My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

get warm.” However, I knew the real reason was that Russians had
the highest percentage of alcoholism in the world due to the lack of
freedom and being subjected to live under such a terribly
oppressive regime. The last evening in Moscow, the group went to
see a wonderful performance by the Bolshoi Ballet Company on
the stage of the Kremlin Palace. That was something I will never
forget. What an experience that was!
The following evening, the group travelled overnight on a very old
train, (almost falling apart) to Leningrad, today St. Petersburg, the
Northern Capital of Russia. On the train, I was wearing an
inexpensive pair of jeans and a soldier approached me to buy them.
He offered to pay his entire month’s salary. I responded saying,
“What am I going to wear?” He replied. “I’m sure you have other
pairs inside your luggage.” After leaving the train I felt guilty,
because I should have gone to the bathroom to change into another
pair of jeans and given that poor soul the ones I was wearing.
Russia back then, was isolated from the western world, so people
went crazy when they saw someone from the west wearing decent
clothes! I had been informed, before I left the US, to take lots of
gum with me to give to the kids on the streets. You can’t imagine
how happy they were with an insignificant pack of gum.
In spite of observing the Russian’s oppressed poor standard of
living, I must say that Leningrad was an incredibly beautiful city.
We visited the famous Hermitage Museum and the Winter Palace,
the residence of the Russian Czars, which contains one of the most
impressive art collections in the world; the Blue Bridge, the widest
in the world, with a large span, encompassing the entire width of
St. Isaac’s Square; the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood. I
also visited the historical ship “Aurora” that sparked the
Revolution in 1917 with a blank shot from her forecastle gun. I
took some pictures of the ship and a policeman approached me and
191