New.Europe.With.Michael.Palin.5.Of.7
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00:00And we'll see you again soon.
00:21For 50 years after the Second World War, Soviet muscle, both military and political, dominated
00:43the Baltic states.
00:48But in 1991 they gained their independence.
00:51Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were now free to live their lives, revive their culture
00:58and clear up the mess.
01:14This is Tallinn, capital of Estonia.
01:19From here I'll be travelling through the Baltics, south to Kaliningrad.
01:23When I was last here, 16 years ago, it was an unwelcoming Soviet republic.
01:28Left to its own devices, Tallinn has boomed.
01:35Estonia has a population not much more than Birmingham, and everyone is doing rather nicely.
01:43I'm driving along the coast to meet some of these newly affluent Estonians, who are
01:48trying to come to terms with it all.
02:02The days of communist conformity are long gone.
02:05Our hosts, Margus, Evelyn and their family, live in a pyramid.
02:09Evelyn, what's it like, living inside a pyramid?
02:16It helps to find the way to do things and the way you really feel and find the power
02:23inside you, that's like God in you.
02:29It helps to find God in you, because God is...
02:33God or good?
02:34God.
02:35God in you.
02:36God is everything.
02:38I mean, God is like the basic energy, and if you find this God, you can create whatever.
02:47Are Estonians particularly interested in spiritual things?
02:53Many people are searching for spiritual enlightenment and are looking for different practices and
03:01how to get their life flowing easier and to be happier.
03:12Living in a pyramid is clearly not the only way to make your life happier, and tonight
03:16friends and neighbours are here to try another approach.
03:19At the moment, it mainly involves staring.
03:43The sun is at last beginning to set, and Margus, our host, is making final preparations.
04:06It looks like any summer barbecue, but the only difference is that what's going on this
04:09barbecue are the guests.
04:30Margus leads off.
04:38The intrepid ladies follow him.
04:44Some of the men are not so sure.
05:02Why do you think people do this, Margus?
05:07I think they do that because of the same reason why I do that.
05:12It gives me a good feeling, and my heart will be open.
05:18I know who I am better.
05:23Is it about conquering fear?
05:27Yes, yes.
05:29To understand that fear, how can we be without fear?
05:35We have to bring fear so close, if we can, to look what is fear.
05:41I have to say, I feel, I'm scared at the moment, more than...
05:50Really?
05:52Really.
05:54It's so funny.
05:56Really.
05:58I feel, what I have to say, how can I say?
06:00You did very well.
06:02It's a curiously emotional evening.
06:04I'm afraid the only things I'll be putting on fire are chestnuts.
06:15Further up the coast are 100 concrete suitcases.
06:21They symbolise the plight of all those Estonians who fled abroad when the Red
06:26Army marched into their country in 1944.
06:29They're part of an art collection assembled by Jan Manicki,
06:33who, as a baby in arms, was caught up in it all.
06:37Just from this coastline here, many small fishing boats left over the
06:44Finnish Gulf to Finland or the Baltics to Sweden.
06:47And most people could only bring with them a suitcase.
06:52And many times when the small boats were crowded, then they even had to
06:57leave them on the shore here.
06:59So this is some kind of reminder of what has happened on these shores.
07:11Having made his money as business manager of the pop group ABBA,
07:14Manicki came back home and offered his expertise to Estonia's new
07:18free-market economy.
07:21Now all his energies are going into this art centre.
07:28His paintings by Estonian artists are a bit of everything.
07:32The good, the bad and the ugly.
07:36As my mother would say, I don't think I could live with that.
07:39I would neither put it in my living room.
07:43No, exactly. Perhaps in the bathroom.
07:48Jan shows me his latest acquisition, and very topical it is.
07:52This is the painter Yuri Arak's view of the organised by individuals
08:02demolishing of the monstrum.
08:04The monstrum being?
08:05The monstrum. This is the Soviet system.
08:07Right, right.
08:08We started up in a very, very difficult situation.
08:14The Estonian economy and the whole society was so integrated in the
08:19Soviet system.
