The parade we didn't see

From 2010-05 Victory Day

Today was victory day, and everybody was dressed up in Princeton colors. The color scheme relates to the ribbons that originally hung the medals given to all those determined to have contributed significantly to victory in World War II, and this year we were especially encouraged to show the colors. I got a couple of ribbons free by buying newspapers I didn’t want to read, and Alla got a couple of them simply by being in the right place at the right time.

When it came to the parade, however, we didn’t quite coordinate time and place. My teacher told us that the parade would begin at 10:00 a.m., and we didn’t bother verifying her assertion. Knowing that we wouldn’t be able to get near the parade if we weren’t early, we took a taxi and got near the reviewing stand at about 9:00 a.m. The place was strangely empty, and the security guys had to keep asking their supervisors what to do with my water (allowed), my pocket knife (nearly confiscated, but ultimately allowed) and my nail file (allowed.) The guards were really nice about the stuff I had in my pack, and offered to hold my knife for me until I came back later. Conveniently, however, the senior officer assured the inspector after a few moments that small knives were allowed.

When we got inside, we asked a couple of security guys about where we should go to see the parade. In the course of conversation, one of them mentioned that the parade would start at noon. We initially imagined that he had been mistaken, but as ten o’clock approached we began to appreciate that there was nobody in the reviewing stand. Just as we were agonizing over what to do with ourselves for two hours, a jet fighter flew down the street at a very low elevation. Could this be the beginning of the parade? No. We decided that we could entertain ourselves better somewhere else.

It turns out that we didn’t have to go far. The vendors were competing for some sort of a prize, and they had all decked their stands out in wartime style and such detailed presentations that we weren’t sure anything was really for sale. The rest of the story is told best in pictures, which I have posted conveniently for your perusal. To continue, please click here.

From 2010-05 Victory Day