Impressions of a Short Russian Tour

Observed during a trip to Moscow, Kalinin, and Leningrad. First impression: There are no shutters or draperies on Russian windows. As you ride by in the bus, you see that the net curtains do not hide the interiors at night. The uniformity is striking: the same globe ceiling light fixtures in room after room, the same drab walls. No pictures that I can see. In Moscow, amidst the enormous, utilitarian modern grey apartment houses, there are overblown nineteenth-century style apartment houses from Stalin’s time, with pinnacles and/or columns. Some apartment houses are far better kept up than others. But nowhere, in these show cities, are there the slums of suburban Rome or urban New York. The streets are spotless. A member of our party, Helen Puwalski, suggests an exchange of Moscow and New York sanitation personnel.

Russia is a country of motherly figures, due to racial characteristics and starchy food. (I hasten to say that for all I know, in the parts of Russia I have not seen, all the women are sylphs.) Old bent motherly figures, in babushkas and old-time felt boots, sweep the streets with birch brooms while the men ride on trucks. I am glad to see that the women take their time. Other humble motherly figures guard each room in the museums we go to. All of them are kindly, and seeing me and my stick, urge me to sit on their own chairs while the guide talks. In one museum, an old woman sees me wobble on the felt slippers you have to put on in order not to ruin the exquisite inlaid wood floors—a common practice in Europe. As my husband fastens them for me, she pushes him away and removes the slippers: a lame person need not wear them. We shake hands formally with her and I reach for the only thing I have on me to give: my lipstick. She is very pleased and we move on with the tour. Two rooms later, she pushes her way through the crowd and presses a present into my hands: a little illustrated calendar for 1976. God bless her and all those other kind old women who know what it is to stand for long on your feet.

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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Observed during a trip to Moscow, Kalinin, and Leningrad. First impression: There are no shutters or draperies on Russian windows. As you ride by in the bus, you see that the net curtains do not hide the interiors at night. The uniformity is striking: the same globe ceiling light fixtures in room after room, the same drab walls. No pictures that I can see. In Moscow, amidst the enormous, utilitarian modern grey apartment houses, there are overblown nineteenth-century style apartment houses from Stalin’s time, with pinnacles and/or columns. Some apartment houses are far better kept up than others. But nowhere, in these show cities, are there the slums of suburban Rome or urban New York. The streets are spotless. A member of our party, Helen Puwalski, suggests an exchange of Moscow and New York sanitation personnel.

Russia is a country of motherly figures, due to racial characteristics and starchy food. (I hasten to say that for all I know, in the parts of Russia I have not seen, all the women are sylphs.) Old bent motherly figures, in babushkas and old-time felt boots, sweep the streets with birch brooms while the men ride on trucks. I am glad to see that the women take their time. Other humble motherly figures guard each room in the museums we go to. All of them are kindly, and seeing me and my stick, urge me to sit on their own chairs while the guide talks. In one museum, an old woman sees me wobble on the felt slippers you have to put on in order not to ruin the exquisite inlaid wood floors—a common practice in Europe. As my husband fastens them for me, she pushes him away and removes the slippers: a lame person need not wear them. We shake hands formally with her and I reach for the only thing I have on me to give: my lipstick. She is very pleased and we move on with the tour. Two rooms later, she pushes her way through the crowd and presses a present into my hands: a little illustrated calendar for 1976. God bless her and all those other kind old women who know what it is to stand for long on your feet.