08:21For example, to illustrate it, a big shoe-making factory in Tallinn
08:27produced left-foot shoes number 44.
08:33The right-foot shoes were made in Irkutsk, maybe, or Murmansk,
08:39or somewhere else.
08:42Back in Tallinn, the incoming ferries are full as yet more people
08:45discover the unhurried appeal of the old town.
08:51Across the Gothic rooftops rises the new Estonia, a mini Manhattan
08:55with a state-of-the-art electronic economy.
08:59But in Old Town Square, I discover there are limits to the Estonian
09:03dream.
09:05Businessman Peter Noll tells me that for the Russians who stayed
09:08on here, the government has devised an exquisite torture.
09:13Russians are obliged to learn Estonian, aren't they?
09:16That's correct. In order to become an Estonian citizen, you must
09:19pass the test in Estonian, which comprises about 3,000 characters.
09:24That's why we have still, I think it's around 10,000 or just slightly
09:28below, of residents in Estonia without nationality.
09:33So they're not citizens of Estonia, but they're not Russians anymore
09:35because they've given up their Russian citizenship.
09:38So what rights do they have?
09:40They have the right to live here.
09:43They're mainly elderly people which are not learning the language
09:47anymore, where the family are taking care of them.
09:51However, this has been already discussed by the European Union as
09:54well, because you cannot have it that somebody's a resident in your
09:58country who has been living all his life and cannot have a citizenship.
10:02So it's an issue actually on the European Union agenda.
10:13In Soviet times, the Baltic states were seen as something of a
10:16bracing seaside sanatorium.
10:19I've been recommended a clinic outside Tallinn, where all sorts of
10:22traditional treatments await the tired traveller.
10:26The lady I've come to see is one of those Russians who stayed on.
10:33Her name is Lyudmila Agayeva, and she's an Herudo therapist.
10:41Next.
10:42Hello.
10:43Hello, how are you?
10:46Oh, I'll help you.
10:49Let's go with me.
10:50I'm very bad because I've come here.
10:58What do you want?
10:59The take-off shirt?
11:02Everything?
11:03Small striptease.
11:04Small striptease?
11:05Yes.
11:07OK.
11:11All right.
11:13There we go.
11:14It's yellow.
11:15I can go behind the screens.
11:21There we go.
11:22Small, not very good striptease.
11:24Is that OK?
11:26Enough?
11:27Is that OK?
11:27Enough?
11:29Very nice.
11:30Very nice.
11:32Please.
11:33OK.
11:33On back or front?
11:36No.
11:40I've never done this before.
11:41This is the first time.
11:44I don't know what happens.
11:44Comfort?
11:45Do you have comfort?
11:46Yes, I'm comfortable.
11:47Very comfortable.
11:48Yes.
11:49Yes.
11:50My heart's beating rather fast, isn't it?
11:55Quickly, quickly.
11:55Very fast, yes.
11:56I'm nervous, you see.
11:58I've never had small creatures.
12:08You can see.
12:10Yeah.
12:11Oh, all right.
12:15Oh, yes.
12:16That doesn't make me feel any better.
12:19Better.
12:19Very better.
12:20But they work.
12:22They do work to make me feel stronger.
12:26Yes.
12:27Better.
12:27Translator.
12:28Because I've been doing so much traveling.
12:30I just, oh, is that on my body now?
12:33So it is.
12:35Well, I experienced a slight sting.
12:37Nothing more than having an injection.
12:44So it's sucking out bad blood, or?
12:48Yes, yes.
12:51Bad blood.
12:52Stuck to you now, isn't it?
12:54Oh, ow, ooh.
12:55Oh, oh.
12:57Was it not?
12:59Definitely like a little electric charge.
13:02Mm-hmm.
13:06These special leeches.
13:08Leeches that you get from.
13:10Yes, yes, special.
13:11It's not so bad.
13:12It's just start thinking about what is going on.
13:21Little black things.
13:22Oops.
13:23Heads into your body.
