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Mira🌺
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Mira🌺
@DeepGreens2
Ocean Air, Salty Hair, High Tides, Good Vibes, You, Me, and the Sea…. #BeachLife No AI, just my eye and my camera 📸 Enjoy!
Rivendell Katılım Ocak 2016
6.3K Takip Edilen11.8K Takipçiler
@BigSkyCaptures Thank you so much for sharing. It was moving time for everyone that lived there. Currency changes after communism, then country split up in 1993, another currency change. Hard times during communism but harder after system collapsed. It’s so much better now.
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I didn't realize you grew up behind the Iron Curtain. I can't imagine what a childhood there was like during that era.
I thought long and hard about going, but I was studying cultural geography at the time. I applied for a tourist visa through a specialist company and originally planned for just three days.
I took a modern train from Innsbruck through Munich to the border at Marktredwitz, then waited alone in the dark for the Czech train. It was the oldest, most rundown one I'd ever seen. Once across the border, Czech soldiers with search dogs boarded. They checked my papers and demanded I exchange money for each day of my stay in advance. Turns out the visa had been issued for 30 days instead of 3. That was apparently the key to approval, since longer stays brought in more Western currency. I didn't have enough for that, and for a moment I thought they'd kick me off the train. Luckily, the officer accepted the three-day exchange.
In Prague, my first stop was the US Embassy to register as a tourist. As I approached the gate, someone intercepted me and asked what I wanted. I suppose secret police. When I said I was registering, he let me speak to the Marine guard.
Next, I had to go through ČEDOK to get my hotel assignment. They put me in a large hotel but in a strangely isolated room with no one nearby. I definitely felt watched (and probably was). I was so mentally exhausted that I slept through the first day, then went out at night to photograph the illuminated castle. That may have raised a few eyebrows.
Food was basic with painfully slow service, stores were sparse, but people were friendly and curious about life in the US. Prague was stunning yet worn, with surprisingly few crowds at the main sights despite other Western tourists around.
All of my relatives were freaked out to have received postcards from Czechoslovakia. I guess I didn't realize how unusual or maybe even how dangerous a trip this may have been.
This makes me want to dig out my photos from that trip.
Sorry if this was more than you wanted to read!
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@BigSkyCaptures Not at all I absolutely love reading your story. And yes it was Iron Curtain not the gate. I remember everything what you described. I grew up in the country in small town so I had nice childhood. I visited Prague first time in mid 90 and it was post communist city in transition
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@BigSkyCaptures TY for sharing. I’m surprised they let you travel behind iron gate during Cold War. Everyone from west was considered our enemy. You must’ve known someone who knew somebody to get you in and out safely 😉 I barely remember times of great darkness. I was 12 when system collapsed
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Good question Mira. I needed a moment to think about that.
It was the combination of the year I visited, the effort it took to get there, and the beauty of the city itself. I loved the architecture- the soaring spires, the castle, Old Town, and Charles Bridge, all set along the river beneath a sea of red-tiled roofs. As a 22 year old traveling for the first time, I’d never seen such old buildings and streets. I remember walking across the Charles bridge late at night listening to others my age playing guitar and singing. There were many experiences like that.
This was still Communist Czechoslovakia in 1988. I got to see Prague in its raw, pre-commercialized state. It felt as though I had stepped back in time. It was both sad and beautiful. Getting a tourist visa was difficult, but I’m glad I had the experience. And the train ride in is a whole different and scary story.
I’d probably have a different favorite today as I’ve heard it’s very crowded and touristy now.
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@DeepGreens2 Amazing series of photos! These are some of my favorites of yours.
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