The first time I went to Russia, with my two kids and first wife, was in 1991, when St. Petersburg was still called Leningrad, and when historic changes were underway. Statues of Lenin had been toppled, revolution was in the air, the U.S.S.R. and its communist ways were in the process of collapsing, and although [...]

 If you have number six of Les Canadiens magazine from the 1991-92 season, then you have a small story about me. I was in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1991, right at the time the Soviet Union was falling apart, a mind-blowing and historic time to be sure, and I was visiting a bunch of serious Habs [...]

These are Russian lapel pins. Russians love their pins, and there’s millions of them floating around. This little display I have at home are hockey and 1980 Olympics pins, and of course, there’s a story here. In 1991, I told my friends, a Russian couple living in Leningrad, which shortly after became St. Petersburg, to [...]

The first time I was in Russia, it was Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in October of 1991, at the time when communism was being dragged down kicking and screaming, and capitalism was about to take hold. It was where statues of Lenin had been toppled only days before, soldiers and tanks were in the streets both there and [...]

In early September of 1991, my first wife and I and our two kids stopped in Stockholm for a few days on our way to Leningrad, Russia. (St. Petersburg).   It was pretty well exactly 17 years ago. Time flies, as they say.   We stayed in a nice little hotel in Stockholm which was [...]