Ceské-Velenice, RR Crossing

Over the years we had talked to a half dozen people who had driven into Czechoslovakia, and every one of them, without fail, told about the problems, the bad treatment, and the long delay they faced at the border.

For our first visit to Czechoslovakia (1985 — we also visited in 1991 and '95), we decided not to use the heavily traveled border crossing near Vienna, and selected the crossing point between Gmund, Austria, and Ceské-Velenice, Czechoslovakia, small towns in the middle of nowhere. We decided to cross early on a Sunday morning when there would be little traffic. As we moved toward the border, two gun-toting uniformed men opened a steel gate, then closed it after us. Ahead, maybe a block away, we saw two more uniformed men guarding another steel gate that we hoped would open soon, when we are ready to leave the border station.

After 20 minutes or so, we were on our way. We had seen no other vehicle or person at the border, so the Czechoslovakian guards had no excuse, if they needed one, to delay us. We have been delayed for hours at a time, while crossing other East European borders.

When we approached the first railroad crossing we saw a man come out of the small house and manually crank down the gates, then we sat there for 10 minutes or so before the train arrived. The man in front of us saw our license plate, so got out of his car and we managed to communicate a little, using our few words of German. We showed him the map, and he pointed to some places we should visit.