I spent a great night with my tour group, led by a Professor friend of mine, in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, right before the revolution (1988). We were at the local beer hall, and an accordianist and trumpet player were in that night playing a bunch of broadway tunes, and songs like New York, New York, just for our tables. The locals were gawking at us, as we were at them. Not that many tourists came through Pilsen at that time, as it was still a Commie country, so we were novel objects.
Pretty soon though, everyone was getting pretty lubed up on beer, and then everyone was singing, dancing with each other, and getting rowdy. It was so much fun, and at the end of the night, everyone, locals and us, were best bud’s, running out of the place, laughing and screeching, and wanting the night not to end. Quite the experience that I fondly remember to this day. I loved Prague, and the countryside around the spa towns of Marienbad and Karlsbad was beautiful. I’d go back there in a heartbeat. Great food and wine bars too.
“I spent a great night with my tour group, led by a Professor friend of mine, in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, right before the revolution (1988).”
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It would have been interesting to visit the east during communism.
I see only a few monuments to it.
One is at Devin Castle ruins near Bratislava. It is a very small point where Austria is on the other side of the Danube.
It was a popular point for Slovaks trying to escape by swimming over to the Austrian side.
Unfortunately, their was a two story concrete building with three ramps for the Commie sharpshooters.
About six years ago, a monument was erected to commemorate
those that were shot, trying to escape. The building is now a bar.
One fun story is that of a man who built a hot air balloon to launch during the middle of the night, carrying him and his family over the river to freedom.