European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse At fight a Busy scene in Kiev s oct Abr Square the City s heart. A amps Susat Harris it. A a a i of s a Ujj Jpn n i t a of Nett Riff it in a i a a t i rough edges Inkie by t. Elaine Carey Cox news service the soviet government travel agent gave me a hotel room in Kiev that had already been reserved for a cockroach convention. Quot you can t have a reservation Here even if it was made through the foreign ministry s travel Agency Quot the receptionist at the Dnieper hotel barked. Quot we re closed for two Days to All 200 rooms would sit empty for 48 hours awaiting the cockroaches funerals. Despite her abruptness the clerk did Check the reservations Book All written in longhand and conceded that she would help find another hotel because foreigners were involved. By contrast a soviet citizen who had just been turned out of his room got a scrap of paper Flung at him with a Telephone number when he asked where he might stay for one More night. More than three hours licked by before we could find another room at the hotel rus and a taxi arrived to take us there. Soviet hotels that accommodate foreigners almost always have hard currency bars where a pint of Johnnie Walker red Label whiskey will set the traveler Back about $15. Imported Beer flows for two Bucks a can. The soviet Union desperately needs Western currency and such bars and hard currency souvenir shops meant for foreigners help to fill the till. After waiting a halt hour past the opening time posted on the door of the hard currency bar we abandoned it for the. Quot Tea bar Quot where soviet rubles Are accepted. Tim Only problem of course was that there was no Tea just soviet Cognac and Mineral water. For two Days american tourists who should have thanked their Lucky stars they were with a group pressed their noses against the window of the hard currency souvenir shop. They wanted to buy. The shop did no to reopen until after their group moved on to Moscow and none of the dozen employees at the reception desk Ever thought about the missing Revenue. Eating in a soviet hotel can be one of the trickiest feats of travelling in the soviet Union when one is not part of a tour group organized by the government. The first three restaurants in the hotel rejected us for breakfast the first morning because we were not part of a group. We found one with a table set with plates of cheese bread and sour Cream. After waiting about 10 minutes for the Quot administrator Quot to appear and seat us we gave up and sat Down. Quot but you Are just people not a group Quot the administrator said As she ran to our table. She flashed signs of irritation bordering on anger. Quot you re getting my table dirty by Quot sorry Quot 1 said. Quot we waited but no one was Here. Could we have some Tea Quot she walked away. The Tea never came. Unfortunately by the time we finished a morning of appointments and were ready for lunch the same restaurant was the Only one of the hotel s four which would serve us again. This time there was a new twist. The soviet in our group was told by the waiter Quot the americans can eat Here but you can the soviet was stunned and More than a Little angry. Quot Why can foreigners eat and a soviet can t in his own country Quot he sputtered the waiter just shrugged. We ignored him and All of us sat Down after we ate we asked the hotel clerk to Call a taxi for us. We were warned that it would he a wasted Effort that taxis Don t work during lunch hour. She was right. The Central taxi switchboard said to Call Back after 2 . Unlit then there would be no taxis available for hire in he soviet Union s third largest City. I Learned another lesson never i Hango travel plans in the soviet Union. There Are All sorts of Tittle quirks in the Way the system works that almost kept me in the capital of Iho soviet Breud Briskel eight Days longer than i wanted. The hotel had a service Bureau fur foreigners. It is supposed to provide such service As getting train and plane tickets. The women working there said there were no tickets available Foi months. Maybe a train ticket could be had by going to the Central to tourist office at the Central train ticket office she suggested. I tourist makes All travel arrangements for foreigners in the soviet Union normally charging several times More than what a soviet would pay for the same ticket or hotel room. The woman there could t believe we were so badly informed. Quot i can get you tickets Only for today s train not tomorrows and i probably won 1 have any tomorrow she did t say go away but she turned her Hack on us. The window for returning unwanted tickets was mobbed with dozens of other people seeking a Way to get to Moscow. It was clearly hopeless. We went to the top in a cubbyhole office sat a Man in his Early 30s. F be was in charge of passenger tickets. To threw ourselves on him explaining our predicament. Quot come Back at it tomorrow morning. I la have tic kids for you Quot he said and actually he got the tit Kots. It Liaf taken at least five hours of the 20 working hours i Hud stayed in Kiev to arrange a Way Home. Shaking his head the ticket official asked me Quot you Don t have this kind of trouble travelling in the United states do you Quot i was going to say it really had t been that much of hassle in Kiev just to be polite. But i did t. I just said Quot you re he sighed. At left Young people enjoy the summer Sun in a Kiev Park. August 23, 19vq stripes Magazine 3
