Museum Junkie: Hermitage Amsterdam launches grand opening

by Sean McLachlan on

A branch of Russia’s famous Hermitage museum opened to the public last weekend in Amsterdam. The giant Hermitage Amsterdam houses treasures from St. Petersburg including costumes, jewelry, furniture, and art from the time of the Tsars.

The museum’s opening was done with appropriate pomp and circumstance. Fireworks, a full orchestra, and a visit by the Dutch royal family entertained a vast crowd lining the Amstel canal just to the east of downtown Amsterdam.

The museum itself made a more lasting impression. The two wings are dedicated to the Tsars’ court and the exquisite balls for which it was famous. Some of the most sumptuous displays are of court costume, like this red velvet and satin dress embroidered with gold, made for the Tsarina Maria Feodorovna sometime between 1880s and 1890. Other displays included ornate jewelry, gold tableware, thrones, and even musical instruments.

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Some of the most interesting items were the minor ones, like the menus for state banquets, showing images from Russian history printed in brilliant colors. The working toy guns for the Tsar’s children brought a few looks of horror from parents, and a series of early black and white silent films from Russia in the 1910s gathered a large crowd.

What the displays didn’t talk about was as interesting as what they did. There was barely a mention of the Soviet Union, and not a word of how the Romanovs lost power–by being lined up against a wall and shot by the Bolsheviks. With this grandiose display the new Russia is trying to put its unseemly past behind it and highlight its role as a European power in the grand tradition. While museums shouldn’t shy away from inconvenient history, the Hermitage Amsterdam certainly fulfills its objective. Add it to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum as the artistic highlights of one of Europe’s great art capitals.

Expats hit hard by economic downturn

by Sean McLachlan on

It’s a popular dream–move to a sunny, beautiful part of the world where life is cheap and say goodbye to the home country forever.

But the BBC has found that the dream of many expats has soured because of the economic downturn. The article focuses on the tens of thousands of British expats living in Spain, but the story could be about expats anywhere. For the past twenty years the English have been moving to Spain in droves, especially the sun-soaked coastline of Costa del Sol and Mallorca (pictured here). They fueled a real estate boom that was one of the major factors of Spanish economic growth until the housing bubble popped, markets crashed, and Spain ended up with a 17% unemployment rate. Oh, and the change from the peseta to the euro caused inflation that ended the “cheap living” part forever.

Now some expats are headed home. Many had jobs related to the housing industry that have since disappeared, and new jobs are not forthcoming. English-teaching jobs may be next as Spaniards rein in discretionary expenditures.

Are you an expat? Has your job or lifestyle been affected by the economic downturn? Gadling readers want to know.

Layover: Paris

by Grant Martin on

Oft voted among the worst airports in the world, Charles De Gaulle outside of Paris doesn’t have a great reputation among travelers. The terminals are disjointed, sprawling and confusing, public transportation is mind boggling and security is amazingly frustrating.

With enough practice and preparation, however, the beast can be tamed. Connected to the heart of Paris by regional RER trains, it takes about one hour to get from terminal to city center, so it’s very possible to get in some quick sightseeing during a long layover.

With CDG, the keys are in managing security and the train station to minimize time wasted in transit. Stick around for a few tips from the experts and to learn how to take advantage of your next layover in Paris.
Shorter Layovers (2 hours)

CDG is so expansive and confusing that it’s usually not worth the effort of leaving your terminal if you’ve got a shorter layover. If you’re in the right terminal, however, you can still take advantage. International passengers in terminal 2E will meet the fortune of wide open spaces, duty free shopping, a few couches and even video game consoles to pass the time.

Other terminals, such as 2A are a little thriftier. But at least each terminal has a cafe where you can enjoy lovely French espresso, sit back, and try to adjust to the time zone of your destination.

Longer Layovers (4+ hours)

If you’ve got enough time to sneak out of the airport, it’s actually fairly easy to get into the city from Paris. If you’re flying international, the RER train station is between terminals 2E and 2ABCD at CDG, and these frequent trains run straight into the heart of the city.

