August 7, 1998 Friday

A taxi transferred me to the train station where I was met by an Intourist representative who made sure I got on the right car and at my right seat. It was a compartment with six seats. I thought I would be alone but first a young American woman with a large heavy backpack took one of the seats. Then a young woman from Finland who worked for the United Nations joined us. The American girl had been traveling extensively in Africa and Turkey. She didn’t seem ready to go home. Her guide book was entitled “Europe and Scandinavia on a Shoe String.”

The woman in charge of the railroad car had taken my ticket leaving me no stub. After a couple of hours she gave me back my ticket and asked for my passport. She was efficient, but never smiled. The Russian immigration officers came on board. We were asked to step into the hallway while a female officer gave our compartment a perfunctory search.

The customs declaration asked if I possessed rubles. As it was illegal to take rubles out of the country I answered no. The rubles I had were in my shoe. When we approached the border our passports were returned and the officers left.

After we crossed over into Finland a woman with a money cart like in Reno came down the isle offering exchange. I took off my shoe and exchanged my Russian rubles for Finnish marks. It was a luck think because I had no Fin money for a taxi from the train station to the hotel.

Finland was well cultivated, flat land with few trees. There was mile after mile of tilled fields with a variety of crops in neat rows. The Fins were obviously an industrious people, unlike many of the Russians who were still hoping that someone would pay them even if they didn’t work.

When we reached the Helsinki train station, a taxi took me a short distance to the Radison Hotel. They were efficient and friendly at the reception desk, unlike my Moscow hotel where under the communist they didn’t have to be friendly and they continued to act the same way. The room at the Radisson was attractive with new furniture, a TV with a great selection of programming, a comfortable bed with new sheets and spread and a bath with shiny fixtures and large mirrors. The Moscow hotel had sheets on the bed that had been patched and what appeared to be an old army blanket. There was no TV and the furniture was mismatched.

After checking in, I walked around the streets by the hotel, finding the water front at Market Square where the ferry boats and excursion boats docked. The street names had many letters, such as the Radisson hotel was on Runeberginkatu. At first I couldn’t find where they were marked, but then I noticed the small signs attached to the corners of the buildings. They were difficult to read from across the street so it was necessary for me to cross the street and stare up at the sign with my street map in my hand, like a tourist. In the evening I went to a place where the Fins go to dance.