13:25Thugs.
13:27Oh, it's like a series of quite sharp electric shocks.
13:31Oof.
13:32Ooh.
13:34Ooh, it's quite, um, that's quite a strong stinging sensation.
13:46Put it this way.
13:47I'll be doing it again for a bit.
13:53Ah, I feel better.
13:54How much, how much blood do they take?
13:58One glass vodka.
13:59One glass of vodka?
14:01Yes.
14:02Yes, please.
14:03200.
14:04I like it straight up with a twist.
14:06Maybe 300 milliliters.
14:07Ah.
14:09Are you enjoying it?
14:09Ooh, look, we're getting quite engorged.
14:15Is that growing?
14:17Full of blood.
14:18Early stimulation.
14:19They're stimulating the leech.
14:21Yes.
14:22Oh, gosh.
14:25That's something I thought I'd never see in my life, someone stimulating a leech.
14:30That's the first time for everything.
14:39Do they have teeth?
14:43Like, uh-huh.
14:44Yes, teeth.
14:45Understand?
14:47300 teeth.
14:48300?
14:49Yes.
14:50Each of these little fellows?
14:51Yes.
14:52And three jaws.
14:55Three...
14:56Jaws.
14:57Jaws. Oh, jaws.
14:58Yes, three jaws.
15:00Three...
15:01That gives them some power.
15:04Three jaws.
15:05I mean, that's great.
15:07You know, breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time.
15:13After they finish...
15:15Yes.
15:16...take the blood...
15:17Yes.
15:17...then what?
15:19What happens then?
15:20Do you kill them?
15:21I kill them.
15:24I kill.
15:25Yes.
15:25Why?
15:26Because...
15:27Because they're fond of them.
15:28Yes.
15:29Yes.
15:31Yes.
15:32Well, I don't want you to kill them.
15:34No.
15:34Can they go somewhere to...
15:35No, kill...
15:36...somewhere where they can retire?
15:38Sit quietly in an armchair?
15:40It's a surprise for you.
15:42Read leech weekly?
15:43Yes, yes.
15:45You're a hard woman.
15:46When they are hungry...
15:49Yes.
15:50...you...
15:51...but...
15:53...they can't...
15:55Okay.
15:57They're still sucking away at those, aren't they?
15:59Can you imagine that?
16:00Halfway through a nice little steak...
16:03...and someone comes and pulls a chair away.
16:05Don't want.
16:06Okay.
16:10Is that blood in them?
16:11Yes.
16:12Oh, can I just touch them?
16:14Very nice blood.
16:16Yes, there you are.
16:16Thank you very much.
16:17Not, please.
16:18Thank you, Frank.
16:20Thank you, Arthur.
16:21The hermaphrodites.
16:22Thank you, Frank and Diana.
16:24Thank you, Arthur and Elizabeth.
16:27They've done a good job, haven't they?
16:30There they go.
16:30Oh.
16:31Yes.
16:31They know alcoholics.
16:35Ow!
16:36Ooh, now that hurts.
16:37Aha.
16:41I don't want to wash them.
16:42It's vodka.
16:43Very strong vodka.
16:45That's what it is.
16:52You're right.
16:56Can I have some of that vodka?
16:59Do you want vodka?
17:00No?
17:02Yeah?
17:02Don't want.
17:03Yeah, lovely.
17:04But they've had the vodka.
17:07I have vodka.
17:13Now that's something.
17:14That is something else.
17:17Oh.
17:19Four breasts.
17:24Lucy.
17:25Could have killed me.
17:26I don't want to wash that.
17:30All finished.
17:34They die like that.
17:36Yes.
17:38No long worn out suffering.
17:40I was a mafioso.
17:42You were?
17:43You're a caring person.
17:45But when the moment comes, you can
17:50turn into a killer.
17:52Natasha.
17:55Oh.
18:10This is Ape.
18:11My idea of the perfect border post.
18:15First time.
18:16Yeah.
18:16No queues, no metal detectors.
18:18Just a man in a hut.
