It’s been about
six months since my Russia trip and I’ve been gently ruminating over it all
this time, trying to get a fix on Mother Russia. I grew up with Slavic
grandparents. My grandmother was Polish and my grandfather was Russian.
Cossack, actually, or so I guess since he came from outside of Odessa, which is
in modern Ukraine where Cossacks came from.
I remember my
grandmother sending care packages back to ‘The Old Country,’ every few months.
Used clothing. Dried food. Small housewares. Used socks. My grandfather didn’t
like to talk about the old country. We could see that it gave him too much
grief.
So, all during
the cold war, that was my impression of the people we were at war with. My
grandfather’s grief.
On my trip
across Russia, Moscow to Vladivostok, I saw about 15 cities over 6,000 miles of
wilderness and stunning beauty. Every city and town was clean, the monuments
well-tended and adorned with flowers, wedding parties posed for pictures, the
people on the streets were genuinely friendly. I felt welcomed.
At one small
station we stopped for a break to stretch our legs. Outside some members of my
group started trading coins, American quarters for Russian rubles, with some
children at the station. They were thrilled to use some of their English. When
we went to go back on the train, one of them came up and gave us a chocolate
bar just for us, for everyone in our car. Everywhere was like that. We felt
welcomed. I just wanted to encapsulate that in a word or a phrase.
What is the
Russian temperament today? What is the heart of Russia?
And I figured
it out. You know what there was? A pioneer spirit. Even in the
thousand-year-old cities, The Moscow’s, the Vladimir’s, the little Listvyanka’s
on Lake Baikal. I felt an excitement. I got the energy of a people that are
engaging in a grand renewal, an experiment in modern living tempered by a rich
and nurturing history. There is modernity here. And there is great history. We
saw displays of loyalty with people waving flags.
“What’s that?”
we asked.
“Oh, today’s
Navy Day. People are celebrating the navy,” we were told.
And so did I,
shouting “Russia!” at people by the docks of Listvyanka who may have been my
enemy lately, though I knew not why or how.
And a few days
later?
“Oh, now that’s
Air Fore day! We celebrate our air force,” I was told. It made perfect sense.
Yevgeny, our
guide and leader for the whole trek, was able to recite some Pushkin he
memorized as a child. Oxanna, our local guide in Irkutsk, boasted that her
husband was an engineer working on, “The best fighter jets in the world.”
Everyone wanted their picture taken with us. Many cities had concerts going on
in their central squares or fairs with rides and booths and children at play
while parents watched, holding hands. They seemed at peace.
Building
projects are everywhere. New highways, new waste treatment plants, expansion of
the Trans Siberian Railroad to accommodate China’s Belt and Road Initiative
linking Vladivostok to Lisbon abound. The planners of the original Trans
Siberian had plans to bring it all the way to New York via the Aleutian Islands.
Imagine that. Traveling from Paris to New York by rail. The revolution put an
end to that and the money for it disappeared, along with its chief benefactor,
Nicholas II.
Who knows? Maybe the plans are still there?
Anything is
possible when you are a pioneer.
I wonder if
Russia today would be my grandfather’s joy?
