Saturday May 9 - Wednesday May 12 - Moscow

Saturday, May 9. This is a big holiday--Victory Day (the end of World War II). I spend the morning working on my travel report. One sign on the street that this is a "genuine" holiday is that very few vendors are active on the street. I spend the evening with Evgenii Kuzmin and his family, which is very pleasant.

Sunday, May 10. The weather is Moscow today is beautiful--so I spend the day walking about Moscow. I visit Izmailovskii park, which is astonishing. It is hard to comprehend so many people trying to sell so much stuff in one place (and so much of it the exact same stuff), The matrioshka dolls and Palekh boxes are now made in such a rush that none are even vaguely attractive. When I talk to some of the vendors (some of the older ones are willing to simply talk--most of the younger ones are too busy with their friends) they admit that the whole situation is completely crazy, but they claim to have other jobs (Izmailovskii is only like this on the weekend) and that they feel compelled by circumstances to earn as much as possible whenever possible.

Monday, May 11. This is a holiday (the Russian government now has a law similar to the US--if the holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the following Monday is now officially a holiday as well. I spend the day working on various memos that I will need to distribute upon my return to Washington and on my travel report.

Tuesday, May 12. Last day working in the Moscow Acquisitions office. I meet Yakov Shreiberg of the Russian State Public Library of Scientific and Technical Information. He explains that library's plans to create a special reading room that will contain special resources for use by "businessmen'' (for a fee). I try to explain certain concerns that American librarians have with fee-for-service, but he is unconvinced. I also talk with Gennadii Popov of the Knizhnaia palata, who arrives to retrieve a fax sent via Dr. Levner from CDS.

Wednesday, May 12 to. Saturday, May 16. The last three days of the week I have annual leave, and pursue various tourist-like activities. On Saturday morning I am driven to the airport by Sergei and Elena Yegorov, who had entertained me the night before. The past four weeks have been useful, I hope, for the Library of Congress, and I have enjoyed myself immensely in the process.

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I can't seem to find any evidence that I took a camera in 1992, which is too bad (I suppose). People visiting Izmailovskii Park today find acres of smaller stands but also many larger structures that were build as "attractions" of various sorts and to make the place seem more historic somehow. In 1992 it was more where people went out of almost desperation, hoping to sell things they no longer needed to earn money to buy necessities. It quickly became a tourist destination, but it seemed sad when tourists try to drive hard bargains with people in the situation the Russians were in then. Izmailovskii Park in 2015 - the same, but different (this was early, before most people arrived)