2005

05:18:51 am Northern Ireland Diary  

Northern Ireland Diary

Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom

Drove from Galway to Belfast, stopping twice, once at a pottery place Deanna wanted to visit and then at the Giant's Causeway, a unique rock formation of hexagonal basalt columns (see Image Gallery, although I'm not sure our pictures do it justice). Stayed at a bed & breakfast we found just outside of Belfast. One thing we like to do when driving through a country is listen to AM radio to get the pulse of current local issues. This worked well in New Zealand, Australia, and England, but alas in Ireland the reception has been crap, so other than when we are in a major town it's all static. Tonight, I noticed why. Our radio antenna is missing! I did not notice this before as it is hard to see what is not there.

On those rare occasions when a signal does come through, we have caught updates of the latest riot situation in Belfast. With the IRA declaring an end to their armed struggle in July, it looked like peace was at hand after 36 years of violence (just the latest episode in struggles going on for hundreds of years), but wouldn't you know it, just as the Catholic side moves toward peace, the Protestant side begins rioting. And for no good reason really. Their parade march was not authorized for the route they wanted to take because it was too close to Catholic areas. So they marched along the revised route and rioted, never mind that the damage they caused was in their own neighborhood. I've criticized the Catholic Church many times during this trip (and always with good reason of course!), but this time it's the Protestants that deserve the criticism. The ferocity of the riots Saturday night surprised everyone and the violence has continued every night since then, although it seems to be running out of energy now. At this point, it seems not really to be about religious or political issues, rather it's degenerated to groups of gangland thugs who no longer have a viable cause, creating havoc for no good reason. How else do you explain robbing ATMs in your own neighborhood? That's nothing more than organized crime. These groups need to examine what their purpose is and if there is any reason for their continued existence. But then few people have the strength of character to realize their cause has outlived its usefulness and it ought to die a merciful death.

Thursday, September 15, 2005 - Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK and Glasgow, Scotland, UK

Belfast does not have a lot to see, but what we saw was interesting. Took a black cab tour of the Catholic and Protestant areas, went to the Ulster Museum, and then to the War Memorial Museum. The war museum was small, only two rooms, but filled with interesting memorabilia. They had many World War II newspaper front pages in the exhibits, and a separate book with hundreds of front pages. I could have spent an hour or more just looking through this book, but unfortunately the museum closed early at 4PM.

The black cab tour went through the area where the Protestant riots occurred the last few days. In the late morning, it appeared to be a quiet working-class neighborhood, albeit one with burned out car frames, and a few burned out buildings. Otherwise, though, it could have been a commercial street running through any UK town, with lots of shops and people going about their daily business. Absent lingering riot debris, though, you would still notice the murals (see Image Gallery), a unique part of this urban landscape. There's more to say, but I'm out of time so I'll need to continue another day.

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05:17:36 am News Roundup  

Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - Galway, Ireland

Mainly a day of to do's. I made forward travel bookings while Deanna did laundry. An experience we've had throughout this trip is that you begin to learn the current event of local culture, but just as you become tuned in to all that is happening--local sports, currency rate movements, interest rate trends, economic growth, politics, ongoing news stories--you leave for another country. Events in the countries we have traveled through continue after we leave, and we do follow them as best we can, but usually I don't have time to comment on them because I'm writing on the issues in our next location. So now, let's catch up some random things from countries we have left behind.

- England won The Ashes over Australia on Monday (that's cricket) in what was regarded as the most exciting Ashes series in history. Now that I understand the sport, I find it much more interesting than I would have ever imagined. Like baseball, it's rich with strategy and statistics. I find it superior to soccer, a sport I have tried my whole life to like, but which never really ignited a passion in me. While I can't deny that it is the world's most popular team sport, I find soccer to be too modest in terms of excitement, strategy, and statistics. It has all of things of course, but in quantities too small for my taste.

- The Australian Rules football season has ended and the playoffs are underway. This is a hard sport to follow outside of Australia and New Zealand. Since leaving, I have seen one match on TV in Indonesia (a popular Australian vacation spot), and I have seen scores printed in an Irish paper (since Aussie rules and Gaelic football are similar).

- I've been meaning to write for months that two Pacific economies--Japan and Australia--that appeared as if they were on the verge of recession early this year are performing much better than I expected. I did not get around to noting this after each released better-than-expected Q1 GDP numbers, so I'll say something now that the Q2 numbers are out. I don't have the number in front of me, but Japan's Q2 GDP growth, announced in the last two days, was much higher than expected, something in the 5% annualized range, similar to their strong Q1 showing. In Q4 of last year, they had a flattish or down (I don't remember which) quarter, leading me and others to think they were heading for recession yet again. Job growth there has been strong this year and it appears their 15-year slumber could be ending, although they have had many false starts before. Their prime minister Koizumi won a landslide election last week and appears to have a mandate for domestic reform. This includes privatizing the post office, which in addition to delivering the mail, also happens to be the world's largest financial institution. Whether he will tackle the country's demographic time bomb remains to be seen. I think Japan's near-term outlook is more promising than I thought at the beginning of this trip, but I think their long-term problems remain, and I am not sure that they will be addressed sufficiently. Again, I don't have the number with me, but Australia's Q2 GDP growth number was quite good, something like 4%-5% annualized. The Q1 number was in the 2%-3% range, so the flattish Q4 result appears to be just a blip. Their central bank has continued to keep rates at the 5.50% level. They last raised in February or March just before we arrived in the country.

