Memories...

As I mentioned in the beginning of this trip blog, I went to all these cities on a family trip in 1967.   What I have retained in my memory from that trip is a series of images and sensations, some precise and some vague.  From Russia, I remember the taste of the soda (there was no cola of any kind in Russia at the time), and the orange paint in the barracks-like building of our hotel.   (At that time, you stayed where the Russian tourist bureau told you to stay.) And there was always a lady at the end of the corridor, who kept watch on things. From Copenhagen, I remember narrow streets and brick buildings, and the pornography that was displayed openly (i.e. explicit images on the covers) on every newsstand and counter.   (OK, I was 16...)   I have since discovered that I was there in June 1967, exactly the moment when Denmark became the first country to legalize pornography.  In Sweden, we were there just before another momentous change, when they switched from driving on the left to driving on the right.  I remember all the signs.    From  Finland, I remember the pleasure my brother and I had seeing the drunken bums on the waterfront in what was otherwise a very clean and orderly city.  There are other memories...