1927 December
Moscow
AG to EG
"Well its a great experience and all that I expected except that people are cheerier and better nourished that I'd expected. The peasants certainly have the prize for cowbarn faces and when you add felt overshoes about 8 times too big, and unending garments of one sort or another the effect is of a bundled up applewoman on a street corner in the middle of winter.
The crowds look warmly dressed but the clothes are coarse grimy and greasy and the effect is not chic - to put it mildly. The buildings look run down and near the time when repairs will be in order, but there was a surprising amount of building going on outside Moscow as we came in.
Of course its wintry here - deepish snow everything on sleighs and consequently rather quiet. The country was just exactly like the Bayard Taylor (?) stories of Russian wolves, droshkies etc. and was really quite beautiful.  The train was comfortable though not very quick and I never knew I had so much German - I can almost get along with it."
Moscow in winter