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For 50 years after the Second World War Soviet muscle - both | 0:00:36 | 0:00:39 | |
military and political - dominated the Baltic States. | 0:00:39 | 0:00:43 | |
But in 1991 they gained their independence. | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were now free to live their lives, revive their culture and clear up the mess. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:59 | |
This is Tallinn, capital of Estonia. | 0:01:12 | 0:01:15 | |
From here I'll be travelling through the Baltics south to Kaliningrad. | 0:01:17 | 0:01:21 | |
When I was last here, | 0:01:21 | 0:01:23 | |
16 years ago, it was an unwelcoming Soviet republic. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:28 | |
Left to its own devices Tallinn has boomed. | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
Estonia has a population not much more than Birmingham, | 0:01:34 | 0:01:38 | |
and everyone is doing rather nicely. | 0:01:38 | 0:01:42 | |
I'm driving along the coast to meet some of these newly-affluent | 0:01:42 | 0:01:45 | |
Estonians who are trying to come to terms with it all. | 0:01:45 | 0:01:49 | |
The days of Communist conformity are long gone. | 0:02:01 | 0:02:04 | |
Our hosts, Margus and Evelin and their family, live in a pyramid. | 0:02:04 | 0:02:08 | |
What's it like, | 0:02:10 | 0:02:12 | |
living inside a pyramid? | 0:02:12 | 0:02:14 | |
It helps to find | 0:02:14 | 0:02:16 | |
the way to do things and the way you find and feel the power inside you that, er, that's | 0:02:16 | 0:02:25 | |
like the...like God. | 0:02:25 | 0:02:28 | |
It helps to find God in you. | 0:02:28 | 0:02:31 | |
-God or good? -God. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
God in you. God is everything. | 0:02:34 | 0:02:37 | |
God is like the basic energy and if you find this God you can, er, | 0:02:37 | 0:02:44 | |
you can create whatever. | 0:02:44 | 0:02:46 | |
Are Estonians particularly interested in spiritual things? | 0:02:46 | 0:02:51 | |
Many people are searching for spiritual enlightenment and | 0:02:51 | 0:02:58 | |
looking for different practices, how | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
to get their life | 0:03:01 | 0:03:03 | |
getting...er, | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
flowing easier, and to be happier. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:09 | |
Living in a pyramid is clearly not the only way to make your life happier, | 0:03:11 | 0:03:14 | |
and tonight friends and neighbours are here to try another approach. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
At the moment it mainly involves staring. | 0:03:21 | 0:03:23 | |
The sun is at last beginning to set, | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
and Margus, our host, is making final preparations. | 0:03:44 | 0:03:47 | |
It looks like any summer barbeque but the only difference is that | 0:04:05 | 0:04:07 | |
what's going on this barbeque, are the guests. | 0:04:07 | 0:04:10 | |
DRUMMING | 0:04:20 | 0:04:22 | |
Margus leads off. | 0:04:28 | 0:04:30 | |
Intrepid ladies follow him. | 0:04:37 | 0:04:38 | |
Some of the men are not so sure. | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
Why do you think people do this, Margus? | 0:05:01 | 0:05:04 | |
I think they do it because the same reason why I do that. | 0:05:06 | 0:05:10 | |
It gives me good feeling | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
and, um... | 0:05:12 | 0:05:14 | |
..my heart will be open. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
I know who I am better. | 0:05:17 | 0:05:20 | |
Is it about conquering fear? | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
Yes, yes. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:27 | |
To understand that fear, how it can | 0:05:27 | 0:05:32 | |
be without fear, we have to bring fear so close, if we can to look, what is fear? | 0:05:32 | 0:05:40 | |
-I feel, I scared at the moment more than... -Really? | 0:05:45 | 0:05:49 | |
Really. Really! | 0:05:49 | 0:05:51 | |
It's so funny. Really. | 0:05:51 | 0:05:54 | |
I feel pfff - "What I need to say, how can I say?" | 0:05:54 | 0:05:56 | |
You did very well. Very well. Very good. | 0:05:56 | 0:06:00 | |
It's a curiously emotional evening. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:02 | |
But I'm afraid the only things I'll be putting on fires are chestnuts. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:06 | |
Further up the coast are 100 concrete suitcases. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:17 | |
They symbolise the plight of all those Estonians | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
who fled abroad when the Red Army marched into their country in 1944. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
They're part of an art collection assembled by Jaan Manitski who, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
as a babe in arms, was caught up in it all. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
Just from this coastline here many small fishing boats | 0:06:35 | 0:06:41 | |
left over the Finnish Gulf to Finland or the Baltics to Sweden. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:46 | |
And most people could only bring with them | 0:06:46 | 0:06:49 | |
a suitcase. And many times when the small boats were crowded they even had to leave them on the shore here. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:57 | |
So this is some kind of... | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
..a reminder of what has happened on these shores. | 0:07:01 | 0:07:05 | |
Having made his money as business manger of the pop group Abba, Manitski came back home | 0:07:09 | 0:07:15 | |
and offered his expertise to Estonia's new free-market economy. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:18 | |
Now all his energies are going into this arts centre. | 0:07:20 | 0:07:23 | |
'His paintings by Estonian artists are a bit of everything. | 0:07:27 | 0:07:30 | |
'The good, the bad and the ugly.' | 0:07:30 | 0:07:33 | |
As my mother would say, I don't think I could live with that! | 0:07:35 | 0:07:38 | |
-I would neither put it in my living room. -Exactly. | 0:07:38 | 0:07:43 | |
Perhaps in the bathroom. | 0:07:43 | 0:07:44 | |