- New Zealand's central bank has also kept rates steady at the 6.75% level (I think this is correct--New Zealand is small and remote enough that you don't get much news on it outside of the region) they increased to while we were in New Zealand.

- Germany has a key election on Sunday. If we had a vote, we'd cast it for opposition Christian Democratic Union leader Angela Merkel for prime minister. We wrote on Germany and France's economic woes in one of our New Zealand posts. She has styled herself as a Ronald Reagan agent for change after a decade and a half of economic stagnation. France's next presidential election is not until 2007, but already the leading opposition candidate is casting himself in a similar role, and openly urging German voters to elect Merkel. Notable for Americans, both leaders reject the anti-American tilt of their countries present leaders, Schroder and Chirac. Merkel plainly states that an anti-American Europe cannot remain vibrant and relevant to the world. Germany knows it needs to change, but they are fearful of what the change entails. How well Merkel's party does on Sunday will say a lot about whether the country is ready to take the tough medicine it needs.

- We've written how flat income tax rates have swept through Eastern Europe and Russia, and noted with irony that these former communist countries now have a tax regime that we would prefer to that of the US. Merkel's finance chief advocates a 25% flat income tax rate for Germany and now the Conservative Party in the UK is considering whether they should adopt a flat tax theme after being routed earlier this year in the last parliamentary election. (They need to do something--like the Democrat party in the US they seem completely devoid of ideas. Why, they have so little to offer, that I would have voted for the Tony Blair and the Labour party, and that's saying something.) The integration of the EU tends to encourage economic competition between countries, and that makes it possible that the flat tax will spread to Western Europe. If it does, look for it to receive more serious consideration in the US.

- In an election result I don't really understand, Norway voters, apparently not content with a booming economy, being rated the best place in the world to live, and having one of the world's highest standards of living, have ousted the tax-cutting incumbent party and elected a Red-Green alliance that has pledged to spend part of the country's oil trust fund on welfare. That's like eating the seed corn when you are already full. The kind of thing you might consider if you were in a recession, but not during a boom time. Don't underestimate the ability of foolish politicians to project blue sky and sunshine forever when times are good, as many US state governments did when they spent their windfall in the late 90s and faced huge deficits in the early 2000s. There must be some local issues at play in Norway that we don't understand, but on the surface, this seems quite a bad decision. I'm bearish on Norway until I learn more, although I acknowledge that high oil prices can cover a multitude of management errors.

- I've seen two conflicting stories on housing prices in the UK. One said that prices were down again in the most recent month, and have fallen every month this year. The other showed a slight increase from July to August, but the rate of increase is declining.

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05:14:08 am Ireland Diary Continued  

Saturday, September 10, 2005 - Killarney, Ireland

We all drove to Killarney, near the southwest coast of Ireland. It's four to five hours away, which meant it took all day. Let's just say that our Deanna's family crew is not endowed with the fast-moving Mason gene, and I mean that in the kindest possible way! We stopped at Rock of Cashel, aka St. Patrick's Rock, an unused medieval cathedral ruin on a hilltop (see Image Gallery). We are staying two nights at the Salmon Leap Farm bed and breakfast. Weather is cool, about 60.

Here are some random observations about Ireland:

- While the culture is similar to England, it is a bit closer to America than England. In terms of foreign influence, you could say Ireland is three parts English, one part American, whereas England would naturally be 100% English (ignoring McDonalds and Starbucks of course), if that makes any sense. Realizing Ireland has existed much longer than the US, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that the some origins of American culture that you do not see in England are noticeable when visiting Ireland. Also, I would say Ireland is a bit more receptive to America, understandable given historical relationships between the three countries. For England, the US is the unruly colony that is a bit too spoiled by its success. For Ireland, the US was the land of opportunity that accepted a large part of its population in a time of trouble (the potato famine of the late 1840s). Irish-Americans have maintained visible ancestral ties to their homeland, as a result there is a stronger Irish culture in the US than there is an English culture, a matter of surprise and comment to English people who live in the US. And similar to the US, the Irish view the English as oppressors, although the Irish view of this is more recent than this faded American perspective.
- The principal non-motorway highways seem a bit wider and straighter than Britain.
- The countryside is reminiscent of New Zealand.
- Although not as expensive as some parts of Europe we have been to, Ireland is no bargain, as I imagine it once might have been. Costs seem higher than in the US. Ireland's 30-plus year membership in the EU--among other things--has helped lift the country up from being a poorer member of Western Europe to one whose per capita GDP now exceeds that of the UK.
- A working ATM is hard to find. Out-of-service ATMs are plentiful. Was 0 for 4 on Saturday in getting cash. I'm sure this is just random bad luck.