You’ll need either cash (just over 8€) or a credit card with a smart chip to get tickets, the latter of which few American’s have. So as you’re passing down to the train station, stop by the HSBC on the right at the top level, withdraw some cash and head downstairs. Since the ticket machines don’t take bills and the line for RER tickets is always crazy long, head into the (RER, not SNCF) ticket office and look right immediately. There will be a change machine two meters away from you where you can get coins. Take these to the ticket machines outside and get billets into Paris, dodging around the dozens of confused travelers trying to use regular credit cards in the machines.

Downstairs, all trains lead into Paris, but some are express and can save you 15 minutes inbound. If there are two trains waiting, take a look at the scheduled stops and jump on the train will take you faster to Gare du Nord. That’s the beginning of Parisian stops.

Be prepared for the quaintest and Frenchest performers playing the accordion on the train. It happens every time.

Once inside the city you can connect to almost anywhere from Gare du Nord (North train station) by hopping off of the RER and transferring to the Metro. The Eifel Tower is either off of Trocadero on the 9 or Ecole Militaire on 8.

If you’re short on time, consider taking the RER one stop further to St. Michel – Notre Dame, where you can surface from the trains and see the magnificent church with a very short walk. You can also walk south from this stop into St. Michel and grab a crepe and beer in St. Michel, which despite being touristy and pricy, is still a lovely experience.

Finally, the Louve can be reached from either the 1 or 7 at Louvre Rivoli or Palais Royal. Be forewarned, however, that lines at the famous museum can be very long, and on a short layover you may not be able to justify seeing a fraction of the museum for the entry fee.

Other Tips

While the RER trains are frequent and fast, make sure you leave plenty of time to connect back into CDG from the city. Northbound trains don’t all run to the airport, either, so make sure you get on the right train when you board at Gare du Nord or St. Michel.

Though you’ll already have your boarding pass, also remember that you probably need to go through immigration when you return, so plan on spending a little extra time waiting in line at the kioks.

Also remember that you can’t bring any of that wonderful French wine with you on your trip, but vacuum packed cheese is totally allowed!

West End Theaters Resisting Broadway Drought

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Doubtless, a fate that befalls Broadway is bound to be felt in theater districts around the world. London‘s West End, of course, is no exception. The effects of a worldwide financial crisis have affected discretionary spending indiscriminately, and the West End has seen some major shows that have struggled to “find an audience.” Nonetheless, London’s stages are faring better than the major productions in Manhattan.

At a recent showing of the newly opened “Sister Act” at the London Palladium Theatre, I had a chance to catch up with international ticket agent Keith Prowse‘s Ian Dulson. He believes that the relative strength of London’s productions is mostly the result of price. Tickets to a major show in London may go for just over $100 (including agent fee), while some Broadway productions approach double that amount.

While Dulson did stay upbeat, he listed several shows that are “trying to find audiences,” which is apparently industry parlance for under-attendance. Compared to the New York scene, however, London appears to Dulson to be in better shape.

“Sister Act” is the latest show to open in the West End, coming to stage on June 2, 2009, and the response has been strong from the start. It helps to have a celebrity (Whoopi Goldberg) listed as executive producer, and the show does draw from the popularity of the films that preceded it. The production itself was strong, with an energetic, talented cast and a dynamic set that tested the performers’ coordination as they performed amid structural changes on stage.

The crowds drawn consistently speak to the trend as much as they do to the production value. Constrained spending may be loosened somewhat by a talented cast or a desirable show, but it’s unlikely to change consumer behavior for a sustained period of time. The fact that guests are swarming in front of the Palladium suggests that the West End is holding on better than its cousin across the Atlantic.

Disclosure: Visit Britain paid for this trip, and British Airways picked up the flights. I did all the hard work on my own … for you and for Gadling, not for Visit Britain.