'Jaan shows me his latest acquisition, and very topical it is.' | 0:07:45 | 0:07:50 | |
This is the painter's view of the organised - | 0:07:50 | 0:07:58 | |
by individuals - demolishing of the monster. | 0:07:58 | 0:08:02 | |
The monster being...? | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
The monster - this is the Soviet system. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
We started up in a very difficult situation. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:12 | |
The Estonian economy and the whole society was so integrated in the Soviet system. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:19 | |
For example, to illustrate it, a big shoe-making factory in Tallinn | 0:08:19 | 0:08:25 | |
-produced... -Yeah. | 0:08:25 | 0:08:27 | |
..Left foot shoes number 44. | 0:08:27 | 0:08:33 | |
The right foot shoes were made in Irkutzk, or Murmansk, or somewhere. | 0:08:33 | 0:08:39 | |
Back in Tallinn the incoming ferries are | 0:08:40 | 0:08:43 | |
full as yet more people discover the unhurried appeal of the old town. | 0:08:43 | 0:08:47 | |
BELL TOLLS | 0:08:47 | 0:08:49 | |
Across the Gothic roof-tops rises the new Estonia, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
a mini Manhattan, with a state-of-the-art electronic economy. | 0:08:53 | 0:08:58 | |
But in Old Town Square | 0:08:58 | 0:08:59 | |
I discover there are limits to the Estonian dream. | 0:08:59 | 0:09:03 | |
Businessman Peter Knoll tells me that for the Russians | 0:09:03 | 0:09:07 | |
who stayed on here, the government has devised an exquisite torture. | 0:09:07 | 0:09:12 | |
Russians are obliged to learn Estonian, aren't they? | 0:09:12 | 0:09:15 | |
That's correct. In order to become an Estonian citizen, | 0:09:15 | 0:09:17 | |
you must pass a test in Estonian, which comprises about 3,000 characters. | 0:09:17 | 0:09:23 | |
That's why we have still, I think it's around 10,000 or just slightly below, | 0:09:23 | 0:09:27 | |
of residents in Estonia without nationality. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:30 | |
So they're not citizens of Estonia but they're not Russians anymore | 0:09:30 | 0:09:33 | |
because they've given up their Russian citizenship. | 0:09:33 | 0:09:36 | |
So what rights do they have? | 0:09:36 | 0:09:39 | |
They have the right to live here. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
They're mainly elderly people that are not learning the language | 0:09:42 | 0:09:46 | |
any more, but the family are taking care of them. | 0:09:46 | 0:09:49 | |
However this has been discussed by the European Union as well because you cannot have it that somebody | 0:09:49 | 0:09:56 | |
is a resident in your country, who has been living all his life, and cannot have citizenship. | 0:09:56 | 0:10:02 | |
So it's an issue on the European Union agenda. | 0:10:02 | 0:10:05 | |
In Soviet times the Baltic States were seen as something of a bracing seaside sanatorium. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:18 | |
I've been recommended a clinic outside Tallinn where all sorts | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
of traditional treatments await the tired traveller. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
The lady I've come to see is one of those Russians who stayed on. | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
Her name is Lyudmilla Agajeva and she's an hirudotherapist. | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
-Next. -Hello. -Ooh! Hello, how are you? | 0:10:39 | 0:10:44 | |
Very bad. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:46 | |
Oh, I'll help you. Let's go with me. | 0:10:46 | 0:10:49 | |
I'm very bad because I've come here! | 0:10:49 | 0:10:52 | |
What do you want me to take off? Shirt? | 0:10:57 | 0:11:01 | |
-Everything. -Small striptease. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:03 | |
-Small striptease? -Yes. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
OK. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:06 | |
Right. There we go. | 0:11:11 | 0:11:12 | |
It's here. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:14 | |
What? And go behind the screens? | 0:11:14 | 0:11:16 | |
There we go. | 0:11:19 | 0:11:21 | |
Small, not very good striptease, is that OK? Enough? | 0:11:21 | 0:11:25 | |
Is that OK? Enough? | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
Very nice, very nice. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
-Please? -On back or front? | 0:11:31 | 0:11:34 | |
-No... -Back. OK. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:36 | |
You see, I've never done this before. | 0:11:39 | 0:11:41 | |
This is the first time so I don't know what happens. | 0:11:41 | 0:11:44 | |
-Comfort? Do you have comfort? -Yes, I'm comfortable, very comfortable. | 0:11:44 | 0:11:47 | |
-Yes, yes. -My heart's beating rather fast. | 0:11:47 | 0:11:52 | |
Isn't it? | 0:11:52 | 0:11:54 | |
-Quickly, quickly! -Yes, I'm nervous. I've never had small creatures... | 0:11:54 | 0:11:58 | |
-You can see.... -Yeah. | 0:12:08 | 0:12:09 | |
Oh, right! | 0:12:10 | 0:12:12 | |
Ooh, yes, that doesn't make me feel any better. | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
-Better, very better. -But they work? | 0:12:17 | 0:12:21 | |
They do work, to make me feel stronger? | 0:12:21 | 0:12:24 | |
Yes. Translator? | 0:12:24 | 0:12:27 | |
I've been doing so much travelling. | 0:12:27 | 0:12:29 | |
It's just, is that on my body now? | 0:12:29 | 0:12:32 | |
So it is. Ooh. | 0:12:32 | 0:12:33 | |
I experienced a slight sting, nothing more than... | 0:12:33 | 0:12:38 | |
..having an injection. | 0:12:39 | 0:12:41 | |
So it's, it's sucking out bad blood? Or...? How...? | 0:12:43 | 0:12:47 | |
Yes, yes. | 0:12:47 | 0:12:49 | |
-Bad blood. -It's stuck to you now, isn't it? | 0:12:50 | 0:12:53 | |
Ah! Ooh! Oh! Jesus! | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
-Definitely like a little electric charge. -Mm-hm. | 0:12:58 | 0:13:02 | |
These special leeches? Leeches that... | 0:13:04 | 0:13:07 | |
-Yes, yes, special. -It's not so bad. | 0:13:07 | 0:13:11 | |
It's just... | 0:13:11 | 0:13:13 | |
You start thinking about what is going on. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
Little black things with their heads into your body. | 0:13:19 | 0:13:24 | |