Sunday, September 11, 2005 - Killarney, Ireland

We drove the Ring of Kerry, a circular drive around a peninsula in the county of Kerry. I must say that it was visually spectacular, a description I don't hand out easily after eight months of seeing beautiful places all over the world. The weather was perfect as well, about 70 and sunny, and that certainly enhanced the trip. I must qualify completely, though, my comment of yesterday about non-motorway highways here being wider than in Britain. This is only true on "principal" non-motorway highways, and does not pertain to significant parts of the national road system. The Ring of Kerry, for example, is notable not only for its scenery, but also for the extreme narrowness of its roads, none of which qualify as a principal highway in my classification scheme. I finally found a working ATM, but it was not the first one I visited today.

Cork beat Galway in the hurling final. I saw the first 10 minutes and then we stopped about 80 minutes later to catch the end (well me anyway, everyone else went shopping), but it was already over. This may be the Super Bowl of Ireland (along with the Gaelic football final in two weeks), but it is not Super Bowl length.

Now a bit of education on confusing country place names that Americans never seem to quite understand. There are 32 counties on the island of Ireland. 26 of these make up the country, Republic of Ireland, or just Ireland for short. The other six are in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Sometimes you here a reference to Ulster, which is one of the four provinces that Ireland is divided into. I'm not sure what the significance the provinces have as the counties seem far more prominently discussed than the provinces. Anyway, Ulster consists of nine counties--the six counties of Northern Ireland, and three counties that are in the Republic of Ireland. This division is what makes Ulster notable--I could not tell you what the other three province names even are.

The full name of the United Kingdom is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Republic of Ireland gained its independence from the UK in 1921. Prior to this, the UK's name was the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. But before Ireland became part of the UK in 1801, it was simply the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The name "United Kingdom" refers to the uniting of England (which already ruled Wales) and Scotland. That union occurred in 1707. England and Scotland had the same king before this, but each had its own parliament, and they really were two countries under one monarch. When they became one country in 1707, and for the 93 years that followed, the new name UK could really be used interchangeably with Britain. But since 1800, when Ireland joined the fold, these two words have not meant the same thing, with Britain being part, but not all, of the UK.

Returning to Ireland, the Republic of Ireland is predominantly Catholic, while Northern Ireland is equally balanced between Catholic and Protestant. Great Britain is predominantly Protestant. The violence in Northern Ireland during our lifetimes is between Catholic and Protestant groups, the former often desiring to join the Republic of Ireland and the latter generally content to stay in the UK. It is probably fair to say that the majority of people in Northern Ireland want to remain in the UK. And it is also probably fair to say, although I may get some disagreement on this in the country where I am writing this, that one failing of those championing Irish unification is not appreciating that the majority of Northern Irish do not agree with their aim. Principally, the Northern Irish Protestants, and perhaps even some of the Northern Irish Catholics as well, do not want to live in a country that is majority Catholic. While from the Protestant side much of this is just religious preference, or opposition to a group different than your own, there is also a social element that affects both groups. Many people, even Catholics, see Catholic Church attitudes on women, birth control, abortion, and other social issues as backward, and given the Church's tendency to meddle in state affairs, they are wary of a Catholic-majority state. While sporadic violence will likely continue, as witnessed by Saturday night march riots in Belfast, in July the IRA finally renounced violence in pursuit of its goals.

Great Britain, thus, is the island to the east of the island of Ireland and it consists of three nationalities, the English, the Scottish, and the Welsh. While certain matters of government are decided in England, Scotland, and Wales (just as they are in a US state), overall these three areas are all part of one country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Since 1997, Scotland and Wales do have their own parliaments again, but these parliaments are subordinate to the British parliament in London, just as US state governments are subordinate to Washington.

These distinctions are confused in practice, as people often use the terms England, Britain, and the UK interchangeably, as if they have identical meaning, which they do not. England is part of Great Britain which itself is part of the UK. Because England is the biggest part of Britain, and because Britain is the biggest part of the UK, the precise distinctions are often dropped in everyday usage. It's identical to when--in Communist days--people would use Russia and the USSR interchangeably. Actually, while Russia was the biggest part of the USSR, it was only one of 15 republics in the USSR, even though it accounted for the majority of the people and the majority of the territory. Now, these 15 republics are 15 separate countries. It is possible that the four main nationalities of the UK could one day devolve into three or four different countries, with Northern Ireland either becoming independent or joining with Ireland, but at the moment this looks less likely than not. It's like Quebec separating from Canada--it does not look likely to happen now, but there is always a chance it could happen in the future.

Further confusing the matter is that in some organizations--sports mostly come to mind--the nationalities are separate. For example, in soccer's World Cup, there is no UK team: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland all have separate teams.

Monday, September 12, 2005 - Galway, Ireland

We left Deanna's relatives behind and ventured on our own to Galway, stopping at the Cliffs of Moher along the way (see Image Gallery). I had numerous things to do that required the Internet, so we were looking for a place to stay with Internet access. I thought that a Choice Hotel property (Clarion Inn, Quality Inn, Comfort Inn, etc.) would likely have this, and before I could verbalize this thought to Deanna, a new Quality Inn appeared before us on the outskirts of Galway. The first sign I saw in their lobby was announcing that they had broadband wireless, so we signed up for two nights. There is something to be said for American homogenization.

