Flights to Moscow from Warsaw were
non-stop and LOT Airlines provided a very comfortable Business-Class service
that included unlimited champagne. I rarely wanted a drink on the way to
Moscow, though, as all my previous visits had begun with unexpected
“adventures”. The last thing needed was to be drunk if a taxi driver decided to
take me on a ride in the country to extort more money for his services.
Such an adventure
“happened” on the last trip for FEDEX and I wound up six hours late for a
meeting at the offices just off of Red Square. I would have probably paid the
guy more money but he wanted a $500 extra “tip” or I would be” beaten up by
(his) buddies in the woods North of town”, he told me. The driver himself was
enormous but he seemed so intoxicated (and nervous) about what he was
attempting, I decided to wait him out and refused to pay. After about four
hours, I finally broke the silence, using a sympathetic tone, and told him that
I understand how bad the economic conditions were for taxi drivers and the
“average Ivan” in Russia. After a while I began to negotiate the sum down and
he wound up taking $50. This was a precedent that was set for the bribe taking
and corruption I would be exposed to for the next ten years in Moscow. Whatever
someone was asking for could usually be negotiated down to about 1/10th
of their original request…unless they already had a gun to your head or a torch
to your foot.
***
Getting to the
hotel had been mostly uneventful. My visa, previously secured while the Polish
Country Director for FEDEX, was still valid and getting through the maze of
customs, passport, and other security at Sheremetyevo Airport had gone
exceedingly well…by Russian standards. The cab pulled up to the hotel at the
main entrance passing under a huge awning that seemed to be welcoming guests
for a media event that evening. It was around ten. Not so sleek (but shiny)
black Volga limos were lined up outside in the entrance drive and an inordinate
number of beautiful women were milling about the entrance. I paid the driver
and took my small bag (Russian style diplomatka) with me into the hotel past
the crowd of women.
The
Leningradskaya Hotel was in one of the seven Stalinist era skyscrapers built in
Moscow in the early 50’s. Many felt that these buildings represented the
ugliest socialist architecture that the Soviet Union bestowed on its Soviet
partners and other grand civic leaders and institutions of the communist era.
(Warsaw’s own “Wedding Cake” –
Palace of Science and Culture - was one of these presents from Stalin. Poles
felt that the best view of Warsaw could be seen from that building…obviously
because the building itself would not be visible to ruin the view of the city.)
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