It's like a series of quite sharp electric shocks. Oof! | 0:13:27 | 0:13:30 | |
It's quite, um... | 0:13:33 | 0:13:36 | |
It's quite a... | 0:13:36 | 0:13:39 | |
strong stinging sensation. | 0:13:39 | 0:13:41 | |
Put it this way, I won't be doing it again for a bit! | 0:13:45 | 0:13:48 | |
Ah, I feel better. | 0:13:53 | 0:13:54 | |
How much blood do they take? | 0:13:54 | 0:13:56 | |
One glass vodka. | 0:13:56 | 0:13:58 | |
One glass of vodka? | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
Yes please! | 0:14:01 | 0:14:02 | |
200, maybe 300 millilitres. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:07 | |
Are you enjoying it? Look, they're getting quite engorged. | 0:14:08 | 0:14:12 | |
Is that growing? Full of blood? | 0:14:14 | 0:14:16 | |
I stimulation. | 0:14:16 | 0:14:18 | |
-You're stimulating the leech? -Yes. | 0:14:18 | 0:14:20 | |
Oh Gosh. That's something I thought | 0:14:24 | 0:14:26 | |
I'd never see in my lifetime, someone stimulating a leech. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
There's a first time for everything. | 0:14:28 | 0:14:31 | |
Do they have teeth? | 0:14:40 | 0:14:43 | |
Yes, teeth. I understand. | 0:14:43 | 0:14:45 | |
-Ah, 300 teeth. -300 teeth? | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
Each of these little fellows? | 0:14:49 | 0:14:51 | |
Yes, and three jaws. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:54 | |
Three j...? | 0:14:54 | 0:14:55 | |
-Jaws. -Jaws, oh jaws! Yes. | 0:14:55 | 0:14:57 | |
Three jaws. | 0:14:57 | 0:15:00 | |
That must give them some power. | 0:15:00 | 0:15:02 | |
Three jaws? | 0:15:02 | 0:15:04 | |
I mean, that's great! | 0:15:04 | 0:15:06 | |
Breakfast, lunch and dinner! | 0:15:06 | 0:15:07 | |
At the same time! | 0:15:07 | 0:15:09 | |
After they finish taking the blood, then what? What happens then? | 0:15:12 | 0:15:19 | |
Do you kill them? | 0:15:19 | 0:15:20 | |
I kill they. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
-I kill. -Yes, why? | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
-Because... -I'm very fond of them. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
-They're my friends! -Yes, yes. | 0:15:28 | 0:15:31 | |
Well, I don't want you to kill them. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
-No... -Can they go somewhere to retire? | 0:15:33 | 0:15:37 | |
Sit quietly in an armchair? | 0:15:37 | 0:15:39 | |
It's surprise for you? Yes, yes. | 0:15:39 | 0:15:43 | |
You're a hard woman. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:45 | |
-When they are hungry... -Yes. | 0:15:45 | 0:15:49 | |
..You apart second. | 0:15:49 | 0:15:53 | |
OK. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:54 | |
Ah! They're still sucking away, those, aren't they? | 0:15:54 | 0:15:58 | |
Imagine that - halfway through a nice little steak, | 0:15:58 | 0:16:01 | |
and someone comes and pulls your chair away. | 0:16:01 | 0:16:04 | |
-Don't want! -OK. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
-Is that blood in them? -Yes. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
Can I just touch them? | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
-Very nice blood! -Yes, there you are, thank you very much. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:17 | |
Thank you, Frank, thank you, Arthur. | 0:16:17 | 0:16:20 | |
They're hermaphrodites? | 0:16:20 | 0:16:21 | |
Thank you, Frank and Diana. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:24 | |
Thank you Arthur and Elizabeth. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
Done a good job. | 0:16:26 | 0:16:29 | |
There they go. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:30 | |
Yes. They no alcoholics. | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
Aw! Now that hurt! | 0:16:35 | 0:16:37 | |
I don't want to watch them... | 0:16:41 | 0:16:43 | |
Vodka, very strong vodka. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
That's what it is. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:47 | |
You're right. | 0:16:52 | 0:16:53 | |
-Can I have some of that vodka? | 0:16:55 | 0:16:58 | |
Do you want vodka? Now? | 0:16:58 | 0:17:01 | |
-Yeah, lovely. -No. Don't want. | 0:17:01 | 0:17:03 | |
They've had the vodka. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
I have vodka. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:07 | |
Ooh. Ow! Ooh! Ow! | 0:17:08 | 0:17:10 | |
SHE LAUGHS | 0:17:10 | 0:17:11 | |
Now that is something - that is something else. Ooh! | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
Ooh! Four breasts! | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
See? | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
-Your friends. -Gonna kill them? I don't want to watch that. | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
All finish! | 0:17:29 | 0:17:31 | |
Thank you. Thank you. | 0:17:31 | 0:17:33 | |
-They die like that. -Yes. | 0:17:33 | 0:17:36 | |
No long, drawn out suffering? | 0:17:36 | 0:17:39 | |
-No, I was mafioso. -You were? You're a caring person. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:44 | |
But when the moment comes you can... | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
..turn into a killer. | 0:17:48 | 0:17:51 | |
Natasha! | 0:17:51 | 0:17:52 | |
This is Ape. My idea of the perfect border post. | 0:18:10 | 0:18:12 | |
-First time? -First time, yes. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
'No queues, no metal detectors, just a man in a hut.' | 0:18:15 | 0:18:19 | |
Thank you. Thank you very much. | 0:18:19 | 0:18:20 | |
Pausing only to correct my pronunciation to Ar-pay, not Ape, | 0:18:23 | 0:18:27 | |
my courteous guard shows me into Latvia. | 0:18:27 | 0:18:31 | |
Half as big again as Estonia, | 0:18:32 | 0:18:34 | |
its population is little more than two million. | 0:18:34 | 0:18:37 | |
Is this why their trains are so short? | 0:18:37 | 0:18:39 | |
Something's missing. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:44 | |
This is supposed to be the 7:50. | 0:18:44 | 0:18:47 | |
Maybe it's a national holiday. | 0:18:48 | 0:18:50 | |
Maybe they've heard about the leeches. | 0:18:50 | 0:18:53 | |
Eventually an engine | 0:18:58 | 0:19:00 | |
arrives and we become, officially, the 7.50 from Aluksne to Gulbene. | 0:19:00 | 0:19:05 | |
