Stanziliëri

During the past 3 weeks I have been away to Russia for 10 days and nights. And BOY was it wonderful. I've discovered a different world. To me: a new world. A world which has many things that most people here in the west will describe as bad, and outdated. A world which has many things that people overthere also find rather unpleasant. But also a world that harbours so much beauty. A world where the people are proud of their Motherland, their origin, and their being. A world where tradition and true social values are respected and upheld, unlike the ironic mask of fake social behaviour which is seen here in the west everywhere and propagated by the leftwing self-proclaimed 'socialists' who lost complete track of what that word actually means.

I met a number of people. Every one very interesting in their own way. I have been utterly impressed by the female part of the population. The way they work so hard. The way they show their ambition. The way they care about life and everything. The way they are so very kind and welcoming. And ofcourse the sheer and utter beauty of the younger (my) generation :-)

The very positive experience has urged me to go and learn more about this fabulous place. I definitely want to learn the language, and much more about the history of this all, to understand the people more. A good start for this seemed to me the book "Russia - A Journey to the Heart of a Land and its People" by Jonathan Dimbleby, a British tv & radio presenter. He spent a long time in Russia, making a crosscountry journey of 10000 miles from Murmansk to Vladivostok. He made 5 films about that, and wrote this book. From the part I've read now it seems a compelling psychoanalysis of Russia and the Russians, and it makes me more eager to learn more. This... is only the beginning.

Spying the huge territory on google maps, you can spot soooo many interesting things. Just one of many curious things I spotted so far are the markings made in the bottom of the Arctic sea:

Click for a larger version. This map shows the Arctic sea north of Russia, between Svalbard (top left), New Foundland (right) and Lapland (bottom left). And you can see there are many markings there, in patterns that are too regular and too geometric to be of natural origin.
What have those Russians been doing!???