COMMUNISM & CAVIAR

The Sochi Olympics ended last month. However it’s the 1980 Moscow Olympics that hold special significance for me. I toured Russia back in the fall of 1979 as the Soviet Union was preparing for world-wide attention. St. Basil’s Cathedral was under restoration.

Earlier in September, Florida was hit by hurricane David. This was considered a minor category 1 hurricane, yet it did $20, 000. in damage to our home. --That was 20,000 in 1970’s dollars! Also we were without electricity for 8 days. We were one of the last homes to be restored.

I was told that Soviet hotels had substandard accommodations and were bugged. Plus the waiters in restaurants had dirty fingernails. But following the aftermath of a hurricane, I joked it would feel like the Ritz, regardless.

As I began packing for my trip, an international incident occurred at J.F.K. airport in New York. A ballet dancer named Alexander Godunov had defected. His wife remained on the plane. Authorities refused to allow its departure, waiting for Mrs. Ballet Dancer to join her husband. The wait was a long and tense one. She refused and returned to the Soviet Union a heroine.

My father urged me to cancel the trip! He warned that the Russians would retaliate against American tourists and I might not make it home. However, he had been against this from the start! Others told me I was un-American for even wanting to go there. These were the cold war years and they were the enemy.

But I knew I would hate myself for not seizing this opportunity. This was a great value, money-wise. Plus I traveled off-season which made it even cheaper. How could I not go?

Of course I heard plenty of horror stories! A lady I met at a social event had just returned. A couple in her group had the wrong entry date on their visa thanks to their travel agent. After landing in Moscow, they were carted off to a detention camp for 3 days. The American Embassy had to intervene to get them released. However, their trip was free as a result. Personally, I hope they sued that travel agent out of business!

My travel agent cautioned against wearing any extremes in fashion, because it would attract unwelcome attention.

Bags packed and paperwork in order, I flew from West Palm Beach to J.F.K. in New York. There I boarded Finnair. My 1^st stop was Amsterdam, a city I had visited just the year before. The 2^nd was Helsinki, and the 3^rd was my destination, Moscow. It had been an almost 15 hour journey in coach!

Stepping off the plane, my first sight was an armed soldier. Taking a longer look, he was just an awkward teenager. The outfit seemed to be wearing him. During the trip I saw numerous children in uniforms, often marching.

Inside the airport, our tour group had a chance to meet. Our hotel was directly across from the Kremlin. We joked that it was better for them to watch us. On each floor, an attendant was stationed to record our comings and goings. We were required to surrender our passports and were issued a card. 

This was my 1^st vacation with a roommate. I wasn’t thrilled over this, but it was strongly suggested by the tour company as they could not guarantee a private room in some of the hotels.

However, they did an excellent job of matching people up. My roomy was Nancy, a 29 year old advertising executive from New York. She was tall, dark-haired, and looked like a model. We both made bee-line for the mirrors whenever we returned to our hotel room! (I was 28 & blonde.) Our Moscow room was plain with a big picture window. We scanned the place for bugging devices.

At dawn every A.M. we saw the little old ladies in their babushkas sweeping the street. The younger women our age wore lots of make-up, even if they were doing construction work.

Breakfast always began with a tasty slice of cheese along with a glass of juice, followed by an enormous breakfast. ALL meals were included and they feed us well!!! We received a 3 course lunch followed by a 5 course dinner. I’m surprised that I didn’t return home 15 pounds heavier. However, like most escorted tours, they kept us on the move. There was a tremendous amount of walking.

Frequently at dinner, we were given a small dish of caviar. Most of the others didn’t like it, so it was divided up between my roomy and me. I loved spreading it thickly on hearty Russian black bread. I could have made a meal out of this!

Our 1^st day we toured Red Square in the heart of Moscow & the Kremlin, along with the many historical and architectural monuments and sights there in, such as the Kremlin Palace, the meeting place of the Soviet elite where official receptions were held. From the central square of the Kremlin, were 3 cathedrals. We toured each. The 1^st, the Assumption Cathedral where tsars were crowned, the 2^nd, the Annunciation Cathedral originally a private chapel for Ivan III and the 3^rd, Archangel Michael's Cathedral serving as a burial vault of the Russian Tsars and princes. 

Later, we toured the Armoury, Russia’s oldest museum. Also the famous Pushkin Museum filled with works by world famous artists.

Also we saw the Bolshoi Theatre and the Tretyakov Art Gallery. Plus the USSR Exhibition of Economic Achievement displaying 300 pavilions devoted to various Soviet industries. We took a memorable ride on the Moscow subway. Each station looked like a museum with art works, marble columns, and intricate mosaics.

We toured a Soviet Space Museum. A replica of the Sputnik satellite contained a stuffed dog. This represented the one that was sacrificed in the orbit. I remember watching the sky for it when I was 6 years old. I was never told the dog didn’t survive. Now I was sickened at the thought.

Several in our tour were approached by Russians who spoke of defecting. They were told NOT to come here unless they had a way of supporting themselves! A rough-looking Russian man approached an older woman in our group and asked her to go home with him and exchange clothes with his wife. Of course she didn’t!

