The most fun is writing about the fun parts:
Venice, 1966:
“. . . Kurgapkina accompanied them when they went to a party given by the wife of a prominent artist. She had approached Osipenko in the wings of the theater and extended an invitation. They lived in a palazzo that once been occupied by Gabriele d’Annunzio.
Osipenko, Kurgapkina, and Makarova boarded a crowded vaporetto. The three ballerinas chattered in Russian. Sitting across from them was a heavy man wearing a white suit. “Look at that man,” Kurgapkina whispered, “he’s sitting with his fly open!” They all had a good laugh. Where were they supposed to go once they got off? Kurgapkina asked. They’d been told to ask where d’Annunzio’s villa was.
“Dear ladies,” a voice behind them remarked in Russian, “can it be that you are looking for my villa?” Osipenko stood rooted to the ground as she realized that this was the very same man whose fly had occasioned hilarity. . .”