Boris Yeltsin was in absolute awe when he made a side stop at a supermarket about 30 years ago. The abundance of everything compared to what was available in the Soviet Union shook his view of communism
I'm a Finn, and visited Soviet Union several times with my parents in my teens. They had friends in Soviet Estonia, people who were NOT fond of Soviet Union.
That place was a damn shithole. And the way they spied on everybody... the joke was that the walls of the hotel Viru in Tallinn had more microphones in them than concrete. It was not much of a surprise after Estonia got its independence to find out that that wasn't much of an exaggeration. If any of you ever travel there check out the KGB museum in that hotel - they had their own floor and what they left there has been preserved.
Wouldn't have believed back then that that kind of spying of everybody would one day become the norm in the western countries too. And that makes my blood boil.
Tallinn is awesome. And yeah, I love how they treated the Russians like shit there. I remember being at a mall getting some coffee and some Russian guy in front of me kept saying "c molokom!" (with milk)...and the guy behind the counter literally told him to fuck off and handed him a napkin. I ordered my drink, and told the cashier the Russian was asking for milk...he just grinned and said "I know".
The Russian occupation regime tried to wipe out their history, culture and language. Killed many people, robbed them of their independent country. So no wonder the ordinary Russians were treated like shit too for the sins they did not commit. Sad, but that's life. Looks like they have healed pretty well though. One of the most peaceful countries in Europe and thus the World.
Boris Yeltsin was in absolute awe when he made a side stop at a supermarket about 30 years ago. The abundance of everything compared to what was available in the Soviet Union shook his view of communism
I'm a Finn, and visited Soviet Union several times with my parents in my teens. They had friends in Soviet Estonia, people who were NOT fond of Soviet Union.
That place was a damn shithole. And the way they spied on everybody... the joke was that the walls of the hotel Viru in Tallinn had more microphones in them than concrete. It was not much of a surprise after Estonia got its independence to find out that that wasn't much of an exaggeration. If any of you ever travel there check out the KGB museum in that hotel - they had their own floor and what they left there has been preserved.
Wouldn't have believed back then that that kind of spying of everybody would one day become the norm in the western countries too. And that makes my blood boil.
Tallinn is awesome. And yeah, I love how they treated the Russians like shit there. I remember being at a mall getting some coffee and some Russian guy in front of me kept saying "c molokom!" (with milk)...and the guy behind the counter literally told him to fuck off and handed him a napkin. I ordered my drink, and told the cashier the Russian was asking for milk...he just grinned and said "I know".
The Russian occupation regime tried to wipe out their history, culture and language. Killed many people, robbed them of their independent country. So no wonder the ordinary Russians were treated like shit too for the sins they did not commit. Sad, but that's life. Looks like they have healed pretty well though. One of the most peaceful countries in Europe and thus the World.