I said before that Ireland is like New Zealand and the longer I am here the more I think that. They are both islands, with 4-5 million English-speaking people, having beautiful scenery and lush green foliage. I will note, though, that New Zealand in early summer is greener than Ireland in late summer, but Ireland in late summer is much greener than New Zealand in late summer, at least this year, where New Zealand had a bit of a drought. Here's another similarity: each country has banned smoking in all bars and restaurants countrywide. This makes the atmosphere so much more pleasant that I am now convinced that bars and restaurants will see increased sales if smoking is banned, provided the ban is over a wide-enough geographic area--an entire state or a large city where people are unlikely to go to the suburbs as an alternative. People like Deanna and I and many of our friends would visit these places more often (we pretty much avoid them completely now) and smokers would have no alternative. If I owned a bar or restaurant in Chicago, I would lobby for a smoking ban. Of course, nearly all bar and restaurant owners are against this, continuing to ignore the evidence that is piling up as more countries, states, and cities ban smoking without any visible economic calamity to these establishments.

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September 10, 2005

03:58:33 am UK & Ireland Diary  

Saturday, September 3, 2005 - Marlow, UK

Yesterday we flew British Airways from Oslo, Norway to London, then rented a car and drove to Marlow. Two couples we met in the Galapagos Islands live in the Marlow area--Clive and Wendy Smith and Stuart and Gloria Sinclair. Both are retired now, and thus have the time and desire to host freeloading world travelers such as ourselves. Clive previously was a pilot for British Airways, while Wendy just sold her children's clothing boutique. Stuart and Gloria could have, but did not, operate a personal service boutique for busy professionals strapped for time. Stuart could have examined your teeth while Gloria cut your hair, but alas they did not see synergistic benefits of such a combination, thus each had separate practices. We stopped first at the Smiths, had a few caiparinas--reliving our time in the Galapagos--while the Sinclairs joined us and then the six of us headed out to dinner. We stayed Friday and Saturday night with the Sinclairs, who live in the countryside, a few miles outside of Marlow. On Saturday, they cooked dinner for the six of us. Earlier, I watched the end of a one-day 50-over county cricket match on TV with Clive and Stuart, interrupting their viewing enjoyment with a never-ending series of questions about this curious sport. It actually can be quite interesting if you know when to pay attention (i.e., not the entire match). Weather continues to be fantastic--low 70s and sunny.

Sunday, September 4, 2005 - Isle of Wight, UK

We changed our plans to be able to accompany Clive and Wendy to their second home on the Isle of Wight. The island is a bit of an English version of Martha's Vineyard, off the south coast of Britain. We drove to the coast, parked our rental car, and took the ferry across. The weather remains sunny, with temps reaching the high 70s. We took the rib (rib stands for something like rubberized inflatable boat, but that name is typically of English understatement as really it's more like a speedboat) out for a trip to the Needles and back. As shown in the Image Gallery, the Needles are a series of chalk formations in the sea. At night, we went out with four other couples for a proper pub dinner.

Monday, September 5, 2005 - Isle of Wight, UK

A day spent sailing on Clive and Wendy's boat, and touring around Cowes, a town well-known for its sailing regatta. A bit cloudy in the morning, but the sun came out in the afternoon for the trip home. Overall, the Smiths and the Sinclairs have been incredibly generous and we hope we can repay them someday when they are next in the US.

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 - Worcester, UK

Took the 9AM ferry back to the mainland and drove three hours to Worcester (like in Massachusetts, pronounced "Wooster") to stay with Stuart and Deb (Hennesey) Roach. Deb and I worked at Andersen Consulting in Chicago and Manila. She married Stuart in 1997 and in 2000 they moved to the UK, where Stuart is from. They now have two children: Danny, 6, and Holly, 3. Stuart is working in Cadbury's IT group while Deb works part time at the BBC. We relived stories of Deb's drunken party girl days, but now she has morphed seamlessly into a suburban mom. It was good to see them--I really appreciate Deb coming back to Chicago for our wedding last summer (and I appreciate Stuart taking care of the kids at home to allow her to do so!).

Wednesday, September 7, 2005 - Dublin, Ireland

We drove two hours to Liverpool to catch a Ryanair flight to Dublin. Staying three nights at Clarion Stephens Hall Hotel & Suites. Ryanair is the Southwest Airlines of Europe, and actually passed BA in a recent period as the leading carrier in Europe, based on passengers. This would not be based on revenue, as we paid 99 pence each (about $1.84) for our ticket before taxes. They do get you on excess luggage charges though, as the limit is only 15 kilograms each. Since we are engineered for 20 kilos each, we had no choice but to pay another $60 or so, but it was still cheaper than taking the ferry.