INDISTINCT | 0:19:33 | 0:19:34 | |
Our progress through this sylvan countryside seems unreal. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:05 | |
Almost dreamlike. Which seems entirely suitable. | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
For this is Midsummer's Eve and a big night for Latvians, as people | 0:20:08 | 0:20:12 | |
up and down the country gather for the pagan festival of Jani. | 0:20:12 | 0:20:15 | |
The Latvians converted to Christianity much later than most of Europe. | 0:20:22 | 0:20:27 | |
So resolutely pagan were the local tribes | 0:20:27 | 0:20:29 | |
that in 1198 the Pope launched a crusade against them. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:32 | |
Here in the heart of the countryside, the pre-Christian | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
traditions of Jani are being painstakingly revived. | 0:20:41 | 0:20:45 | |
The women wear Garlands, which must contain at least 27 different flowers. | 0:20:45 | 0:20:50 | |
THEY SING IN LATVIAN | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
New arrivals at the celebration are ritually insulted, and then expected to reply. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:56 | |
THEY SING IN LATVIAN | 0:20:56 | 0:20:58 | |
Once you've shown you can hold your own, you're allowed to hug the host. | 0:21:07 | 0:21:11 | |
HE SPEAKS LATVIAN | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
Jani is a celebration of birth, growth and fecundity. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
And they do it in style. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
The Latvians have preserved | 0:21:25 | 0:21:27 | |
1,200 - 1,200 melodies for this one night. | 0:21:27 | 0:21:32 | |
To sing on this one night. | 0:21:32 | 0:21:34 | |
< SHE SPEAKS LATVIAN | 0:21:34 | 0:21:35 | |
And 28,000, um, texts - little song lyrics. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:40 | |
Are these written down? Or just handed down. | 0:21:40 | 0:21:42 | |
-Ja. Written down. -Yeah, they're written down. There's a book. | 0:21:42 | 0:21:47 | |
SHE SPEAKS LATVIAN | 0:21:47 | 0:21:48 | |
Yeah. At the moment the sad thing is that people just get drunk. | 0:21:50 | 0:21:53 | |
And they think that tradition's not necessary, | 0:21:53 | 0:21:56 | |
and they don't know what to do on Jani, so that's all they do. | 0:21:56 | 0:21:59 | |
WOMAN SPEAKS LATVIAN | 0:21:59 | 0:22:01 | |
In the evening we say goodbye to the sun, in the morning we welcome the sun again. | 0:22:01 | 0:22:06 | |
And you can't sleep tonight. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:07 | |
-I don't think we're going to. -No! Are you staying here? | 0:22:07 | 0:22:10 | |
Dancers circle the oak tree, symbol of strength and virility. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:18 | |
Single women are entreated to find partners. | 0:22:22 | 0:22:24 | |
The food consists of cheese and bread. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:32 | |
A little severe, but bread and cheese were all that was left to eat before the new harvest. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:36 | |
Mind you, there's plenty of home-brew to wash it down. | 0:22:39 | 0:22:42 | |
I hear my name called out, and fear the worst. | 0:22:48 | 0:22:51 | |
WOMAN SINGS, ALL JOIN IN. | 0:22:54 | 0:22:56 | |
Thank you. | 0:23:25 | 0:23:27 | |
What were they saying? | 0:23:30 | 0:23:31 | |
They were saying to you that you are now Michelis, not Michael, | 0:23:31 | 0:23:37 | |
which is the Latvian version and the oak | 0:23:37 | 0:23:41 | |
is always the symbol of strength and virility | 0:23:41 | 0:23:45 | |
and on Midsummer Night, in the circle, | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
it's concentrated on your head. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
So, you are crowned with strength, virility, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:56 | |
and their singing, and wishing that you will see everything well. | 0:23:56 | 0:24:01 | |
You will hear everything well, | 0:24:01 | 0:24:03 | |
and you will film everything well. | 0:24:03 | 0:24:06 | |
And the filming part is part of the tradition. | 0:24:07 | 0:24:10 | |
Do I have to wear this throughout the rest of the filming? | 0:24:10 | 0:24:13 | |
Of course! | 0:24:13 | 0:24:15 | |
-And the rest of the night. -The rest of the night. | 0:24:15 | 0:24:17 | |
SINGING IN LOCAL LANGUAGE | 0:24:17 | 0:24:21 | |
Believe me, it's not easy to dance with half a national park on your head. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:28 | |
The setting of the Midsummer Night's sun is the most important moment of the evening. | 0:24:55 | 0:25:00 | |
Just before 11 o'clock we process up the nearest hill to watch and to celebrate. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
BAGPIPES PLAY | 0:25:08 | 0:25:11 | |
This is developing into quite a test of stamina. | 0:25:17 | 0:25:20 | |
And I've lost my National Park. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
As darkness falls, last years' Jani wreath is ceremonially burnt. | 0:25:32 | 0:25:36 | |
And a symbolic new fire is lit. | 0:25:46 | 0:25:48 | |
A blazing wheel of hopes and fears and thanks bowls down the hill. | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
And we all cheer. | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
Riga, the Latvian capital, rich in buildings from Stalinist grandeur to Medieval Gothic, | 0:26:24 | 0:26:30 | |
has recently acquired a reputation as a safe place for summit meetings. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:35 | |
To find out more about Riga's status as a world host, | 0:26:40 | 0:26:45 | |
I'm on my way to meet one of the Baltic's top chefs, Martin Ritins. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:50 | |
A Latvian who learnt his trade in Canada and Corby, Northants, he now cooks for the world's most powerful. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:56 | |
This is a starter that we did for George Bush when he was here. | 0:26:58 | 0:27:01 | |
Crayfish. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:03 | |
It is very traditional. | 0:27:03 | 0:27:05 | |
-Did he ask for this? -No, he didn't. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:08 | |
