Letter from U.S.S.R.... 'from Russia with love' 1980

wide road in central Moscow
 

I was in U.S.S.R. when the country was hosting the Olympic games in 1980. I was not there for the games, and nor was I there for the Russian politics. I was there simply, to explore in my own naïve way the vast continent which had put fear in most of us in the West and was known as the continent ' behind the iron curtains!!'

U.S.S.R. was not the place, I could visit simply by having a British passport and buying a plane ticket. I had to apply for a special visa from the Russian embassy in London and with the application came a special pass which I had to carry with me throughout my travel in Russia. The special pass had to be handed in, at the time of my departure, I therefore  have no official record on my passport of my visit to U.S.S.R. I could not travel alone and joined a party of 7 other travellers from England. A Russian guide accompanied me throughout my journey, just as well, as I knew only one word of Russian language. I remember once, whilst I was retracing my foot steps back to my hotel, I lost myself ( story of my travelling life !!!) and with no words to explain my panic attacks to the bewildered  onlookers, Big Brother must have been watching me,( the tourist from the West); help from a wandering solider got me safe to my hotel. I also once found my way into male toilets; that all added to the experience of travelling in the country where I did not speak nor could I read the language.

 

All the hotels were of high standard, 5*  and also the food which was served; bear meat was the dish of the day most evenings. As I explored the world outside the hotels , I could not help but notice the long queues, where the local people waited to be served for basic food like bread and milk. The vast department stores for the tourists, were full of expensive gifts and behind the counters were not so happy looking young men and women who had a job for life, but not out of choice. When ever I was out alone, I seemed to attract Russian soldiers, all very keen to buy Western items from me; selling anything on the streets was illegal and I would have finished up in concentrated camps, maybe?

My first port of call was Moscow, visiting the famous Red Square, and the Moscow ballet theatre. Next came 24 hours flight from Moscow to Khabarovsk, the city on the other side of Russia and  my body  received a bit of a shock on my arrival at the airport. As the doors of the plane opened, my body appeared to have been hit by fire from hot furnace;  the humidity and the temperature were sky high.  Khabarovsk, a small sea side resort  was where I could swim and get to know the local crowd and they got to know me as a gypsy? I guess they have  never seen brown skin Indian before? My guide informed me that the kids saw me as a novelty, small, brown, toy doll to play with? My guide, Olga was a large young lady and most others women I saw during my travels were on the large side too and sometimes extremely tall. Just like the one, I had seen in the ' 'Bond' movies.

 My next journey took me to city of Irkutsk, travelling for two days in the famous Trans- Serbian- Railway. The journey gave me a chance to rub shoulders with the local people who were happy to share their simple food with me and I also had the taste of Russian vodka from the soldiers on the train. The country side was bleak and grey but my train compartment had all the comfort I needed for the journey yet the local were travelling in very poor conditions, I was sad to witness such unfairness. From Irkutsk  I flew to city of  Brusk, where I discovered  why the Russian are so good at playing chess, there were chess players on every corner, mind you, men only! The return journey to Moscow via a visit to Leningrad, a showpiece for the nation where the country had gathered together all the arts the nation owned,  for the tourist to see in the Hermitage Museum of the Winter Palace.

Finally , the unique Russian experience was to walk bare feet on Moscow's squeaky clean, marble floor  underground system where chandeliers hung from the ceilings !!

 As a tourist I was encouraged to take all the communist ( Marxist) literature available where ever I went. On my arrival at  the airport my suitcase was searched and so was my note books examined. The the custom people were happy to let me come home with my suitcase full of their good communist propaganda, they had missed finding few Russian currency I had tucked away in my suitcase, lucky escape ( it was illegal to bring back any Russian currency).