We were early arriving to Liverpool, which is good because we ran out of gas just outside the airport. Lesson 1: the distance gauge is not necessarily reliable. It said we had 90 miles of fuel left about 40 miles from the airport. Lesson 2: petrol stations are hard to find in Europe. We did not see a station in the last 40 miles before the airport. Fortunately, we were able to reach a parking spot before the car died and there was a petrol station about 1.5 miles away. In total, paid about $100 to fill up the tank, gas costing about $7.50 per gallon.

Wednesday night was a big night in World Cup qualifying--France played Ireland about a mile from our hotel and England played Northern Ireland in Belfast. Thought about going to the Ireland game, but scalped tickets would have been at least 100 euros ($125) each, if not more, and we did not finish eating until just before the game started, so watched on TV instead. France and Northern Ireland each prevailed 1-0, with Northern Ireland result being a huge upset. England last lost to Northern Ireland in 1972 and had not even allowed a goal against them in 25 years. England is on the bubble to qualify for the World Cup, while the higher ranked USA (#6 in the world currently) has already qualified.

Our hotel room is two rooms with kitchenette. This is a nice change in hotel rooms and maybe something we should do more often, although availability and cost are issues. We went to a nearby grocery store and bought food for dinner and breakfast.

Thursday, September 8, 2005 - Dublin, Ireland

Overcast, occasional drizzle, mid 60s. Went to National Museum. Looked only at the last exhibit room on the 19th and 20th Century independence movement. Then went next door to the National Library that had an exhibit on Dublin author James Joyce's book Ulysses. I have not read the book and probably would not like it as it is a modern-art version of writing, but the exhibit itself was interesting. Deanna went back to see how her mom, grandma, Georgie, and Karen were doing. They flew in this morning, and were a bit jet lagged as you would expect. I went on to City Hall, which had an exhibit on the city's history, then met them for lunch. In the afternoon, we all went to the Dublin Castle and took the double decker bus tour around the city. The castle had some nice rooms, but after Russia everything pales in comparison. Dublin itself is a bit less interesting than I might have expected. There's nothing wrong with it, it just can't compete with London in terms of things to see. For all the attention the Irish get in the US, you forget sometimes how small it is. The country's population is less than four million, or just over five and a half million if you include Northern Ireland. Dublin's population is just under one million.

Friday, September 9, 2005 - Dublin, Ireland

Rained until mid-afternoon. About 60. Went to the Gaelic Athletic Association Museum and the Writer's Museum by myself while Deanna and family toured churches and went shopping. Oddly, they did not seem interested in learning about two fabulous Irish sports, hurling and Gaelic football. I had seen hurling once on Wide World of Sports about 25 years ago which described it as either the world's most violent sport or one of the world's fastest sports or maybe both. Arm 15 players per side with hurleys (sort of like field hockey sticks, about half the size of ice hockey sticks), throw in a ball about the size of a baseball and not much softer, and have them go at it on a field that's about 1.5 times the size of an American football field. Like lacrosse, you get minimal equipment, and you are constant being hacked with opponents' hurleys, not too mention being hit with the flying ball. You can run with the ball, bounce the ball on the hurley as you run (something the players do with great prowess, but which I could not do more than one or two times before it fell to the ground), or bat the ball downfield as if it were a baseball. The goal is a soccer net with goalposts extending upward as in American football. It's three points if you put it into the net and one point if you hurl the ball over the crossbar but within the goalposts. The All-Ireland final is this Sunday afternoon--the 90,000 tickets are sold out. Gaelic football is played on the same field with the same goal and one and three points for scoring. Australian rules football evolved from this game. Australia and Ireland have played test football matches using a compromise set of rules, combining elements from each game. The All-Ireland Gaelic football championship is in two weeks and will have a similar crowd of 90,000.

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03:55:32 am Scandanavian Statistics  

Friday, September 2, 2005 - Oslo, Norway and Marlow, UK

As we leave Norway, let's look at a comparison of the five Scandinavian countries we visited in the past month.

Country Population
Denmark: 5.4 million
Finland: 5.2 million
Iceland: 0.3 million
Norway: 4.6 million
Sweden: 9.0 million

Capital & Largest City, Population
Denmark: Copenhagen, 1.4 million
Finland: Helsinki, 525,000
Iceland: Reykjavik, 103,000
Norway: Oslo, 483,000
Sweden: Stockholm, 704,000

Per capita GDP, Purchasing Power Parity
Denmark: $31,200
Finland: $27,300
Iceland: $30,900
Norway: $37,700
Sweden: $26,800

Per capita GDP, Absolute Dollars
Denmark: $33,750
Finland: $27,020
Iceland: $30,810
Norway: $43,350 (#2 in the world)
Sweden: $28,840

Size
Denmark: between Maryland and West Virginia
Finland: slightly smaller than Montana
Iceland: slightly smaller than Kentucky
Norway: slightly larger than New Mexico
Sweden: slightly larger than California

Currency
Denmark: Krone, 5.8 per dollar
Finland: Euro, 0.80 per dollar
Iceland: Krona, 62 per dollar
Norway: Krone, 6.3 per dollar
Sweden: Krona, 7.1 per dollar

European Status

Background: The European Union (EU) is a 25-country free trade area. EU membership increased from 15 to 25 countries in 2004, when numerous Eastern European countries joined. The 10 newest members do not have full rights yet. For example, they are not allowed to begin using the euro currency until 2007, and then only if they meet certain economic targets. Also, they are not yet part of the Schengen immigration zone. For individuals, travel between Schengen countries means you do not pass through immigration--it is as if you are making a domestic journey instead of an international one. Of the 15 older EU members, 12 use the euro--the UK, Denmark, and Sweden do not. There are 15 Schengen members--the 15 older EU members minus the UK and Ireland plus non-EU members Iceland and Norway.

