Prague - 30 years ago

 When the wall was coming down in Eastern Europe in 1989-1990 I made several trips to Czechoslovakia with my girlfriends.

The first trip was arranged by a German friend who booked us on a bus with a bunch of Germans.  They arranged an English speaking guide for us.

I don't remember a whole lot about the sites we visited, but I do know it was an amazingly beautiful city even back then.  Here's what I do remember:  we had to be on the lookout for gypsies or travelers because they liked to pick pocket, and every meal was served with a shot of vodka.  Russian soldiers were everywhere.  A dollar went a long way in a country coming out of communism.  We bought lots and lots of crystal dishes and such (all of which I recently gave away because I don't entertain like that anymore).

We visited a beautiful cathedral that was near a river, but I don't recall its name.

We had good times and good food.

That's my friend Christa with the musicians.  

I hope to go back some day soon and document what some of these fabulous buildings are.

When you're young you don't always pay attention to the details and history.

I do remember that this was the car for the U.S. Ambassador at the time--Shirley Temple Black.  We all hoped to get a glimpse of her, but we weren't so lucky.

I wonder what this is.  We did visit a synagogue during our visit.  That was the first time I learned about Jewish people putting stones on graves rather than flowers.

This has to be some kind of palace.

Beautiful view of the city.

I need to go back to revisit these sites.  Jillian says we can maybe go to Prague when we go visit them later this year.  It will be interesting to see what capitalism has done to their country.