A couple of weeks ago we visited friends who are living temporarily in Kaliningrad, Russia. (Formerly Konigsberg, Prussia and Germany, and home of philosopher Immanuel Kant.)

Kaliningrad is a bustling city of half a million people. Some buildings from the old German era remain, along with Soviet era buildings and many new construction projects. Oil money fuels the local economy and a few years from now I would expect to find a beautiful modern city.

I had little time to study up on the city before we went there, and I found it an amazing place. First of all, we had a fabulous luxurious hotel room at the Radisson at half the price of other places we stayed. The photo is from our hotel window. Fabulous views of the church, diocese, and railroad building.

The city has many new shopping centers. I'm told they are full of luxury goods. I had to banish old stereotypes from earlier eras.

To my surprise, the younger women are chic and gorgeous--only a few "babushkas" as my friend calls them. The women tend to be tall, blonde and slender and look very good in jeans. I live in the SF Bay area and I seldom see Hermes handbags here, but I saw several and I don't think they were fakes. Dresses were popular along with multi-colored high heels. The sidewalks are in poor repair and I admired how the women walked these broken pavements with ease.

As someone who has had to give up heels, I admire them immensely. Older women dressed very well also, although usually they wore more moderate shoes.

The women were also restrained in use of makeup and understated in wearing jewelry.

We visited the Amber Museum where I bought a couple of amber pendants. There are large amber deposits nearby. No photos allowed in the museum though. I wish I had taken some photos of the women, but you will have to take my word for it.

Now for the men: overall stylewise, meh.