Denmark: Joined EU in 1973, member of Schengen immigration zone, not an EMU member, so they do not use the euro. Same as Sweden.

Finland: Joined EU in 1995, Schengen member, EMU member.

Iceland: Not an EU or EMU member. Probably could obtain membership if it applied, but thinks EU membership would interfere with its fishing rights. Is a Schengen member. Same as Norway.

Norway: Offered, but rejected EU membership twice, in 1973 and 1995. Believes EU membership would interfere with its fishing rights and whaling industry. Is a Schengen member. Same as Iceland.

Sweden: Joined EU in 1995, Schengen member, but not an EMU member. Same as Denmark, Sweden still uses its own currency rather than the euro.

Language

Each country speaks its own language: Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish. Nearly every person you meet though is fluent in English.

Independence

Denmark: na
Finland: 1917 from Russia
Iceland: 1944 from Denmark
Norway: 1905 from Sweden
Sweden: na

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September 01, 2005

02:51:04 pm Most Expensive Places  

Based on gut feel and memory, here is my list of the most expensive places we have been to this trip (some of these are not cities):

1. Bora Bora
2. Reykjavik, Iceland. Clearly to me it is more expensive than the cities listed below, but because of its small size it may not be listed in many of those most expensive cities in the world rankings.
3. Oslo, Norway
4. London, UK
5. Tokyo, Japan. Before this trip, Tokyo was the most expensive place I have been, but it's now not as expensive as it once was. It's hard to distinguish London and Tokyo as each city is clearly more expensive in some areas and less expensive in other areas--I'd have to examine this more systematically to confidently put one ahead of the other. I list London first if for no other reason than to draw attention to Tokyo's deflation.
6. Moscow, Russia. It's much less expensive for locals than for foreigners, but unless you speak Russian, you are going to pay for the foreigner experience.
7. Copenhagen, Denmark

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02:51:03 pm Russia (continued), Finland, & Norway Diary  

Friday, August 26, 2005 - St. Petersburg, Russia

Visited the Peter and Paul Fortress and the nearby Hermitage Museum. The Hermitage supposedly has the world's largest museum collection of paintings, sculpture, and other art forms spread over five connected buildings--Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Large Hermitage, New Hermitage, and Hermitage Theater. Our guide Luda said the impressionist painting collection was the largest outside of the Museum d'Orsay in Paris, but it seemed no bigger than the Art Institute. They are probably counting the post-impressionists and the impressionists together as they did have about three dozen Matisse's on display, along with other post-impressionists. The Winter Palace also has state rooms from the time of the czars. They lived here when they weren't dividing their summer months between the ridiculously extravagant Catherine Palace and the over-the-top elegant Summer Palace. After lunch, Deanna and I went to the Museum in Political History in Russia. Unlike our two prior solo museum excursions, this time we found a museum that had a decent amount of English--enough to make it worth going, although more would be desirable as at least half of the museum is only in Russian.

The weather continued to be excellent--about 75 degrees and sunny. I have been able to return to shorts, a good thing as we are in desperate need of doing laundry. That may be our top priority in Finland.

In the time before and after dinner I edited our pictures, Deanna edited my diary log, and we argued over my August 25 Russian excessive worrying gene joke. She thought it was too mean to include, while I thought it was too funny to leave out. I rewrote it based on her feedback, decided it had now become even funnier, and must be included over her protests.

We had a farewell dinner with the other six people in the Exeter group and Luda. It has been a really good group, everyone got along well, and I think enjoyed the trip more because of the group. The only thing more we could have asked would be for some of them to have been from Europe, so that we would have a place to stay in the coming months! Overall, Russia was one of the more surprising countries we have visited. We expected many things to be bad, and few actually were. In India, you pay a lot of money to avoid the unpleasant parts of the country, but you never fully escape India (e.g., the poverty, begging, dirtiness, bureaucratic approach to everything). In Russia, similarly, you pay a lot to enhance your experience and avoid the bad, but in this case--unlike India--you actually do avoid about everything bad. Further, there is a lot to see here that we never expected. And while we may not have learned as much about 20th Century history here as we would have in other countries (due to the language barrier and those museums not being part of our itinerary), we did learn more about the 18th and 19th Centuries than we expected to.