But we talked to his, to his... | 0:27:08 | 0:27:13 | |
Look - I mustn't get too fond of it. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:16 | |
-You can take this home with you. -Lovely. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:19 | |
So, Baltic crayfish? | 0:27:20 | 0:27:23 | |
It's a freshwater. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:25 | |
It's a team work. And Bush has a team, so do we here. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:31 | |
So, the sauce... | 0:27:31 | 0:27:36 | |
it's onions... With Latvian produce. | 0:27:36 | 0:27:42 | |
..carrots, onions, tomatoes, garlic and Cognac. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:49 | |
-Cognac? -Cognac. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:52 | |
Now, I want to see how can you... | 0:27:52 | 0:27:56 | |
Oh, right! | 0:27:58 | 0:28:00 | |
Up, up, up, up, higher! | 0:28:00 | 0:28:03 | |
-When George came he only had an hour and a half. -Well... | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
Now, can I show you the trick? | 0:28:14 | 0:28:17 | |
Like tennis. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:20 | |
You don't shake the pan, you shake the wrist. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:23 | |
It's so heavy, oops... | 0:28:23 | 0:28:25 | |
It's incredibly heavy. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:28 | |
-Now, how do you think... -Wow, that is heavy. | 0:28:32 | 0:28:35 | |
Respect to you guys who do that. | 0:28:35 | 0:28:37 | |
How do you think Fanny Cradock did this? | 0:28:37 | 0:28:39 | |
I think she must've had a few pints beforehand or something stronger. | 0:28:41 | 0:28:44 | |
And a bit of colour. | 0:28:44 | 0:28:46 | |
When you have someone like the President of the United States, | 0:28:46 | 0:28:49 | |
or whatever, well, not whatever, but your friend George and Laura to cook for, is it a big palaver? | 0:28:49 | 0:28:57 | |
Have you got security people coming around? | 0:28:57 | 0:29:01 | |
It's very much so. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
We do all the state dinners but never anything has been like this. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:10 | |
We had three days with their security people, their chefs. | 0:29:11 | 0:29:16 | |
-Three days for one meal? -For one meal. | 0:29:16 | 0:29:18 | |
Yes, I was with their chefs for three days. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
We discussed the menu, we went through it in very much detail and | 0:29:20 | 0:29:25 | |
I had to show them where everything came from. | 0:29:25 | 0:29:29 | |
-Have you any juicy details? -Absolutely no, no. | 0:29:29 | 0:29:32 | |
Personal habits? Don't give him apricot jam cos his leg starts to wobble... | 0:29:32 | 0:29:36 | |
Now, here we'll try again. Your tennis. | 0:29:42 | 0:29:46 | |
No, it's in the wrist. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:53 | |
It's not shaking... | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
That's embarrassing. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
Let me see your wrists. | 0:30:07 | 0:30:09 | |
Look at that - that is a wrist! | 0:30:09 | 0:30:12 | |
It's the tennis, it's the tennis. | 0:30:12 | 0:30:14 | |
I'll work on it, I'll work on it. | 0:30:14 | 0:30:16 | |
The whole lot? | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
Not the whole lot. As you... | 0:30:22 | 0:30:25 | |
We nearly had a Molotov cocktail. | 0:30:33 | 0:30:36 | |
You were telling me in the kitchen that the process is, he vets, his chefs are with you for three days. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:48 | |
Three days. We cook for 22. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
And I couldn't say this, I usually say the nicest one, | 0:30:51 | 0:30:55 | |
that's for our President, or that's for that Prime Minister. | 0:30:55 | 0:31:00 | |
But we weren't allowed this time. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:02 | |
I had to keep my mouth shut, | 0:31:02 | 0:31:03 | |
which is difficult for me! | 0:31:03 | 0:31:08 | |
And they said, that's the one, | 0:31:08 | 0:31:10 | |
even if it's the most horrible one. | 0:31:10 | 0:31:12 | |
Because this is, we're under stress, | 0:31:12 | 0:31:15 | |
very quick, it was all cooked in the last minute. | 0:31:15 | 0:31:19 | |
It wasn't pre-cooked. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
And that was the one that he had. | 0:31:21 | 0:31:24 | |
Another one I had to taste, | 0:31:24 | 0:31:27 | |
and another one, one of his security people tasted. | 0:31:27 | 0:31:31 | |
-Really? -Yes. | 0:31:31 | 0:31:32 | |
So it was very exciting. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:35 | |
It was like a movie. | 0:31:35 | 0:31:36 | |
-And that's the way they do it. -That's it. | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
On Latvia's Baltic coast stands an abandoned cluster of concrete housing blocks, | 0:31:50 | 0:31:55 | |
the remains of a once substantial Soviet presence. | 0:31:55 | 0:31:59 | |
Once they spoke of pride, achievement and a better future. | 0:32:12 | 0:32:16 | |
Now they're turning to dust. | 0:32:17 | 0:32:19 | |
And this is the reason why they were here. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:32 | |
This was one of the Soviet Union's most important ears on the outside world. | 0:32:32 | 0:32:37 | |
So here we are. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:40 | |
In the belly of the beast. | 0:32:42 | 0:32:44 | |
It was so important that, when the Cold War ended, the people who built it tried to destroy it. | 0:32:44 | 0:32:50 | |
But they reckoned without world opinion. | 0:32:50 | 0:32:52 | |
In the old control room Yuris Zagars, a Latvian astronomer, | 0:32:52 | 0:32:56 | |
explains how they saved the Ventspils Radio Telescope in the nick of time. | 0:32:56 | 0:33:02 | |
It was like in a fairytale, | 0:33:02 | 0:33:05 | |
some 15 minutes before execution, | 0:33:05 | 0:33:09 | |
the order of destroying was changed, for some kind of | 0:33:09 | 0:33:14 | |
electrical immolation but not touching the important parts of it. | 0:33:14 | 0:33:19 | |
It was because the world's radio astronomical societies was making | 0:33:19 | 0:33:25 | |
