“In America you can always find a party. In Russia the party always finds you.”
Today is downright gorgeous. The warmest day so far. Sunlight fills everything and nothing moves in the still air. Gracie hasn’t come inside yet, not even for her morning nap. Our only errand for today is to go to the vets. I found a hot spot on her fur which needs checking. I also have to vote in the primary for senator to see who will run to replace Kerry. I’m choosing the democratic primary, no surprise there I suspect.
Last we talked, I was in Moscow jumping ship from the tour. My travel partner and I started using the metro. I have never seen more beautiful metro stations in my whole life. Some actually had chandeliers. There wasn’t a single piece of trash nor any graffiti. We had to figure out where we were by using a map which had English translations below the Russian names for the stops. That wasn’t easy. It was like figuring out a code. We shopped a few times in the foreign currency shops, and I bought gifts for my family and some mementos for me, mostly wooden figures. Pins were big back then, and I bought a few of those which I still have framed. To get across large streets in Moscow there are pedestrian tunnels. We didn’t know that at first and started across the street when we heard whistles coming from the police heading our way. They were indignant. We were led to the tunnels and crossed the street through them though I don’t think you can say cross when you’re underneath. I’m not so sure what you’d say. We wandered the city for the last few days stopping in small museums and churches. A few of us decided to buy vodka and have our own little going away from Russia party. The day’s quota had been sold, but one guy led us to the back of a store where they sold us a couple of bottles. When we got back to the hotel, we wanted ice. The woman assigned to sit in the chair on our floor knew no English so we mimed pouring something into a glass, adding ice, drinking it and being cold. She brought us ice.
That last night we had a conversation about famous murders deciding to give our listeners something new. The British guy told us about a severed head found in left luggage. The rest of the conversation ran along the same lines until the British guy mentioned his roommate, an America, and how strange he was. When he left the room, he’d put a magazine a certain way so he could check to see if his bags had been rifled. He only wore two different sets of clothing despite having a huge suitcase. I mentioned I had seen him in one of those tunnels talking to a Russian woman. He had ditched the tour even earlier than we. All of us decided he must be a spy.
The next day we were driven to the airport for our flight to Copenhagen. Customs went through our bags. It was and still is the first time I ever had my bags gone through leaving a country. All of a sudden two soldiers took that American and his suitcase away. We weren’t all that shocked. We had figured something was up with him, but we were worried. We were the only ones who knew what had happened so we decided to stand our ground and not go upstairs to the waiting area until he was with us. Bad guide came over and said get upstairs or we’ll take your tickets away. The Argentinian said we didn’t care. We were rich Americans. Next, two soldiers came, pointed their rifles at us and moved them back and forth from us to the stairs. We talked and decided to go upstairs but we would make another stand there. We did. We were promised that our spy, our word, not theirs, would be on the plane. We waited to see, and he was brought first to the plane accompanied by soldiers. We then boarded.
After we had arrived in Copenhagen, we stopped him for the story. He was a spy of sorts, for the Zionist underground. He was supposed to travel with a partner but the partner got sick. The powers that be decided to let this guy go on his own. That’s how he was caught: being seen talking to Jewish dissidents. His suitcase had contained pairs of jeans which could be used on the black market. He has also brought books in Hebrew. His job was to get the names of those working in the underground in Tbilisi and Moscow. The first part of the trip had been cancelled which was why he was so indignant. The reason he had been taken away was the soldiers found letters which were addressed to Israel and had been given to him to mail. The letters were seized. The guy told us that what was most important, the names of the underground leaders, had not been found. He had written them in tiny letters in some of those books and pamphlets we had been given in Kalinin. They didn’t check Lenin material. We told him he was the worst spy ever as we had figured him for one, but we told him it was kind of exciting to have a spy in our group and to have rifles pointed at us. It made for a great story, the sort you’d expect in Russia or at the start of John Le Carré novel.
