Today is the anniversary of the Russian Revolution. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the establishment of the Soviet Union (which lasted until 1991), and marked the beginning of the spread of communism in the twentieth century.
Many Russians are increasingly indifferent to this once sacred date, but for some, especially the elderly, Soviet nostalgia runs deep, and they still revere the revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, and fondly remember the large-scale marches and the military parades in Red Square that once attracted so much attention from the rest of the world.
We are unable to get tickets on the overnight train to Odessa, perhaps because it is the weekend and Odessa is a popular resort on the Black Sea, and no doubt because many revelers were taking the weekend off to celebrate (unofficially, of course!) the eighty-sixth anniversary of the revolution.
So we spend one more night with the devotees in Kiev, and watch some spectacular fireworks light up the night sky above the apartments across the road...
URL: http://www.imonk.net/03/11/07.html