18:21Thank you very much.
18:25Pausing only to correct my pronunciation to Arpe, not Ape.
18:29My courteous guard shows me into Latvia.
18:33Half as big again as Estonia.
18:35Its population is little more than two million.
18:38Is this why their trains are so short?
18:44Something's missing.
18:45This is supposed to be the 750.
18:49Maybe it's a national holiday.
18:50Maybe they've heard about the lead ships.
18:54Eventually, an engine arrives and we become, officially, the 750 from Luchsni to Gulbeni.
19:54Our progress through this sylvan countryside seems unreal, almost dreamlike, which seems
20:01entirely suitable for this is Midsummer's Eve and a big night for Latvians as people
20:06up and down the country gather for the pagan festival of Jani.
20:17The Latvians converted to Christianity in the early 1900s.
20:21The Latvians converted to Christianity much later than most of Europe, so resolutely pagan
20:26with the local tribes that in 1198, the Pope launched a crusade against them.
20:37Here in the heart of the countryside, the pre-Christian traditions of Jani are being
20:41painstakingly revived.
20:43The women wear garlands, which must contain at least 27 different flowers.
20:48New arrivals at the celebration are ritually insulted and then expected to reply.
21:04Once you've shown you can hold your own, you're allowed to hug the host.
21:18Jani is a celebration of birth, growth and fecundity, and they do it in style.
21:24The Latvians have preserved 1,200 melodies for this one night, to sing on this one night.
21:34And 28,000 texts and little song lyrics.
21:38Are these written down or just handed down?
21:40Yeah, they're written down as a book.
21:48Yeah, at the moment, the sad thing is that people just get drunk on Jani and they think
21:56that tradition is not necessary and they don't know what to do on Jani, so that's all they do.
22:02In the evening we say goodbye to the sun, in the morning we welcome the sun again.
22:06And you can't sleep tonight.
22:08I don't even want to.
22:10Are you staying here?
22:12No.
22:14Dancers circle the oak tree, symbol of strength and virility.
22:22Single women are entreated to find partners.
22:30The food consists of cheese and bread, a little severe,
22:34but bread and cheese were all that was left to eat before the new harvest.
22:38Mind you, there's plenty of homebrew to wash it down.
22:48I hear my name called out and fear the worst.
23:08...
23:32What were they saying?
23:34that you are now Michaelis, not Michael, which is a Latvian version and the oak is always the symbol
23:44of strength and virility and on Midsummer night it's in the circle, it's concentrated on your head
23:54so you are crowned with strength, virility and they're singing and wishing that you will see
24:02everything well, you will hear everything well and you will film everything well
24:08and the filming part is part of the ancient tradition. Do I have to wear this throughout
24:12the rest of the filming? Of course and the rest of the night. The rest of the night.
24:25Believe me it's not easy to dance with half a national park on your head.
24:31The setting of the Midsummer night's sun is the most important moment of the evening.
25:02Just before 11 o'clock we process up the nearest hill to watch and to celebrate.
25:17This is developing into quite a test of stamina
25:23and I've lost my national park.
25:32As darkness falls last year's Yanni wreath is ceremonially burnt
25:47and a symbolic new fire is lit.
26:02A blazing wheel of hopes and fears and thanks bowls down the hill and we all cheer.
26:25Riga, the Latvian capital rich in buildings from Stalinist grandeur
26:30to medieval gothic has recently acquired a reputation as a safe place for summit meetings.
26:42To find out more about Riga's status as a world host
26:46I'm on my way to meet one of the Baltic's top chefs Martin Rittins. A Latvian who learned
26:52his trade in Canada and Corby, North Hans, he now cooks for the world's most powerful.