Well, that’s my trip to Russia. Thanks for coming along. I haven’t told this story in a long time, and it was fun to remember.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: Moscow, murders, severed head, Shopping, spies, vodka, Zionism
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April 30, 2013 at 12:10 pm
Totalitarian governments are the same regardless of their ideology. The USSR on the left and Nazi Germany on the right it’s all the same. The Russian people had a well founded fear of the authorities as many of them found themselves in prison camps the gulag for minor offenses aginst the state. We take our freedom nere for granted and don’t always realize that people in other countries can’t express themselves freely.
The Moscow subway is the most beautiful and one of the deepest in the world. Beauty to show the world that the Comunist state was better than the West, where subways are dark, dank as well as dirty and deep to be used as bomb shelters.
One of the reasons that the Soviet government didn’t want Jews to leave for Isreal was because many of them were involved in their nuclear programs, space programs and were leaders in the medical field.
Another beautiful day with warm temperatures. Tomorrow night a cold front is heading our way from the Canadian Artic along with an upper level disturbance which will result in a cold wet Thursday.
April 30, 2013 at 1:13 pm
Bob,
The Germans did not suffer the same privations as the Russians. They could own stores and keep their profits. Goods including fresh vegetables were plentiful and not rationed until the war.
I read The Gulag Archipelago which led me to articles and other books also about gulags so I can understand the fear of the average Soviet citizen.
The Moscow subway is one of the newest in comparison to London, Boston and New York. London, the oldest subway system in the world, is the only one I know which was used for a bomb shelter, but it was not built to be one. It was built deeply because so many multiple lines run over and under each other. I remember one escalator in London where you couldn’t see the bottom from the top. In Boston, the subway is neither dank nor dark. As Boston has the oldest subway in the U.S., many of the stations have needed renovations over the years which has improved the decoration considerably.
Today is absolutely gorgeous at 67˚, an almost perfect day. I’ve been out once but hope to be again!
April 30, 2013 at 2:38 pm
The German people suffered during the war but not like the Russians. Russia lost more men than anyone. What’s the difference between the Gestapo and the KGB? The gulag or the concentration camp? Totalitarian regimes are bad regardless their ideological reason for existence. Economic prosperity does not really matter when your neighbor is being dragged away in the middle of the night by the secret police. Were the Military Juntas in Chile worse than the one in Argentina in the 1970s? Is Castro worse than Chavez was in Venezuela?
You are correct about the London subway being used as a bomb shelter during WWII, but I think the Moscow subway was designed to be a bomb shelter from nuclear bombs. The New York subway system is not just old but it’s dirty, smelly and just plain bad.
April 30, 2013 at 4:27 pm
Bob,
I wasn’t talking war or secret police but the lives of the people under both regimes. There was a huge difference. The German people were always far better off than the Russians. The country itself, Russia, was a century behind the rest of Europe in its development, production of goods and factories. During WWII, the Germans didn’t drag the common German citizen off the street as the Russians did for any small infraction or slip of the tongue. The concentration camps were gone when the war was over, and the victims were liberated, but the Russian gulags continued. Even now, some Russian prisons are in the harshest part of the country and common criminals are sent there.
I would not put Castro in the same category as the rest.
I think you are right about the deepest lines could be used for shelter during a nuclear explosion.
The Boston line is the oldest but it isn’t smelly or dirty. Very few trains have graffiti the way the trains in NY do. I used to take the T often. Now, if I go to the city, I park my car in Braintree, the furthest station out, then take the T into the city. It’s cheaper than trying to park in Boston.
April 30, 2013 at 1:43 pm
Really interesting reading this! I read yesterdays post at work today because we had the annual road association meeting yesterday. He really was a bad kind of spy 🙂 Had he never seen a 007 film 🙂 but only speaking about it amongst Yourself was actually dangerous back then, they had ears and eyes everywhere. Well I guess they still do but today they have so many other problems so a Zionist wouldn’t be seen as such a big problem 🙂
They say that the subway is just as beautiful now days as it was when You were there, I don’t understand how they can keep it that beautiful! Would be impossible here in Sweden 🙂
Sunny but cold due to a nasty wind, I doubt there will be many Walpurgis night bonfires lit today.
