Lombardy

Second house in the mountain

I visited my friends’ second house in the mountain.The place is called Sant’Omoboro Terme which is famous for its its hot springs.It takes a bit more than 1 hour by car from…

England

Eccentric “Swan Lake”

“Swan Lake” is a masterpiece of classical ballet, but many people including Matthew Bourne have vreated original works using this story and music. This time I saw one called “Swan Lake Reloaded”…

England

Re-creation of Ballets Russes

There was an event which re-created Ballets Russes which took the world by storm in Paris in early 20th century. It was at London Coliceum and the program of the day…

Sevastopol

Balaklava

The bay of Balaklava in Ukraine goes into the land like fjord, so you cannot see it from the sea. That was the main point why this town was popular in…

Crimea

Famous for “champagne”

We moved from Sevastopol to Balaklava and had a very good seafood lunch. This time, we had a sparkling wine, which was a little sweet and was called “Champagne”. Yalta in…

Sevastopol

Peaceful naval port

80% of the population in Sevastopol in Ukraine is Russian. Russian Black Sea fleet is stationed here. When we visited there, there was some sort of ceremony planned next day, which…

Sevastopol

Ruin of mixed history

We had heard that Sevastopol is a city of military, so  we were not particularly interested, but learned that it has got a lot of cultural side, too. So we visited…

Crimea

Town of Gurzuf

The town, Gurzuf in southern Crimea has been famous as a resort for artists since 19th century. Not only Chekhov had a dacha, but also the famous Ballet choreographer, Petipa died…

Crimea

Chekhov’s dacha

We took a boat to get to a small town called Gurzuf from Yalta. Here there is the Chekhov’s dacha and it is a museum now. It is a small but…