Grutas Shopping

There were glasses and mugs with various writings and pictures from the Soviet era put on them offered at the Grutas Park ticket office.

What to buy: A mug with comerade Nikita Khrushchev or Lenin or with flags of great family of Soviet republics. There was an inscription in Russian language: "For tea, not for vodka ---> you can't drink much" on the last one.

The Soviet Union was known as a state of "vodka lifestyle" and in real it was, probably Russia still is. Poland was a country of very high consumption of vodka since WWII till 90' - over 11 liters of pure alcohol per head a year while it was over 5 times less before WWII. Didn't the vodka lifestyle come to Poland from the East? Never mind, we have less and less "vodka lifestyle" but more and more "beer lifestyle" in Poland, now.

What to pay: 15 Lt for a mug. That was approx. € 4.5, US$ 5.5 or 21 Polish zl.

The ticket office to the Grutas Park offered some items from the Soviet era and a few leaflets on the Grutas Park, nothing authentic though.

What to buy: You can buy these two boxes of jigsaw puzzle on my picture... if you like to do a jigsaw... Alternatively you can buy a matchbox with Grutas Park logo, with Lenin's or Stalin's face.

What to pay: 0.20 Lt for a matchbox.
5.50 Lt or 6.50 Lt for a jigsaw puzzle.

The ticket office to the Grutas Park offered limited choice of items from the Soviet era. Well, none were original but some were funny or at least interesting to look at them.

What to buy: Buy or better look at this plate on my picture. I remember similar plates with various funny, communist slogans and pictures which were gifted to the best party activists in my country, Poland in not so old past...

There was the Soviet Union or to be more exact USSR (Union of Soviet, Socialist Republics) coat of arms/logo in the middle of the plate with Soviet Union flag on the top and 15 flags of 15 Soviet republics put around. They all formed so called "great family of Soviet republics".

What to pay: 40 Lt - I would die first than to pay even a cent for it... but if you want...

There were a few kinds of small, vodka glasses and larger beer glasses with various pictures and funny writings from the Soviet era put on them.

What to buy: I bought these two small, vodka glasses on my picture. There was volume (in grams) marked on them, hmm... only for up to 100 grams.

FOR GUYS
So, you could drink from the left glass:
100 g for communism,
50 g for a party (communist of course, there were no others),
10 g for homeland
Hmm... real communist system of values!

FOR WOMEN
From the right glass one could drink:
100 g for a lover
50 g for a commander (of revolution, I suppose)
10 g for a husband.
Was it Soviet woman's system of values? :-)

What to pay: 5 Lt for one, that was ? 1.51, US$ 1.82 or 7.00 Polish zl.

There were a few kinds of small, vodka glasses with various funny writings and pictures from the Soviet era put on them.

What to buy: I bought these two glasses on my picture. There were: on the left one - Stalin's face and his words: "not even a step back", on the right one - a women showing "silence" and the writing: "do not gab, do sing".

Well, the Soviet Union, its invicible Red Army in his victorious march never did even a step back (just in case... a bullet throught the head).
Soviet people never gabbed not to disclose secrets to enemies of the revolution (just in case... one-way ticket to Siberia or worse), instead they were so happy that they sang surely revolutionary songs (if not... as above).

What to pay: 5 Lt that was € 1.51, US$ 1.82 or 7.00 Polish zl.

There were glasses and mugs with various funny (now) writings and pictures from the Soviet era put on them.

Some of them were decorated with pictures of Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, after Stalin's death. He was pictured with his shoe hold in his hand. Why with the shoe?

Well, the incident took place at a United Nations conference in 1960. Khrushchev was asked how he could protest Western capitalist imperialism while the Soviet Union was rapidly assimilating Eastern Europe at the same time. I can say that it was very simple but good and very accurate question. Khrushchev became very angry and informed the asker that he was, "a jerk, a stooge and a lackey of imperialism", then removed one of his shoes and made a move as to bang it in the table, although he never did.

What to buy: I bought this mug, on my picture, with a picture of Nikita Khrushchev and his words from late 50' written in Russian language: "we will catch up and overtake the USA".
Haha, I can't stop laughing almost 50 years later... still very, very long way, additionally longer and longer, camerades...

It reminded me typical Soviet propaganda of never ending success of communism. Have you ever heard about so called Kitchen Debate between Khrushchev and US Vicepresident Richard Nixon in 1959? - read here, if you are interested.

What to pay: 15 Lt that was approx. € 4.5, US$ 5.5 or 21 Polish zl.

There were a few kinds of beer glasses with various funny (now) writings and pictures from the Soviet era put on them.

What to buy: Beer glasses with comrade Stalin or comrade Lenin... the two mass murderers of the 20th century. There were some funny writings on the glasses but surely exclusively in Russian language.

What to pay: 15 Lt that was approx. € 4.5, US$ 5.5 or 21 Polish zl per each beer glass.

There was a collection of various posters from Soviet times sold there, not original though, rather copies always with added logo of Grutas Park.

What to buy: Hmm... rather to look at than to buy in my opinion... a calendar (for a wall) with a portrait of Stalin reading a book by another communist criminal, Lenin. Well, they both were responsible for death of millions...

What to pay: 5 Lt that was ? 1.51, US$ 1.82 or 7.00 Polish zl.