The while-we-wait-for-river-cruises photo quiz

[Renmar]

Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery, St Petersburg.

 

We have been to St. Petersburg but this was not on our itinerary. We did visit an other memorial though, this one which was more about WW1.

 

Correction; it is a WW2 memorial as you can see in this picture

Theo

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Renmar
Additional info

[Coral]

1 hour ago, Renmar said:

Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery, St Petersburg.

 

We have been to St. Petersburg but this was not on our itinerary. We did visit an other memorial though, this one which was more about WW1.

 

Correction; it is a WW2 memorial as you can see in this picture

Theo

 

This is correct. I was here when I was 18 and it really moved me. I don't hear many people who have gone to it with their travels to St. Petersburg. My Grandfather died in WWII (not here) and maybe this exhibit really moved me because of that.

 

Here is a link for some info about it: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/piskaryovskoye-memorial-cemetery  

 

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/cemeteries/piskaryovskoe-memorial-cemetery/ 

 

This siege—considered a genocide by some historians—was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history. It was also perhaps the costliest in terms of casualties, with estimates totaling around 1,000,000 deaths, many of them civilians from starvation and exposure between September 8, 1941 and January 27, 1944.

 

Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery contains 186 mass graves with the bodies of about 420,000 civilians and 50,000 soldiers of the Leningrad Front.

 

The Star means one thing on the graves and the hammer and sickle means another - one is military and one is civilians.

 

Here is the poem on the stone:

 

Here lie Leningraders

Here are citydwellers - men, women, and children
And next to them, Red Army soldiers.
They defended you, Leningrad,
The cradle of the Revolution
With all their lives.
We cannot list their noble names here,
There are so many of them under the eternal protection of granite.
But know this, those who regard these stones:

No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten.

 

Here are some pics of the mass graves:

 

 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Coral

[jpalbny]

Oh wow. The siege of Leningrad was horrible. I can see how that would have an effect.

 

National Geographic did an entire issue about WWII last year (June, for 75th anniversary od D-Day). I am so behind that I just finished it this week.

 

They interviewed many who had witnessed  these events firsthand, both soldiers and civilians, from all sides. The stories from those who survived Leningrad brought tears to my eyes. Either that, or covid has made me soft.

[Canal archive]

I went on a school trip by coach aged 13 to Austria on route we passed commonwealth war graves and asked if we could stop at one, our driver said it wasn’t the kind of things young ladies should see! Luckily our teachers decided that we should and since have been to many in all corners of the world all very moving. CA

[Host Jazzbeau]

10 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

National Geographic did an entire issue about WWII last year (June, for 75th anniversary od D-Day). I am so behind that I just finished it this week.

I'm so far behind that there are Nat Geo issues piled up from before I was born!!!

[Coral]

37 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Oh wow. The siege of Leningrad was horrible. I can see how that would have an effect.

 

National Geographic did an entire issue about WWII last year (June, for 75th anniversary od D-Day). I am so behind that I just finished it this week.

 

They interviewed many who had witnessed  these events firsthand, both soldiers and civilians, from all sides. The stories from those who survived Leningrad brought tears to my eyes. Either that, or covid has made me soft.

The Battle of Stalingrad is huge also. It was also significant because it was a turning point in WWII. My Russian History from college isn't as sharp as it once was. If interested - maybe worth googling.

 

I think COVID has affected us in so many different ways! I get excited when I see a friend on another floor in another building that I haven't seen in months.

[notamermaid]

Being right in one of those countries with much fighting having gone on, I am surrounded by war cemeteries and commemorative plagues. I cannot remember when it first dawned on me that those graves are not normal graves. They are part of my everyday life if you like. What is not is the sheer scale of them in places like Ypres or Verdun, which I have not been to yet. Somehow the mass graves have visually a bigger impact on me, like the one you have posted, you know, no individual crosses. To think that there are so many people that are unidentified or you are time-wise unable to bury them individually, is just horrible. Mention Stalingrad to any German over the age of 60 and they will know what that name stands for.

 

As for Covid - I think it is a kind of shock experience, not full PTSD but a form of psychological impact to all of us. I noticed the difference just ten minutes talking to my colleague had the other day, it gave me a grasp back at normal life. And I still consider myself one of the lucky ones that have it easy.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Coral]

14 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Being right in one of those countries with much fighting having gone on, I am surrounded by war cemeteries and commemorative plagues. I cannot remember when it first dawned on me that those graves are not normal graves. They are part of my everyday life if you like. What is not is the sheer scale of them in places like Ypres or Verdun, which I have not been to yet. Somehow the mass graves have visually a bigger impact on me, like the one you have posted, you know, no individual crosses. To think that there are so many people that are unidentified or you are time-wise unable to bury them individually, is just horrible. Mention Stalingrad to any German over the age of 60 and they will know what that name stands for.