some protestations, as well as Russian Academy of Science. | 0:33:25 | 0:33:30 | |
That to destroy the best radio telescope in Northern Europe, | 0:33:30 | 0:33:33 | |
only on political reasons, it's some kind of vandalism. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:37 | |
Instead they sent in a wrecking team to make it impossible to use. | 0:33:37 | 0:33:41 | |
This is one of the examples of electric sabotage, | 0:33:41 | 0:33:46 | |
because all these connections has been dismounted and disconnected. | 0:33:46 | 0:33:51 | |
And no paper, no diagram, how to connect them. | 0:33:51 | 0:33:56 | |
So, it was some scientific puzzle for our engineers, some challenge to put them to, | 0:33:56 | 0:34:03 | |
and this is not the only box. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
We have at least four such boxes, eight panels, but how to connect it was a hard job. | 0:34:05 | 0:34:11 | |
And this demolition work was performed during one week. | 0:34:11 | 0:34:17 | |
We worked four years to put them back. | 0:34:17 | 0:34:20 | |
How does this compare in size and scale to other radio telescopes? | 0:34:22 | 0:34:28 | |
From the point of the scale, it's not the biggest one in Europe. | 0:34:28 | 0:34:32 | |
Three to five is bigger, radio telescopes of the scale of 70 metres. | 0:34:32 | 0:34:38 | |
As in Jodrell Bank, and in Spain, and in Effelsberg in Germany | 0:34:38 | 0:34:43 | |
but the value of the telescope is not only the size but | 0:34:43 | 0:34:46 | |
also the accuracy of the surface, and the accuracy of the surface is very high for this telescope. | 0:34:46 | 0:34:52 | |
It's the best radio telescope of Northern Europe. | 0:34:52 | 0:34:55 | |
-Let's come. -OK. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:07 | |
It's like a submarine in the sky. | 0:35:07 | 0:35:12 | |
And now the next level. | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
And here's our submarine. | 0:35:28 | 0:35:30 | |
Looks like a submarine and it's tilting when we are working. | 0:35:30 | 0:35:35 | |
This chamber tilts, does it? | 0:35:35 | 0:35:38 | |
Yes. You can walk on the left hand as well, so it is... | 0:35:38 | 0:35:41 | |
How far does it tilt? How many degrees? | 0:35:41 | 0:35:45 | |
About 100. More than 90 degrees. | 0:35:45 | 0:35:48 | |
Must be a weird sensation. | 0:35:48 | 0:35:50 | |
-Be careful. -You could have got a lift! | 0:36:16 | 0:36:19 | |
Wow! | 0:36:19 | 0:36:21 | |
Fantastic! | 0:36:21 | 0:36:24 | |
Pointing at the heavens. | 0:36:24 | 0:36:25 | |
I really feel, | 0:36:28 | 0:36:30 | |
well done to you and your team, you have saved this thing. | 0:36:30 | 0:36:34 | |
Yes, we have saved the thing, saved it for, there is not so many beautiful radio telescopes | 0:36:34 | 0:36:40 | |
in the world, and this is one of the top instruments. | 0:36:40 | 0:36:43 | |
So it's to be used for extra-galactic radio astronomy. | 0:36:43 | 0:36:50 | |
It's the best application we can hope. | 0:36:50 | 0:36:54 | |
And it's a wonderful sun trap. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:57 | |
Yes, as well as for... | 0:36:57 | 0:37:00 | |
You could have a few loungers round here, | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
you could make all the money you need. | 0:37:03 | 0:37:05 | |
But this surface is the most valuable part of the telescope. | 0:37:05 | 0:37:10 | |
Its accuracy is better than one millimetre. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:13 | |
Saving the telescope was a rare victory for common sense. | 0:37:13 | 0:37:16 | |
Across the border is the largest of the Baltic Republics - Lithuania. | 0:37:20 | 0:37:25 | |
Influenced more by Poland than Sweden, it's staunchly Catholic, | 0:37:25 | 0:37:29 | |
and in the middle of its green and pleasant countryside is a remarkable religious site. | 0:37:29 | 0:37:34 | |
This is the Hill Of Crosses - a symbol of Lithuanian defiance for over 150 years. | 0:37:41 | 0:37:48 | |
The Communists bulldozed it three times and once even flooded the area with sewage before a Papal visit. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:55 | |
Which only served to make it even more popular. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:58 | |
The skyline of the capital, Vilnius, shows Lithuania's mixed fortunes. | 0:38:27 | 0:38:31 | |
One of the most enlightened empires of medieval Europe, it's since | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
fallen under the sway of Poland, Sweden, Germany and Tsarist Russia. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:40 | |
In the Second World War alone it was occupied three times, | 0:38:44 | 0:38:48 | |
by the Soviet Union, | 0:38:48 | 0:38:49 | |
then by the Germans, then again by Soviet troops. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:53 | |
These are the names of Lithuanians who tried to resist. | 0:38:53 | 0:38:56 | |
In this building in the heart of Vilnius, once a courthouse, | 0:38:58 | 0:39:01 | |
once even a boys' school, the occupiers dealt, brutally, with that resistance. | 0:39:01 | 0:39:06 | |
The basement where prisoners were kept and often tortured is now open to the public. | 0:39:18 | 0:39:23 | |
I put on a headset to let me know what I am about to see. | 0:39:23 | 0:39:26 | |
VOICEOVER: Welcome to the Genocide Victims Museum. | 0:39:26 | 0:39:31 | |
Housed in the former KGB headquarters, | 0:39:31 | 0:39:34 | |
the museum is the only one of its kind in the Baltic States. | 0:39:34 | 0:39:40 | |
Object number one, | 0:39:40 | 0:39:43 | |
the padded cell. | 0:39:43 | 0:39:45 | |
This is one of the grimmest places in the prison. | 0:39:45 | 0:39:49 | |
The walls are padded and soundproofed, | 0:39:50 | 0:39:54 | |
with a straitjacket on the wall used for those who resisted or who were deranged with torture. | 0:39:54 | 0:40:02 | |
The walls absorbed their cries and shouts for help. | 0:40:03 | 0:40:08 | |
This cell was fitted out in 1973, though there were similar cells before that. | 0:40:08 | 0:40:15 | |
Object number two. | 0:40:28 | 0:40:30 | |
This is a guard post. | 0:40:30 | 0:40:33 | |
From the far end of this room, the guards watched the outside window of the cells round the clock. | 0:40:33 | 0:40:42 | |
In 1964 when the prison premises were reduced, | 0:40:42 | 0:40:46 | |
