Photo: Downtown Moscow
Sep 8, 1985 I arrived at the Helsinki airport in the early afternoon and waited about 2 hours for the Soviet Aeroflot flight to Moscow. The two gentlemen seated next to me on the jet were foreigners, possibly Russians. They had each sneaked a can of Finnish beer on board and cautiously drank it before we left the ground. A small lunch was served on the flight with drinks of mineral water or wine. Two travelers ahead of us purchased, from the stewardess, a bottle of Johnnie Walker Red and shared it with the other passengers.
I arrived at the Moscow airport at about 5:00 PM. The passport control guard was very stern. He stared at me for a minute and then studied my passport and visa closely for about 3 minutes. Finally he stamped various documents and let me through into the baggage area. I collected my suitcase and boxed backpack, filled out my custom form, and looked for the International Mountaineering Camps (IMC) representative who was supposed to meet me in the baggage area. The only officials present were those connected to the International Book Fair being held in Moscow.
I got in line to go through customs and first had to walk through a metal detector. My down jacket seemed to set off the detector and the guard couldn t find what set it off until I finally located a small aluminum wrapper in my shirt pocket. The customs man did not look through my luggage at all even though I had indicated I had a 'weapon', my Swiss Army knife. All he wanted to see was the books I had brought with me.
Photo: Downtown Moscow
Soon after getting through customs, I was found by my IMC representative, Harold. Harold, a Russian who spoke German, showed me where I could change money and then introduced me to three other Americans who were on the IMC participants list. The airport scene around us was busy and a little hectic. Photography in the airport was forbidden. One of the American women, Tami, had taken a seemingly innocent picture of two other Americans. A Russian guard came, opened her camera, pulled out the film and exposed it.
Other participants arrived by various connections and about 7:00 PM we were transferred by bus to the Sport Hotel in southwest Moscow. The trip across Moscow took us past many drab colored apartment buildings. The weather was cloudy and rainy. Upon arrival at the hotel I checked into a double room with Bill, a climber from Florida. The neat compact room had 2 small beds, a television, and a bathroom. The hotel served us a late supper. At 10:00 PM I watched a distant spectacular fireworks display from our 8th floor room.
Earlier, when we first arrived at the hotel, 2 young Russians attempted to purchase dollars from me for rubles at twice the government controlled exchange rate. Knowing it was illegal, I turned them down. Later I learned that our Russian translator, Taya, arranged an illegal trade in a restroom for a participant who had neglected to obtain any rubles upon arrival at the airport. Supposedly, we would not be able to exchange money in the Caucasus.
Photo: Intourist Hotel, Moscow
Sep 9, 1985 Bill and I were awakened from our jet-lagged sleep at 4:30 AM by the 8th floor attendant. Each floor in the hotels we stayed had a female attendant who controlled the keys and took care of any other room matters on the floor. We moved our bags down to the ground floor lobby, joining the other IMC participants, who were also readying themselves for the 5:00 AM flight at the domestic Moscow airport. The IMC participants were made up of about 15 Americans, 2 Canadians, 7 Austrians, and a handful of Great Britians, West Germans, and Danes.
On the way to the airport, Helga, a Berlin native now living in Seattle become very ill. The bus stopped along the road as she took care of matters behind the roadside trees. As another dreary overcast Moscow sky dawned on us upon our arrival at the airport, we soon learned that our flight to Mineralniye Vodi would be delayed a few hours. We were told it was due to weather conditions at the other end, bad news. We stayed in the waiting room reserved for foreign passengers and drank coffee in the adjoining cafeteria.
Among the other foreigners in the waiting room was a blind Polish man accompanied by a Russian doctor. He had come to the USSR for treatment but missed a Moscow connecting flight to the treatment hospital the previous evening. Since his visa did not authorize a stay in Moscow, he had no alternative but to sleep overnite on the waiting room couches.
At 11:30 AM our Aeroflot plane finally took off for the 2 hour flight to Mineralniye Vodi. Taya told us we were not to take any photos from the plane. Upon arrival we were taken to a foreigners waiting room at the Mineralniye Vodi airport. I was surprised to see so many jets on the ground, which was also the case in Moscow.
Map of USSR
