07-05-2003, 02:42 AM
Being the moderator... I'll kick in my photo too.
Here I am, dressed as the early-WW2 rifles NCO with a couple Russian friends right off of Red Square. (Granted, this was taken a few years ago... back when I had some hair!)
I had been on the market earlier that morning (this was a Saturday) and started talking to a few Soviet uniform dealers. We got to talking about what I was looking for and I told them I would love to find a uniform in my size (roughly a Russian 58, pretty hard to find in the old stuff!)
Anyway, there was an MVD officer (senior Lieutenant) there who was a collector who mentioned he had a set that would fit me. I met up with him at his apartment, bought the set, and he told me that there was going to be a little reenactment at a certain militaria shop, about 100 yards off of Red Square. So, I showed up, got changed, and joined in the fun! Of course, there were only four of us (and the other three were Russian) but there was LOTS of beer, which helped me get over my extreme lack of Russian language ability.
There had been a large outdoor concert scheduled to take place on Red Square that day, but it had been cancelled. Hundreds of people had shown up though, and most of them were making their way down this street, just up from Hotel Russia. I kept my mouth shut, and there were all these American and British tourists that thought we were so cute and had to get their photos taken with us. Of course, there were the few drunk Russian fellows that wanted their photos taken too...
Overall, it was pretty fun, 'blending in' as a Russian, yet understanding everything that the tourists were saying. I was just amazed...
Here I am, dressed as the early-WW2 rifles NCO with a couple Russian friends right off of Red Square. (Granted, this was taken a few years ago... back when I had some hair!)
I had been on the market earlier that morning (this was a Saturday) and started talking to a few Soviet uniform dealers. We got to talking about what I was looking for and I told them I would love to find a uniform in my size (roughly a Russian 58, pretty hard to find in the old stuff!)
Anyway, there was an MVD officer (senior Lieutenant) there who was a collector who mentioned he had a set that would fit me. I met up with him at his apartment, bought the set, and he told me that there was going to be a little reenactment at a certain militaria shop, about 100 yards off of Red Square. So, I showed up, got changed, and joined in the fun! Of course, there were only four of us (and the other three were Russian) but there was LOTS of beer, which helped me get over my extreme lack of Russian language ability.
There had been a large outdoor concert scheduled to take place on Red Square that day, but it had been cancelled. Hundreds of people had shown up though, and most of them were making their way down this street, just up from Hotel Russia. I kept my mouth shut, and there were all these American and British tourists that thought we were so cute and had to get their photos taken with us. Of course, there were the few drunk Russian fellows that wanted their photos taken too...
Overall, it was pretty fun, 'blending in' as a Russian, yet understanding everything that the tourists were saying. I was just amazed...
