We were in Russia early in 2002.
The Russian people commonly refer to Lenin's embalmed body, kept in a mausoleum in Red Square, as "The Mummy." Real reverent, eh?
March 8 is International Women's Day, one of the biggest holidays on the Communist Internationale Calendar. On March 8, the Soviet government would bus thousands of workers and students to Red Square to line up and pay "homage" to "The Mummy".
We were in Red Square on March 8, "International Women's Day", 2002.
It was empty.
Nobody was visiting the Mummy.
But the shopping malls were FULL.
.