Thursday, June 27, 2013

Additional Comments from the Murmansk tour guide

1.       Regarding what is taught to Russians about the last 50 years; "It is very difficult to predict Russian History."

2.       On public art; "We love to put up monuments, but we never take any down." There was a huge statue of Lenin, only one of three left in all of Russia. The guide said; "Old people come and put flowers around the monument to this killer. Old people are set in their ways." I have seen the other two in Petrapolov and St. Petersburg.

3.       Her personal story; "My dad was from a collective farm which they were not allowed to leave except when he joined the Russian Navy. However, he was permitted to marry his childhood girlfriend from the farm and settle in Murmansk. My son just graduated from the university where I teach. He is 23 years old and lives at home with us. He is also a teacher."

4.       "The Soviets were atheists. That's how I grew up. Some old people follow the Orthodox religion, but we all have civil holidays near the religious ones. Easter is determined by the Orthodox priests who move the date to the next full moon when it falls on the Jewish Easter."

No comments:

Post a Comment