26:58This is a starter that we did for George Bush when he was here and crayfish and crayfish is
27:04very very traditional. Did he ask for this? No he didn't he didn't but we talked we talked to his
27:09um yeah okay to his yeah oh look um I mustn't get too crowded that's my problem yeah you can
27:17take this home with you okay um so the Baltic crayfish it's a Baltic crayfish it's a fresh
27:25water it's a teamwork and Bush has a team so do we here so it's um the sauce
27:37it's a onion sauce americam yeah yeah with Latvian produce carrots onions tomatoes garlic and
27:49cognac cognac cognac
27:53now I want to see how can you
27:59all right
28:04higher higher
28:10when George came he only had an hour and a half
28:13well
28:15now can I now I'll show you I'll show you the trick like a tennis
28:21you don't shake the pan you shake the wrist all right so heavy that whoops
28:28so incredibly heavy
28:33now how do you think wow that is heavy respect you guys who do that how do you think Fanny
28:39Craddock did this yeah I think she must have had a few pints beforehand and and a bit of a color
28:45you know something stronger when you have someone like the the president of the United States or
28:50have a well not whatever when you have your friend George president United States and Laura to cook
28:56for you said a big uh palaver have you got security people coming around it's uh very very
29:03much so uh like we do all the state dinners but never anything has been like this and
29:12we had three days with their security people their chefs three days for one meal for one meal yes I
29:20was with their chefs for three days we discussed the menu we went through it very much in detail
29:25and I had to show them where everything came from did they give you any juicy details about
29:32no no don't give him a
29:43now here we'll try again the tennis
29:52no it's in the wrist
29:58it's not it's not heavy it's not shaken
30:02no but in my case it is there
30:08let me see your wrist look at that look at that that is a wrist that's
30:13noble that's a tennis that's a tennis I'll work on it I'll work on it
30:22a lot not the whole lot as you
30:33know we nearly had a volatile cocktail yes
30:41but you were telling me actually in the kitchen but the process is he vets
30:46that his chefs are with you for three days for three days we cook for 22
30:52and I couldn't say this I usually see the nicest one that's for our president or that's for
30:59that prime minister but we weren't allowed this time I had to keep my mouth shut
31:05which is difficult for me and they said that's the one even if it was the most
31:12horrible one because this is we're under stress pressure very quick a la minute it was all cooked
31:19the last minute it wasn't pre-cooked and that was the one that he had now another one I had to taste
31:28and another one one of his security people tasted really yes yeah so it was very exciting I mean
31:35life was on the line it was like a movie it was like a movie yeah yeah and that's the way they do
31:41it that's it yeah on Latvia's Baltic coast stands an abandoned cluster of concrete housing blocks
31:57the remains of a once substantial soviet presence
32:13once they spoke of pride achievement and a better future now they're turning to dust
32:27and this is the reason why they were here this was one of the soviet union's most important ears
32:36on the outside world here we are in the belly of the beast it was so important that when the
32:46cold war ended the people who built it tried to destroy it but they reckoned without world opinion
32:53in the old control room Joris Zagars a Latvian astronomer
32:57explains how they saved the Ventspils radio telescope in the nick of time
33:02and it was like in a fairy tale let's say some 15 minutes before execution or a little bit more
33:10the order of destroying was changed for some kind of electrical demolition but not touching the
33:18important parts of the instrument and it was because the world's radio astronomical society
33:24was making the some protestations as well as russian academy of science that to destroy the
33:31best radio telescope in northern europe only on political reasons it's some kind of vandalism
33:38instead they sent in a wrecking team to make it impossible to use this is this isn't one of
33:44examples of electric sabotage because all these connections has been dismounted and
33:51disconnected and no any paper no any diagram how to connect them so it was some kind of the
33:58scientific puzzle for our engineers and some challenge to to really put them together and
34:04this is not the only box we have at least four such boxes eight panels but how to connect it
34:11was a hard job and this demolition work it was performed during one week we have worked four
34:19years to put them back how does this compare sort of size and scale to other radio telescopes