four guard booths remained, three inside and one in the courtyard. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:53 | |
There were telephones and alarm systems in the booths for armed guards. | 0:40:53 | 0:40:57 | |
It was a high security prison. | 0:40:57 | 0:41:00 | |
Only one escape is known. | 0:41:00 | 0:41:03 | |
Object number three. | 0:41:07 | 0:41:09 | |
The next room contains two cells with concrete pools in the floors, fitted out in about 1945. | 0:41:09 | 0:41:18 | |
Witnesses say that they had to either stand in ice cold water and | 0:41:18 | 0:41:24 | |
ice in winter, or on a small stand. | 0:41:24 | 0:41:28 | |
When they dosed off they fell into the water. | 0:41:28 | 0:41:32 | |
A political prisoner recalled, | 0:41:32 | 0:41:35 | |
"I did everything not to freeze to death. | 0:41:35 | 0:41:38 | |
"Though I was weak with illness, I would walk, run or try to stand. | 0:41:38 | 0:41:44 | |
"But I kept slipping off onto the ice. | 0:41:44 | 0:41:47 | |
"Eventually I curled up, exhausted, on the bloodstained ice floor." | 0:41:47 | 0:41:54 | |
Some prisoners were kept there for five days and nights. | 0:41:54 | 0:41:57 | |
The television tower above Vilnius has become a shrine to Baltic liberation. | 0:42:00 | 0:42:05 | |
In 1991, 13 unarmed Lithuanians were killed by by the Red Army | 0:42:11 | 0:42:16 | |
as they tried to protect the freedom to broadcast Lithuania's independence vote. | 0:42:16 | 0:42:21 | |
It was the climax of three years of protest. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:24 | |
Two years earlier an estimated two million men, women and children | 0:42:28 | 0:42:32 | |
from all the Baltic Republics joined hands in a human chain | 0:42:32 | 0:42:36 | |
which stretched over 300 miles from Tallinn to Vilnius. | 0:42:36 | 0:42:39 | |
The chain marked 50 years of smouldering resentment. | 0:42:45 | 0:42:48 | |
ONE SINGER BEGINS, CROWD JOINS IN | 0:43:00 | 0:43:04 | |
Song Festivals, which were permitted, provided an outlet | 0:43:04 | 0:43:08 | |
for anti-Russian feeling. | 0:43:08 | 0:43:10 | |
The protest, which became known as the Singing Revolution, | 0:43:14 | 0:43:19 | |
was something quite unique in politics, and it led to the freedom of the Baltic States. | 0:43:19 | 0:43:24 | |
-We are a singing nation. -I've heard a lot about this... | 0:43:24 | 0:43:28 | |
'Algis Greitai is a Lithuanian TV star.' | 0:43:28 | 0:43:32 | |
I want to see how it works. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:35 | |
Can you just get people to sing? | 0:43:35 | 0:43:36 | |
Well, it's very easy. | 0:43:36 | 0:43:38 | |
HE SPEAKS LITHUANIAN | 0:43:38 | 0:43:40 | |
-Convincing? -Very good. | 0:44:16 | 0:44:18 | |
Beautiful, I'm convinced, yes. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
Maybe they could stay and we could get some other people. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:31 | |
Have a sit down and we'll find... | 0:44:36 | 0:44:38 | |
That's very good. If you get a little choir to do that I'd be very impressed. | 0:44:38 | 0:44:42 | |
-Not that one. -No? | 0:44:47 | 0:44:49 | |
Do you know this man? | 0:45:05 | 0:45:06 | |
Do you know him? | 0:45:06 | 0:45:07 | |
-Yes. -Yes. Wasn't very enthused - "ye-es." | 0:45:07 | 0:45:10 | |
They will sing together the same song? | 0:45:27 | 0:45:30 | |
HE SPEAKS LITHUANIAN | 0:45:30 | 0:45:32 | |
-Enough? Maybe another song? -We don't know the words. Very good. You've made the point. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:06 | |
-I think that's excellent. -Charge 50! -Very good. | 0:46:06 | 0:46:09 | |
Eurovision Song contest next year! | 0:46:09 | 0:46:11 | |
This is Nida in southern Lithuania. | 0:46:11 | 0:46:15 | |
The chunky boat taking me out of the harbour | 0:46:20 | 0:46:23 | |
is an old Baltic fishing barque. | 0:46:23 | 0:46:25 | |
We're heading towards one of Europe's most intriguing landscapes, | 0:46:39 | 0:46:43 | |
a 60-mile long, two-mile wide sandbank they call the Curonian Spit. | 0:46:43 | 0:46:48 | |
This formidable wall of sand is one of the most extraordinary | 0:46:54 | 0:46:57 | |
and fragile environments on the continent. | 0:46:57 | 0:47:00 | |
Now protected as a National Park, | 0:47:01 | 0:47:04 | |
these still-shifting sands curve away to the south and west | 0:47:04 | 0:47:08 | |
with the Baltic waves on one side and lazy lagoons on the other. | 0:47:08 | 0:47:12 | |
Forests have been planted to help hold this young and delicate strip of land together. | 0:47:36 | 0:47:42 | |
As I follow the paths and roads that lead through them, | 0:47:42 | 0:47:46 | |
I find that the curiosities of nature | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
are matched by a few political surprises. | 0:47:48 | 0:47:51 | |
In one of the odder twists of post-War politics, | 0:48:00 | 0:48:03 | |
this part of East Prussia was ceded to the victorious Russians. | 0:48:03 | 0:48:07 | |
They kicked out the Germans and re-named the ancient city of Konigsberg, Kaliningrad. | 0:48:07 | 0:48:12 | |
But now their neighbours have won independence, | 0:48:12 | 0:48:15 | |
Kaliningrad is marooned. | 0:48:15 | 0:48:17 | |
A Russian island in a European sea. | 0:48:17 | 0:48:21 | |
But today the mood in Kaliningrad is resolutely optimistic. | 0:48:26 | 0:48:31 | |
It's exactly 60 years ago today that the old Prussian city of Konigsberg | 0:48:31 | 0:48:35 | |
was consigned to history and Kaliningrad, | 0:48:35 | 0:48:38 | |
named after a Stalinist president of the USSR, took its place. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:42 | |
Today it's the red, white and blues of the Russian Federation that are the colours of celebration. | 0:48:45 | 0:48:51 | |
As a result of the ethnic cleansing of the Germans, | 0:48:54 | 0:48:58 | |
everyone gathered here can trace themselves back to Mother Russia. | 0:48:58 | 0:49:01 | |
The opening ceremony in front of the new Victory monument | 0:49:05 | 0:49:09 | |
owes more to Eurovision than any memories of Red Square. | 0:49:09 | 0:49:11 | |
Note the brand new Orthodox cathedral in the background, | 0:49:16 | 0:49:20 | |
of which the old communist regime would certainly not have approved. | 0:49:20 | 0:49:23 | |
SINGING | 0:49:23 | 0:49:27 | |
SINGING CONTINUES | 0:49:39 | 0:49:40 | |
Now it's the turn of the suits, | 0:49:55 | 0:49:57 | |
