Yes they were... Havel was a cool guy.
I first visited Prague in 1971, just a few years after the Soviet invasion. It was like a living car museum with bat mobile Tatras... and cigarettes that could be bought singly (one at a time) and their great beer with no labels... and the churches packed... Very atmospheric... Everybody - 99.9% of Czeckoslvakian humanity - upon seeing I was a tourist - would sneak close and ask to buy hard currency (especially German Marks). Loudspeakers on the street making announcements and playing military music... pictures of Brevnev and Husak in every shop window... and (gulp!) some of the prettiest girls in the world.
Salute! Na sdravie (or something like that)