34:29from the point of the scale it's not the biggest one in europe here are three to five the bigger
34:36radio telescopes of the scale of 70 meters as in joggle bank in robledo in spain and in
34:41effelsberg in germany but the value of the telescope is not only the size the value is also
34:48the accuracy of the surface and the accuracy of the surface is very high for this telescope
34:53it's really the best radio telescope of the northern europe
35:04let's come okay
35:08ah like a submarine more than a submarine in the sky and now next level
35:28and here is our submarine let's say it looks like a submarine and it's tilting when we are working
35:35this this whole this chamber tilts doesn't it yes and you can walk on the on the left wall as well
35:41so it is how does it how does it tilt how many degrees uh about 100 really so more than 90 degrees
35:48must be a weird sensation
36:06oh be careful you could have got a lift it's tall wow fantastic here we are pointing at the heavens
36:29i really feel well well done to you and your team of you have saved this thing you know
36:35yes we have saved but we have saved it for there's not so many beautiful radio telescopes
36:40in the world and this is a one of the of the rally of the top instruments so it's to be used for for
36:48extra galactic radio astronomy it's the best application we can we can offer and it's a
36:55wonderful soundtrack yes as well as well as for for yes you could have a few loungers around here
37:04you could make all the money you know but this surface is the most valuable part of the telescope
37:11its accuracy is better than one millimeter saving the telescope was a rare victory for common sense
37:22across the border is the largest of the baltic republics lithuania influenced more by poland
37:28than sweden it's staunchly catholic and in the middle of its green and pleasant countryside
37:34is a remarkable religious site
37:42this is the hill of crosses a symbol of lithuanian defiance for over 150 years
37:49the communist bulldozed it three times and once even flooded the area with
37:53sewage before a papal visit which only served to make it even more popular
38:05so
38:28the skyline of the capital vilnius shows lithuania's mixed fortunes
38:32one of the most enlightened empires of medieval europe
38:35had since fallen under the sway of poland sweden germany and tsarist russia
38:45the television tower above vilnius has become a shrine to baltic liberation
38:55in 1991 13 unarmed lithuanians were killed by the red army as they tried to protect the
39:02freedom to broadcast lithuania's independence vote it was the climax of three years of protest
39:12two years earlier an estimated two million men women and children from all the baltic republics
39:18joined hands in a human chain stretched over 300 miles from tallinn to vilnius
39:25the chain marked 50 years of smolder and resentment
39:34so
39:49song festivals which were permitted provided an outlet for anti-russian feeling
39:56oh
40:00the protest which became known as the singing revolution was something quite unique in politics
40:06and it led to the freedom of the baltic states we are a singing nation well i've heard a lot about
40:12this that you are our discreet eye is a lithuanian tv star i want to see just how it works i mean can
40:19you just get people to sing well it's very easy
40:49oh
41:11i'm convinced yes maybe they can stay and get some other people
41:20you have a sit down and we'll find that's very good oh you get a little choir to do that then i
41:25would be impressed i'd be very impressed
41:49do you know this man do you know him yes oh yes
42:11they're all going to sing together now the same song
42:20is
42:27is
42:47i don't know we don't know the word but very good no that's very good you've made the point
42:50i think that's excellent so it's 50 dollars very good eurovision song contest next year
42:55okay this is nida in southern lithuania
43:05and the chunky boat taking me out of the harbor is an old baltic fishing park
43:14so
43:23we're heading towards one of europe's most intriguing landscapes
43:27a 60 mile long two mile wide sandbank they call the coronian spit
43:38this formidable wall of sand is one of the most extraordinary and fragile environments
43:43on the continent now protected as a national park these still shifting sands curve away
43:51to the south and west with the baltic waves on one side and lazy lagoons on the other
44:13so
44:22forests have been planted to help hold this young and delicate strip of land together
44:28as i follow the paths and roads that lead through them i find that the
44:31curiosities of nature are matched by a few political surprises
44:43so
44:45in one of the odder twists of post-war politics this part of east prussia was ceded to the
44:50victorious russians they kicked out the germans and renamed the ancient city of königsberg