It was not unusual to see 2 women or 2 men with arms locked or holding hands. We stared in amazement at 2 armed soldiers as they swaggered down the sidewalk holding hands. But the open affection between same sex people was not of a romantic nature, there.

Evenings in Moscow were busy as well. We attended a Russian night club with a floor show, a concert, and a costumed folk performance with Russian singing and dancing, plus a lavish opera with lots of scene-chewing.

Our gift shopping was done mostly in the Beriozka Shops at our Intourist hotels. This was a 3-stage process! After an item was selected, a salesperson handed over a receipt which you then gave to a cashier. After paying, he would stamp your receipt. Then you returned to the counter to pick-up your purchase.

Our last day in Moscow, we viewed the Lenin Mausoleum. Visited daily by thousands, the line stretched clear around several blocks. But it moved fast! Visitors weren’t allowed to stop and gawk at the Lenin cadaver. Armed guards hurried the line along. No cameras were allowed.

Lenin was almost a deity there, his image was everywhere! They even sold statues of him in all the gift shops. I joked that we should buy up a bunch to give as gag gifts to all our friends at Christmas.

It was also illegal in the USSR to snap someone’s picture without their permission. So we had to be careful.

The Soviet Union spanned so much territory that we did as much traveling by airplane as by bus. And let me tell you, some of those Soviet planes were such old clunkers, we feared for our lives when boarding them. Now we were off to Kiev the capitol of the Ukrainian Republic and the 3^rd most important city in the USSR. Kiev was a picturesque city. To see recent photos of it fire-bombed and charred is sad.

Our 1^st outing was a cruise on the Dnieper River, followed by a tour of Tsarina Elizabeth’s palace, later more cathedrals, another costumed folk performance, and of course more caviar! Also we toured the Monastery of the Caves where we went down into the catacombs to view human bones.

The last day there, we traveled to the Babi Yar Killing Ravine where the largest single Nazi massacre occurred during WWII. The ravine was enormous, a chilling sight. Afterward, we toured an art gallery displaying the most graphically violent paintings I have ever seen! From what I see and read in the news, Kiev’s violent history continues today.

Next we boarded a plane to Simferopol, capitol of the Crimea. From there we took a motor- coach to Yalta at the most southern tip of the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea. The drive was breathtaking! This is truly one of the most exotically beautiful resort cities in the world. Our hotel was as lavish and modern as any in the Western world. However the beach was less than impressive. Instead of sand, it had gravel. Bathers sat on boards rather than towels.

We toured the expansive Nikitsky Botanical Gardens filled with gorgeous, exotic flora from all over the world. Our Russian tour guide gushed over the Bougainvilleas from Italy. I chuckled because they are common place here in Florida. Next, we toured the summer retreat of Nicholas & Alexandria. It was my favorite palace because it had an air of serenity as well as beauty. Also it was the site of the famous Yalta Conference after WWII.

Now it was off on another Aeroflot to Leningrad (St.Petersburg) the 2^nd largest city in the USSR. With its numerous canals, bridges, and statues, it reminded me of Venice, only it was far grander! After a visit to St. Isaac’s Cathedral, we traveled to Palace Square where Russia had fallen to revolutionaries, followed by a tour of Nicholas & Alexander’s winter palace. – The movies are wrong! It was a back staircase the revolutionaries stormed, not the grandiose one in front.

Next we went to the Hermitage Museum where The Thinker by Rodin was on display. But I was intrigued with the Egyptian mummy. To me, it was more impressive than Lenin’s waxy-looking corpse back in Moscow.

Come evening, we attended a Russian circus inside a gigantic auditorium. This was different from the Western variety because the acrobats and animal acts were all woven around a story.

The following day, we took an excursion to Petrodvorets, Peter the Great’s palace famous for its numerous beautiful fountains. Later we went to a Russian zoo, which made me feel sorry for the animals. Their pens and cages were too small.

Our last evening in the USSR we were treated to a gala farewell dinner at a popular Russian restaurant with entertainment and of course caviar.

The next day, we boarded Finnair for home. A day-long layover awaited us in Helsinki. Finland had a flat terrain of mostly woods and lakes. Small groups of us took cabs into the city. We spent most of the day riding the streetcars and sightseeing. The atmosphere there was completely different, the air seemed brighter and glowing, no grimness anywhere. The people appeared fitter and were far better dressed than the Soviets. My group of 5 was having such a grand time in Helsinki that we lost track of time! The airport personnel rushed us onto the plane upon our return.

The trip ended too soon for me. I have been to more exotic places like Morocco, but I’ve never been anyplace that felt more alien than the USSR. For this reason, it was my most memorable trip. As much as I love it, I haven’t had caviar since. My budget doesn’t allow for it.

In Moscow, I had purchased a small figurine of Misha the Bear, the official symbol of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. I planned to watch on TV the following year. However, no North American athletes were allowed to participate. We boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, where we are now entrenched.

I still have that little figurine today, along with my memories.