Thats heavy duty. All to visit women?
Essentially the same woman.
What are the radical differences that stand out to you from your last trip vs 1987?
Here's a sample:
Official ruble exchange rate: $1.5/1 p (not 1$/30p of today). Unofficial rate (black market) much better but dangerous.
Gum department store in Moscow: outside TV shop large crowd staring at color TVs with that dreamy look. Other stores had plastic shoes and some industrial-grade clodhoppers.
Young people: a few followed me as I walked around Moscow and wanted to practice their English.
Restaurants: very few in Moscow. One evening my friends and I celebrated at one where Hitler had engraved invitations to celebrate the surrender of Moscow. Live music. One particular song got EVERYONE to leave their seat and dance. Can you name that tune? Answer at the bottom. Bright lights came on at 10:00 pm and everyone exited at the same time. Police outside observing the departing customers.
My friends’ flat: My friend was the deputy agriculture attaché and had a nice flat. Every couple of months they would discover not so discrete evidence that “someone” had visited the flat while they were away.
Parking I: drove up to the Kremlin wall and parked free. Plenty of spaces.
Parking II: upon returning from the circus to my friends’ parked Mercedes, two families were posing for photos in front of MB “star.”
Stopped by police: My friend’s wife was waved over by the police (speeding?). She bluffed her way out of it without paying any bribes.
Passport Control I: upon arrival, young man with eagle eyes poked needle through my passport photo.
Passport Control II: when departing I was stopped because I did not stay in hotel (where I could have been watched). Almost immediately three Soviet officials appeared: uniformed man with epaulets on his shoulders, suave and finely dressed gentleman with impeccable English, and Krushchev-look alike alike in black leather jacket. They interrogated me Soviet style for 15 minutes and let me pass upon talking with the Dutch embassy.
Anecdote to the passport exit. Feeling some anxiety, and having almost an hour before the plane departed, I went to the cafe and sat down at the bar. On my left was a Cuban pilot and to the right was a middle Eastern man in uniform (Libyan?). Upon ordering my piva, all eyes in the room turned to the stunning beauty making her entry. She walks towards the bar…… she is walking directly towards me …. this incredible beauty is looking into my eyes ….then she speaks: “Mr. Gator you plane is waiting for you to board. Please follow me to the gate.” They knew what I looked like, the plane I was suppose to take, and my specific location in the terminal!
Answer:
Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley. Not my tastes, yet Muscovites were purists and students of R&R.