Behind the Curtain

In case you are scratching your noggin over the title of this post we recently returned from a trip of almost two weeks through Eastern Europe.  

Formerly a satellite nation in the orbit of the Soviets; in 1993 Czechoslovakia separated peacefully into two new countries - the Czech Republic and Slovakia.  A great number of Slovaks were of the opinion that the country was too Prague-centric and a great number of Czechs felt they were subsidizing Slovakia.  Neither country garnered a popular majority supporting independence.  Nevertheless, the divorce was orchestrated by the Czech and Slovak prime ministers - Vaclav Klaus and Vladimir Meciar following the 1992 elections.

The German Democratic Republic (GDR), aka East Germany, was reunified with West Germany on October 3, 1990.  The GDR was neither a democracy nor a republic.  Another former satellite nation in the orbit of the Soviets, free elections were nonexistent.  Citizens were generally forbidden to travel and lived under the iron rule of a puppet state answerable to Soviet Russia.

The people I met in both the Czech Republic and formerly East Germany have now been freed of Soviet domination for three decades.  They do not speak fondly of the Communist Years nor do they harbor any fondness for their former Russian overlords.

The boundary that divided Europe into two spheres of influence for more than three generations following the end of the Second World War and the end of the Cold War in 1991 was metaphorically known as the Iron Curtain.  

The Iron Curtain was a symbol of the effort made by the Soviet Union to keep its satellite states from the influence of the decadent west.  Unintentionally, this became our trip behind what was previously on the other side of the iron curtain.

The front end of the trip began with several days in Prague and ended with several days in Berlin.  Before, after and in-between were plenty of sights to be seen, food to eaten and terrific adult beverages to be quaffed.  

Speaking of which, if you've ever consumed an imported Pilsner Urquell from a green glass bottle in the states you might comment that it is a good beer.  Highly-hopped, almost to the point of skunkiness, nevertheless a good beer.

Pilsner Urquell served from the tap is milder, full-bodied yet mellow and delicious.  Of course, I would say the same thing about Guinness stout in Ireland.  A Guinness consumed in the shadow of the brewery is better.  But I am biased.  And I digress.

Czech cooking famously features pork, duck and chicken, cabbage and various dumplings swimming in delicious gravy.

One Czech Koruna is worth about .046 USD.  500 Koruna is worth about $23 and a mug of delicious Czech pils will set you back about 5 CZK.  The Czech Republic is both a member of the EU and NATO but does maintain its own currency.

If you fetch a couple thousand CZK from the ATM at a bank you'll feel like a high roller.  Live it-up as the exchange rate is in your favor.

And don't sweat deciphering the bill after dinner.  Learn a little Czech to match a little English.  The rest is gestures. 

Pro Tip: Euros and American dollars are readily accepted.