Saturday, August 27, 2005 - St. Petersburg, Russia and Helsinki, Finland

12:35 PM Finnair flight from St. Petersburg to Helsinki, arriving 12:30 PM (one hour time change). Three nights at Cumulus Kaisaniemi Hotel. St. Petersburg was rainy when we left, but it was sunny in Helsinki, although cooler, in the mid-60s. Our plans for Finland are not that ambitious after eight days on the go in Russia--pay bills, do laundry, backup pictures, book UK travel, and so forth, in addition to a limited number of museum visits. Helsinki is a small city, around a half million people in the city proper. Finland itself has around 5 million people. The Finnish language is undecipherable to anyone not Finnish, so everyone speaks English and probably a couple of other languages as well. Finnish is not even similar to languages in neighboring countries of Russia, Sweden, Norway, and Estonia. I went to the National Museum by myself while Deanna walked around town. Our hotel is in the city center, and everything is within walking distance. There's a movie theater across the street from us; at night we saw "It's All Gone Peter Tong" which won Best Feature Film or some similarly named award at last September's Toronto Film Festival. It's a comedy about an Ibiza techno DJ who loses his hearing. It was okay, 2.5 stars. Deanna liked it more than I.

Sunday, August 28, 2005 - Helsinki, Finland

Rained all day, and was cold, 55-60 degrees. Because we are completely out of clothes, I was down to shorts, a t-shirt, and a pullover windbreaker. Drafted Darius's Washington Nationals t-shirt into service and the rookie shirt did well in its debut. Finding an open laundry on Sunday near our hotel was a challenge. The hotel did laundry for a price equal to one week's worth of room rates, but not on the weekend. Eventually we located a cafe that had laundry facilities, although they neglected to tell us over the phone that they had exactly one washing machine. Deanna did two loads and saved the final load for Monday.

I went to the Military Museum and the City Museum. The Military Museum was the best of the three I saw yesterday and today. Although all in Finnish, they had an excellent English language translation booklet that seemed to contain more information than the exhibits themselves. In addition, there was a computer with an interactive DVD presentation of Finland's involvement in World War II. Finland, like the Baltics and eastern Poland, suffered at the hands of the Soviet Union, being east of the secret line Germany and the USSR agreed, dividing up Europe. Like the Baltics, Finland's enemy was the Soviets--and, having a common enemy, Germany was an ally. Finland's experience differed from the Baltics in that they resisted the Soviets more successfully at the beginning of the war and at the end, and they were never subsumed into the USSR (although they did lose some territory) or strong-armed into becoming a communist satellite country. Also, they were a bit more of an official ally of Germany, to the point that the UK, but not the US, declared war on them. Still, given a shared border with the USSR, they had to refrain from any anti-Soviet policies in the post-war period. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, it was Finland's largest export partner, and the collapse caused severe economic dislocations in Finland. Banks failed, bread lines formed, and they had to scale back the degree of their welfare state. As with most economic downturns, though, this period was short-lived as a Nokia-led prosperity occurred in the mid- to late 90s.

Finland did not gain independence until 1917, when the Russian Revolution freed it from Russia's control. A civil war ensued between the Reds and the Whites. Foreign powers intervened on sides, providing soldiers and material. The Russian Bolsheviks supported the Reds, while the Germans supported the Whites. After a few years, the Whites prevailed, and communism was defeated for a generation.

Two decades later, after the USSR and Germany agreed their secret carve up of Europe in August 1939, the USSR began pressing Finland for concessions. When negotiations stalled, the Soviets invaded, at the end of November 1939. They had far more difficulty than expected, losing something like 130,000 soldiers to Finland's 25,000. After three and half months, a peace treaty ended what was known as the Winter War. Finland conceded some territory, but not entire country as Stalin had expected when the war began. Watching the USSR incorporate the Baltic States in summer 1940, Finland naturally remained wary of Soviet intent, and thus was receptive to German munitions and assistance. When Germany intimated to Finland in the spring of 1941 that it might attack the Soviet Union, Finland signed on. German troops occupied northern Finland, and launched an offensive from there, while Finland did the same from southern Finland. Clearly, Finland had revenge in mind, and they even named this conflict the Continuation War in reference to the Winter War that ended 15 months earlier. Finland quickly regained all of its lost territory and then pushed into the USSR. After a few years stalemate, Germany began to collapse and Finnish gains were rolled back by advancing Soviet troops. Finland was on the defensive in 1944, and again negotiated a peace treaty with the USSR from a position of weakness in August 1944. Finland's territorial loses from the Winter War were affirmed. Moreover, the Finns had to make additional territorial concessions, pay reparations to the USSR, and forcibly evict Germany from northern Finland. This effort, where Finland turned on its former ally Germany, was known as the Lapland War and ran through April 1945.

In hindsight, Finland's coziness with Germany was understandable given a need to balance the untrustworthy Soviet Union. Nevertheless, I think Finland allowed their desire for revenge to get the best of them, and ultimately they paid the price, losing further territory and another 35,000 soldiers and civilians in the Continuation War and the Lapland War.

Monday, August 29, 2005 - Helsinki, Finland

Having seen all of the museums I wanted to, I spent much of the day in the hotel room, using my PC and the internet. Nothing exciting--did things like verifying my latest credit card bill, discovering that Hertz double charged me for our rental car in Sweden. Bought Bill Bryson's book, "Notes from a Small Island," his mid-90s travelogue around Britain. Read about 80 pages. Went to "The Island" at the theater across the street. This $100 million-to-make blockbuster was a big flop this summer, and now we know why.

