In the summer of 1994, almost seven years after the Velvet Revolution, a Slovak called Imro got on the bus and together with twenty-nine other tourists travelled to the West. All people on the bus came from the town Piešťany and the surrounding villages and Imro lived in Horná Streda (The Upper Wednesday, translated literally). The internet era was emerging, capitalism was being built in his country, communism had ended. Nevertheless, as a slain dragon whose corpse had not been taken away, it bothered Slovakia and the neighbouring states. Imro wanted to look where all the eyes were focused, westwards, and further than Vienna or Germany.
The bus hit the road early evening from a parking lot outside Piešťany, there was only one driver for the night ride, but he assured everybody he slept well and was used to long roads. In the bus, the smells of coffee, cakes, koftas, sweat and liquor gradually mixed. The sun was setting late, they had the orange disc constantly in front of them, as if the Sun was the deceiving light calling them to the edge of the Continent. There, they would stop and look in the grey waters of the Atlantic. People dozed off, ate, fidgeted, looked out of the windows, whispered and talked. The bus stopped several times at German highway rest stops, the toilets were still for free, and only the toilets the travellers used. They had to. Refreshments seemed expensive, and people did not have the confidence to place an order anyway.

Art work by Enrique Cropper