followed by a press circus hanging on every word. | 0:49:57 | 0:50:00 | |
The Mayor of Kaliningrad welcomes, amongst others, | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
President Putin's man from Moscow. Putin's wife, by the way, is a Kaliningrad girl. | 0:50:06 | 0:50:11 | |
Also on parade is a Russian Orthodox priest, | 0:50:11 | 0:50:15 | |
and a much be-medalled veteran of the great patriotic war. | 0:50:15 | 0:50:18 | |
Representing Russian power today is the Admiral of the Baltic Fleet, | 0:50:21 | 0:50:25 | |
whose nuclear submarines lie just up the coast. | 0:50:25 | 0:50:28 | |
Then it's time for the Russian national anthem. | 0:50:42 | 0:50:45 | |
Old tune, new words. | 0:50:45 | 0:50:47 | |
RUSSIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS | 0:50:47 | 0:50:50 | |
The rest of the celebrations are delightfully un-solemn. | 0:51:23 | 0:51:26 | |
A Bride's Bus cruises the streets, disgorging a dozen young girls | 0:51:29 | 0:51:34 | |
all with one cry "Prazdnikom!" - happy holiday. | 0:51:34 | 0:51:39 | |
CHEERING AND SHOUTING Prazdnikom! | 0:51:39 | 0:51:43 | |
What is there not to like about Kaliningrad? | 0:51:46 | 0:51:49 | |
I ask my guide Olga Danilova whether Kaliningraders feel Russian or European. | 0:51:52 | 0:51:57 | |
Erm, we feel Russian. | 0:51:57 | 0:52:00 | |
This goes without saying. | 0:52:00 | 0:52:04 | |
But maybe special Russian, different from Russians living in the mainland Russia. | 0:52:04 | 0:52:10 | |
Due to this geographical location we found ourselves in. | 0:52:10 | 0:52:17 | |
In what way would you say you feel different from the others in what you call "mainland" Russia? | 0:52:17 | 0:52:23 | |
Because we are so close to Europe. We are a geographical part of Europe and we travel more | 0:52:23 | 0:52:29 | |
to Poland and to Lithuania, further to Europe than we travel to Russia. | 0:52:29 | 0:52:33 | |
And some of children living here, | 0:52:33 | 0:52:36 | |
they have never been to Russia. | 0:52:36 | 0:52:38 | |
But to go to Poland or Lithuania is quite a common thing. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:41 | |
-Is there any appetite here for independence from Russia? -No. No way. | 0:52:41 | 0:52:46 | |
We don't even have this idea in our minds. | 0:52:46 | 0:52:50 | |
It's not possible - we are Russians. | 0:52:50 | 0:52:53 | |
Though we travel to Russia, not very often, most of us, but we are Russians. | 0:52:53 | 0:52:58 | |
BAND PLAYS MELANCHOLY WALTZ | 0:52:58 | 0:53:01 | |
So, is this open air singing, dancing, a big thing? | 0:53:33 | 0:53:37 | |
Yes, yes it is. It is very popular, especially among older generations. | 0:53:37 | 0:53:43 | |
Or just, enjoying themselves. | 0:53:43 | 0:53:46 | |
And women, women a lot, see the women. | 0:53:46 | 0:53:49 | |
Thank you. Is that because of the... | 0:53:49 | 0:53:53 | |
lack of men? | 0:53:53 | 0:53:56 | |
Correct, correct. | 0:53:56 | 0:53:57 | |
-The war - legacy of the war, is it? -Yes, yes. Well spotted. | 0:53:57 | 0:54:01 | |
I shall be leaving from this dockside early next morning. | 0:54:01 | 0:54:05 | |
Very hospitably, the captain of this venerable old banana boat, Vityaz, | 0:54:05 | 0:54:10 | |
has agreed to let me use his cabin as a temporary base. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:13 | |
Famous ship? | 0:54:15 | 0:54:16 | |
-Ah! -Hello! -Captain - how are you? | 0:54:16 | 0:54:21 | |
Thank you very much indeed for letting us come here. | 0:54:21 | 0:54:24 | |
Very kind of you. | 0:54:24 | 0:54:26 | |
After its banana boat days the Vityaz evacuated 20,000 Germans from here in 1945. | 0:54:26 | 0:54:32 | |
It was given to the British who in turn gave her to the Russians, | 0:54:32 | 0:54:36 | |
for whom she ended up mapping the world's deepest sea-bed, the Mariana Trench in the Pacific. | 0:54:36 | 0:54:41 | |
This is quite a tour, isn't it, to get to the captain's cabin? The bridge... | 0:54:44 | 0:54:50 | |
'It's now the centrepiece of Kaliningrad's Museum Of The World Ocean.' | 0:54:50 | 0:54:54 | |
-Look, it's your room. -Oh, thank you. | 0:54:57 | 0:55:00 | |
Where you will be sleeping, it's your bed. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
Fantastic. Captains' cabin, thank you very much. | 0:55:02 | 0:55:05 | |
'Not wanting my last night to be an anti-climax, Olga's laid on a cultural visit.' | 0:55:16 | 0:55:22 | |
SWORDS CLANG | 0:55:25 | 0:55:27 | |
ROCK MUSIC PLAYS | 0:55:30 | 0:55:32 | |
Part historical re-enactment, part general punch-up, | 0:55:41 | 0:55:44 | |
this homage to the Teutonic Knights ends in group hugs and a huge bonfire. | 0:55:44 | 0:55:49 | |
It may be European rather than Russian history they're celebrating, | 0:55:55 | 0:55:59 | |
but tonight in Kaliningrad nobody really cares. | 0:55:59 | 0:56:02 | |
It seems strange to be marking in such flamboyant style a city named after Michael Kalinin, | 0:56:13 | 0:56:20 | |
a Soviet bureaucrat who no-one remembers. | 0:56:20 | 0:56:24 | |
Hi, hello there. Poland, I gather. | 0:56:35 | 0:56:38 | |
Let me give you that. That's great, thanks. | 0:56:40 | 0:56:44 | |
Thank you... OK. | 0:56:44 | 0:56:45 | |
I'd hoped to sail down the River Pregel | 0:56:48 | 0:56:50 | |
and across the Bay of Gdansk to my next destination and 17th country, Poland, | 0:56:50 | 0:56:56 | |
but a sudden maritime tiff between the Russians and the Poles | 0:56:56 | 0:56:59 | |
has resulted in a resounding "Nyet" to my plan. | 0:56:59 | 0:57:02 | |
While I think of what else to do, | 0:57:09 | 0:57:11 | |
I settle for a farewell cruise with Max and Sergei along the Kaliningrad waterfront. | 0:57:11 | 0:57:16 | |
Past disused wharves and idle cranes, | 0:57:18 | 0:57:21 | |
past my old friend, Vityaz. | 0:57:21 | 0:57:26 | |
Remnants of the Baltic Fleet are in for refits | 0:57:31 | 0:57:35 | |
but on the whole this is a ghost port. | 0:57:35 | 0:57:37 | |
Kaliningrad, more than anywhere else I've seen, | 0:57:43 | 0:57:46 | |
is a victim of its history. | 0:57:46 | 0:57:48 | |
Physically European, | 0:57:48 | 0:57:50 | |
but emotionally, spiritually and politically clinging to the Kremlin. | 0:57:50 | 0:57:55 | |
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd | 0:58:10 | 0:58:13 | |
E-mail [email protected] | 0:58:13 | 0:58:16 |