Tuesday, August 30, 2005 - Helsinki, Finland and Oslo, Norway

Had a mid-day flight on SAS, about 90 minutes but gained one hour due to time change. Three nights at Best Western Bondeheimen downtown. Had time in the late afternoon to visit the Armed Forces Museum and the Museum of Resistance. The former was humorously disorganized--one room chronologically followed the next, but within the room, which might cover a century or so, the exhibits were arranged in what appeared to be a completely random order. If you did not know your World War II history, you might come away thinking that Hitler rose in Germany after VE Day. The latter museum was similar to the resistance museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Like Denmark, Norway tried to remain neutral in World War II, but Germany invaded anyway. The Norwegians held out for two months, as opposed to the Danes two-hour struggle, but the result was the same. Read another 120 pages of Notes from a Small Island, as Deanna and her mom exchanged 57 e-mails regarding the Ireland trip.

Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - Oslo, Norway

A perfect day of weather, about 70 and sunny with a cloudless sky. Finished our Oslo Museum tour with the National Gallery (art), the city museum, and the Nobel Peace Center. We also tried to go to the Munch Museum (the expressionist painter of "The Scream"), but it inexcusably was closed for about two weeks. The Oslo Guide 2005 pamphlet we picked up at the airport said it would be closed until June 2005 for renovation. I guess after an exhausting three month summer season, the facility needed a couple more weeks off. Perhaps the museum director had seen the brilliant weather report and decided now was the time to use up the remainder of his eight weeks annual vacation. The National Gallery did have several Munch paintings, including one version of The Scream. The Nobel Peace Center just opened this year and was much better than the main Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm. The Nobel Prizes originate in Sweden, but one of the prizes, the Peace Prize, is awarded in Norway. This museum had everything that the Stockholm Museum lacked--a list and bios of all of the winners, and excellent use of technology to provide additional drill-down information as you desired.

Norway's subways are going through a radical transformation. Ticket gates are being installed! Perhaps the honor system was yielding not so honorable results. At about $3 per ride--the second most expensive we have encountered so far, next to London's $3.60--there is strong incentive for dishonorable behavior.

Finished "Notes from a Small Island." I think Bryson's writing has improved with age--this mid-90s effort is in the middle chronologically of the three books I've read on this trip, so it's better than "Neither Here Nor There" written at the beginning of the decade, but not as good as "In a Sunburned Country," written at the end. The ribaldness of "Neither Here Nor There" has toned down, but his often-stated dislike of anything modern (architecture, cars, shopping centers) or conservative (in a political sense--why the Tories have ruined the country with their restraint on reckless overspending) does become tiresome at times. Overall, though, it's quite good. As usual, his description of everyday interactions makes you snort out loud with laughter when you are not expecting it.

Thursday, September 1, 2005 - Oslo, Norway

We took a two-hour cruise around Oslo Fjord. The name fjord conjures up an image of a narrow waterway between steep cliffs, but in this case, Oslo Bay might be a more meaningful name. The water was beautiful, but not fjord-like, even if technically it is a fjord due to its creation from receding glaciers. Sitting next to us on one side was a couple from Bloomington, Illinois, while on the other side was a couple from Springfield, Illinois. None of us knew that it was Downstate Illinois day in Oslo. Actually, the Bloomington couple moved to Raleigh, North Carolina about a year ago. They had just taken the Norway-in-a-Nutshell train/boat/bus tour of fjord-like fjords, and their tales of its beauty filled us with a sense of regret, as we had decided to skip this. Our reasons were sound--the tour either took 24 hours (you return overnight by train) or 16 hours (but you don't get a boat ride); the cost, like many things in Norway, was ridiculous--about $500 for the two of us; and we had done similar excursions in Chile/Argentina and New Zealand. During the New Zealand excursion, we actually were somewhat bored. The beauty of everything was overwhelmed by the longness of the day and the similarity of the trip to the even more beautiful Lakes Region of Chile and Argentina. While everyone else gawked outside at the New Zealand scenery, we sat inside reading Robert Kaplan, occasionally looking up to note some breathtaking image or another, and then went back to reading. Seeing as much as we have does make it a bit harder to be impressed. Therefore, we decided not to do the Norway-in-a-Nutshell tour, and now we were second-guessing ourselves, even though we knew if we did do it, we would probably have passed most of the time reading a travel book about somewhere else. The best way to do this tour is to break it in two, staying overnight in Bergen. If we had known about it ahead of time, we would have done that, but we had already booked three nights for Oslo.

Oslo always places high on the list of most expensive cities in the world, right up there and sometimes ahead of, Tokyo, London, and Moscow. Measured in terms of per-capita GDP, oil-blessed Norway is number two in the world behind Luxembourg and just ahead of Switzerland (there is something to be said for having a small denominator). Adjusted for purchasing power parity, Norway's wealth drops, but it still holds on to the number two ranking, about $100 ahead of the US.

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