 

As for Covid - I think it is a kind of shock experience, not full PTSD but a form of psychological impact to all of us. I noticed the difference just ten minutes talking to my colleague had the other day, it gave me a grasp back at normal life. And I still consider myself one of the lucky ones that have it easy.

 

notamermaid

 

 

I have not been to a former concentration camp. I had the opportunity to go a few years ago and I didn't have the mindset to do such. I want to go in the future but need to be prepared for it.

 

Considering you are in Germany - yes, it is all around you.

[Renmar]

I have to give a wild card. Many pictures of our traveling around the world but only a few where rivers are involved. 

 

Theo

[Renmar]

6 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have not been to a former concentration camp. I had the opportunity to go a few years ago and I didn't have the mindset to do such. I want to go in the future but need to be prepared for it.

 

Considering you are in Germany - yes, it is all around you.

We, my DW and I, have been to the concentration camp where my stepfather was kept. It is/was a very emotional thing.

By the way, my stepfather survived and lived until the ripe age of 89.

 

Theo

Edited February 10, 2021 by Renmar

[notamermaid]

4 minutes ago, Coral said:

I have not been to a former concentration camp. I had the opportunity to go a few years ago and I didn't have the mindset to do such. I want to go in the future but need to be prepared for it.

Yes that is hard and not everyone would want to do that. I have not been. As part of history lessons we were shown round torture chambers in Berlin in our last year at school. Not pleasant at all.

 

2 minutes ago, Renmar said:

By the way, my stepfather survived and lived until the ripe age of 89.

That is good to read. There are so many terrible stories around me, also related to the Dutch and Germans for decades, it is nice to hear of good outcomes.

 

Thank you for the wild card. Who will take it and probably take this thread to its 100th page? Yes, people, there is a little celebratory number coming up.

 

notamermaid

 

[Renmar]

2 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Thank you for the wild card. Who will take it and probably take this thread to its 100th page? Yes, people, there is a little celebratory number coming up.

 

I will get the drinks ready

[gnome12]

Irawaddy River?

[vada_9]

4 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Irawaddy River?

The photo is not part of the game - it is the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok - Wat Arun is in the background.

 

There are overnight cruises to Ayutthaya on the converted rice barges (on my long list of to do's). Hopefully they will survive the closures.

Edited February 10, 2021 by vada_9

[Canal archive]

Here’s one a bit of comedy maybe!

 

[Coral]

33 minutes ago, vada_9 said:

The photo is not part of the game - it is the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok - Wat Arun is in the background.

 

There are overnight cruises to Ayutthaya on the converted rice barges (on my long list of to do's). Hopefully they will survive the closures.

Most of my friends who do river cruises to Cambodia and Vienam go to Bangkok first for part of their travels. Sort of a land portion before joining the river cruise.

[notamermaid]

@Canal archive Those are two interesting looking gentlemen in conversation. Would you like us to guess just river and city, or also who those men are?

 

notamermaid

 

[jpalbny]

There are a lot of bronze statues along the streets in Bratislava though I don't remember that one in particular. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by jpalbny

[notamermaid]

I see that Canal archive has kindly left part of a blackboard in the photo. Now I can tell it is written in my native language and I have an idea where to place this...

 

notamermaid

 

[Renmar]

This one is actually very easy to find with good old Google. I am not going to guess but will give a hint in my native language "Ik heb het in Keulen horen donderen" Meaning;

 

The expression was mainly used to indicate that someone was dumbfounded. When people actually heard it thunder in ********, it was actually very special. After all, that city was very far away .

 

Theo

[Renmar]

One more thing. I think that @notamermaid, the OP should have the option of posting either the 2500th post or the 2501st. JMHO

 

Theo

[Host Jazzbeau]

15 minutes ago, Renmar said:

One more thing. I think that @notamermaid, the OP should have the option of posting either the 2500th post or the 2501st. JMHO

 

Theo

If @notamermaid overshoots, I could hide a post or two to get her the honor – but somebody will have to let me know what numbers you are seeing [Host view keeps the numbering from hidden posts, if any, so my view tends to differ from yours].

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Here’s one a bit of comedy maybe!

 

The blackboard is in German, but that is as far as I can get.

[Renmar]

55 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

If @notamermaid overshoots, I could hide a post or two to get her the honor – but somebody will have to let me know what numbers you are seeing [Host view keeps the numbering from hidden posts, if any, so my view tends to differ from yours].

Post including this one 2474.

Edited February 11, 2021 by Renmar

[Host Jazzbeau]

48 minutes ago, Renmar said:

Post including this one 2474.

And I see 2484.  That's what makes it so hard to me to quote a post by number!