Have a great day!
Christer.
April 30, 2013 at 4:30 pm
Christer,
I’m glad you enjoyed my little adventure. We didn’t really care about the ears in our room. We figured they’d love our story of grisly murders. No, not any more would they be seen as problems.
I think people would be fearful of doing anything destructive so the stations stay beautiful.
Luckily no wind today so it was a great day!!
Have a wonderful evening!!
April 30, 2013 at 3:08 pm
Hi Kat,
Wow! What an exit!
Maybe he was why the trip to Tbilisi was cancelled. They were on to him from the start. Because he was a spy, you got to see dental students and their victims. 🙂
It’s lovely here today. I have no vehicle so I can’t go anywhere. I finished the laundry and spent some time outside chopping the vicious roses and bittersweet vines. The lawn needs mowing. I will ignore it. Lawnmower guy should show up sometime. I hope.
Enjoy the rest of the day.
April 30, 2013 at 4:14 pm
Hi Caryn,
I thought that the perfect ending to a Russian saga! It’s true: without him no gaping mouths in Kalinin.
I have to go vote in the primary then have one errand, and when I come back the feeders need filling.
Gracie has some sort of skin infection which is why she has lost her hair in a small spot on her side. She is now on antibiotics, and her hair should begin to grow back. Having spent almost $400 on a well dog visit, $!68 0n mostly dog food ay Agway, I now add $!38 at the vets today. I think I’ll get fish next, one lonely gold fish!
Have a great evening!!
May 1, 2013 at 6:33 am
Fish are non-pets. They are more like objets d’art that require more care than just dusting. And you still have to feed them.
May 1, 2013 at 12:46 pm
Caryn,
Just a pinch of food every day!
April 30, 2013 at 3:11 pm
Ooooooooh, already the end of the Russian saga? Thanks for this great spy story! It’s funny to read and you were/are a courageous woman. Who would have thought that the Lenin material is useful 😉
Now back to another suspence on old fashioned AM radio: soccer UEFA Champions League semi-final Real Madrid – Dortmund. Still 0:0…
April 30, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Birgit,
I loved that trip. It was really fun. My friend and traveling companion bought one of those fur Russian hats you see all the men wearing and she wore it home! Funny!!
I have hopes your team will be triumphant!
April 30, 2013 at 7:12 pm
London xoxoxox
April 30, 2013 at 7:18 pm
Hello, MDH!!!
April 30, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Yeah London !!! 🙂 Expect some yellow-black fans in the city…
(Kat, Dortmund lost 0:2 today but nevertheless reached the final.)
April 30, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Birgit,
Glad to here that even though the team lost you’re still going to the finals!!
May 1, 2013 at 6:34 am
Hi, Hedley. Enjoy London!
May 1, 2013 at 6:34 pm
Caryn, 🙂 and thanks.
April 30, 2013 at 5:42 pm
With your memory of the details of these trips, at your age and mental condition, you’re starting to impress me!
Actually, the Germans were just as persecuted as the Russians. It was not uncommon to be dragged out of one’s house by Nazi Party members and executed for even telling a joke about Der Furher.
Today I started prepping the pool and deck for the summer. We never know how long this good weather will last.
April 30, 2013 at 5:58 pm
Bill,
I have always had a great memory. I take umbrage at mental condition-age I’ll accept!!
You are an optimist! I haven’t even started working on the deck for summer. It won’t take long, but I just think it’s still a bit early. The Cape has a late spring because of the ocean!
May 2, 2013 at 4:22 pm
What an awesome tale!
May 2, 2013 at 4:42 pm
Thanks, sprite. I love the ending. I get to say we had a spy with us in Russian. Always been cool to me!