MOC-10-Day-26-Remembrance-or-Tribute-Layout

JOURNALING
Russian Memories
Ruble/Pубль
In 1976, while the U.S. was celebrating its bicentennial, I took my first trip to the Soviet Union, fulfilling a childhood dream. And the dream was as wonderful in reality as it had been in my head. There was something about the first city we went to, St. Petersburg, that made me feel as if I’d been there before. I would joke I was Russian in another life. It was so beautiful and so full of history. One of the things that struck me were bomb scars on buildings from WWII. The Germans laid seige to Leningrad (as it was known at the time) for 872 days, one of the longest and most destructive in history. We Americans never heard about what this beautiful city went through at the hands of Nazi invaders and their Finnish neighbors.
The Russian people working at the hotel were so sweet and solicitous of our well-being. They at first did not quite “get” the American NEED to have coffee first thing in the morning. But, by the time our group moved on to Kiev, they had made sure coffee was one of the first things served at breakfasts! (I can’t even stand the smell of the stuff!)
One evening after returning to the hotel, the tour group was sitting around talking about the experience and several of them pulled out the Russian coins they had received in change from the stores. They were mostly kopeks of various denominations, but some people had ruble coins. (100 kopeks = 1 ruble). I had one, too. We held out our coins, but mine wasn't the same as all the others. Then I took a closer look and realized I had a special coin that had been struck in 1967 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Russian revolution! During our 10 day trip, no other commemorative ruble showed up. I was the only one who had that special piece. Needless to say, it was put in a secure place so I wouldn't accidently spend it. It is to this day one of my most prized possessions.
Pictured below on the "reverse" side is Lenin with his right arm raised, a star, and CCCP (translation: USSR).
The "obverse" shows the coat of arms of the Soviet Union and the lettering
Пятьдесят лет Советской власти
один
рубль
(translation: 50 years of Soviet Power
One
Ruble)
Around the edge of the coin are the years 1917-1967 and the lettering Слава Великому Октябрю (translation: Glory to Great October).
CREDITS: WORDS: 419; COIN PHOTOS: by me; FONTS: Comic Sans; Cyrillic; KIT: “Nordland” by Lynn Grieveson