European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Above Goose stepping soviet soldiers Cross Moscow s red Square during the changing of the guard. At right a beggar pleads for coins at the Entrance to the Alexander Nevsky monastery in Leningrad. Is photos by Ken George it is a Riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an  Winston Churchill by Norm Zeigler travel outdoor writer close up the massive Brick Walls of the Kremlin lose the sinister Lustre of spy novels and films. Instead of cold War fear and loathing the ancient fortress and the Piebald onion domes of nearby St. Basil s Cathedral evoke wonder and Surprise in visiting americans. On a Brilliant Spring Day it does not seem at All like the Headquarters of what former president Reagan called the evil  the whole idea of red Square you think of dark and gloomy. Then you see it and the Sun s shining and it s something totally different remarked Debbie Waites a teacher at the american elementary school in and of Frankfurt West Germany. The Beauty of the Kremlin is one reality. But the Gray uniformed soldiers Goose stepping out of the Gates across the Square to Lenin s Tomb remind visitors of another reality of the nation that since 1945 has been the major military and ideological adversary of the United states. This contrast the Beauty of the tourist Sites and the powerful presence of the military is striking. In terms of land mass the soviet Union is the biggest country in the world nearly 2vi times the size of the United states. Stretching More than 6,000 Miles from Eastern Europe to the Pacific it has 11 time zones. Though russians Are the predominant ethnic group the nation s population of nearly 290 million includes More than 100 nationalities. For Many of my generation the soviet Union has continued on Page 4 my Babi contrasts westerners introduced to Moscow Leningrad May 31, 1990 stripes Magazine