russia
mom and uncle jim took colin and i to russia in 1987, when it was still soviet. our cousin bruce allyn was studying the russian side of the cuban missle crisis there;in moscow, we stayed at the Hotel Cosmos, an incredibly large hotel. Thousands of rooms - all with dark forest green wallpaper. Our floor had an eye clinic on it, so there were always arabic peoples wandering about with patches on their eyes, sharing the elevator with us.
he spoke fluent russian and made an excellent guide.
(that's a long way from nebraska) I was 13. I dressed funny - like different colour socks. people offered me money for my jeans.
the food was pretty grueling. sausage and cheese and eggs for breakfast and lunch, and caviar and chicken for dinner, if you were lucky. and always borscht.
leningrad was beautiful. we were there during white nights, when it was light outside all but two or three hours of the day. it was like a classic quiet european city, but without any americans.
there were lots of lines everywhere.
Jim took a wad of toilet paper and stuck it behind his glasses to look patient, too.
I bought some soviet propoganda posters that are really wild. anti-vodka ads with upside down tv sets. crows distributing drugs to peasants.
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