44:56kaliningrad but now their neighbors have won independence
45:00kaliningrad is marooned a russian island in the european sea
45:04but today the mood in kaliningrad is resolutely optimistic it's exactly 60 years ago today that
45:17the old prussian city of königsberg was consigned to history and kaliningrad
45:22named after a stalinist president of the ussr took its place
45:29today it's the red white and blues of the russian federation
45:33that are the colors of celebration
45:39as a result of the ethnic cleansing of the germans everyone gathered here can
45:43trace themselves back to mother russia
45:49the opening ceremony in front of the new victory monument owes more to eurovision
45:53than any memories of red square
45:55note the brand new orthodox cathedral in the background of which the old communist
46:04regime would certainly not have approved
46:25foreign
46:40now it's the turn of the suits followed by a press circus hanging on every word
46:48the mayor of kaliningrad welcomes amongst others president putin's man from moscow
46:53putin's wife by the way is a kaliningrad girl
46:56also on parade is a russian orthodox priest and a much bemeddled veteran of the great patriotic war
47:06representing russian power today is the admiral of the baltic fleet
47:09whose nuclear submarines lie just up the coast
47:23so
47:27then it's time for the russian national anthem hold tune new words
47:54foreign
48:08the rest of the celebrations are delightfully unsullied
48:15a bride's bus cruises the streets disgorging a dozen young girls
48:19all with one cry happy holiday
48:30what is there not to like about kaliningrad
48:36i asked my guide olga danilova whether kaliningraders feel russian or european
48:42um we feel russian this goes without saying but maybe special russian different from
48:53russians living in the mainland russia due to this geographical uh location uh we found
49:00ourselves in in what way would you say you feel different from the others in what you call
49:06mainland russia because we are so close to europe we are part we're a geographical part of europe
49:12and we travel more to poland and to lithuania further to europe than we travel to russia
49:17and some of children living here they have never been to russia but to go to poland or to lithuania
49:24is quite a common thing is there any appetite here for independence from russia oh no no way
49:31we don't even have this idea in our minds because it's not possible we are russians
49:37though we travel to russia not very often most of us but we are russians
50:01so
50:18so this all open air singing dancing big thing yes yes yes it is it is very popular
50:25especially among older generation yeah we just just enjoy themselves and women
50:32women a lot single women oh thank you is that because of them
50:40correct correct that's a war legacy of the war is it yeah yeah well spotted
50:47i shall be leaving from this dockside early next morning and very hospitably the captain
50:52of this venerable old banana boat vityaz has agreed to let me use his cabin as a temporary base
51:00famous ship hello hello captain how are you thank you very much indeed for
51:08letting us come here very very kind of you after its banana boat days the vityaz evacuated
51:1420 000 germans from here in 1945 was given to the british who in turn gave it to the russians
51:21for whom she ended up mapping the world's deepest seabed the mariana trench in the pacific
51:28this is quite a tour isn't it to get to the captain's cabin
51:33bridge it's now the centerpiece of kaliningrad's museum of the world ocean
51:41welcome it's your room oh thank you
51:44you'll be sleeping it's your bed fantastic that's lovely captain's cabin thank you very much
52:01not wanting my last night to be an anti-climax olga's laid on a cultural visit
52:14so
52:25part historical reenactment part general punch-up
52:29this homage to the teutonic knights ends in group hugs and a huge bonfire
52:40it may be european rather than russian history they're celebrating but tonight
52:43in kaliningrad nobody really cares
53:02hi hello there poland i gather i'll give you that that's great thanks
53:09oh thank you spasiba okay i'd hoped to sail down the river pregel and across the bay of gdansk to
53:19my next destination and 17th country poland but a sudden maritime tiff between the russians and
53:25the poles has resulted in a resounding niet to my plan while i think of what else to do
53:38i settle for a farewell cruise with max and sergi along the kaliningrad waterfront
53:45past disused wharves and idle cranes past my old friend the vityaz
53:59remnants of the baltic fleet are in for refits but on the whole this is a ghost port
54:08so kaliningrad more than anywhere else i've seen is a victim of its history
54:15physically european but emotionally spiritually and politically clinging to the kremlin
54:38so
54:57you