Two Women on Vacation 4

In the previous  post of these two ladies, I wondered if they had traveled to more than one country on their vacation.  Take a look at the top photo and see that they are standing in front of a poster with writing.  I went back to Google translate and neither vytvarne and umeni came up as Bulgarian.  After trying a few different European languages, I got Czech for both words.  Vytvarne came up as artwork, and umeni was art.  So, perhaps Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia.

I suppose I think of eastern bloc nations during the cold war as gray, dull places with nothing beyond concrete apartment buildings and massive government buildings.  But, of course, most eastern European cities survived World War 2 relatively in tact.  Back in 1972, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia must have been nice, and cheap places to visit.

These are the last o photos from this collection.

Two Women on Vacation 2

As promised in my last post, a clue.  In the top photo, "700 LET 1272-1972."  Clearly it's an anniversary of some kind, so I went to Google Translate, typed in let and began searching central and eastern European languages.  Flight came up a few times, and no translation.  It wasn't until I tried Bulgarian that years came up, the only realistic possibility.  But what kind of anniversary.  For the hell of it, I looked up Sofia, Bulgaria's capitol, but Sofia has been around for far longer than 700 years.  After that, I stopped searching.  After all, there are thousands of cities, towns and villages, not to mention castles, forts, and people that could have turned 700 in 1972.

Mystery History 7

This is it.  The last of this collection, and it's still all a mystery.  I don't know if these photos were taken in the United States or Europe.  Don't know the backgrounds of these people, their ethnicity, their politics, or their intent.  Anyway, one final thought.  Play balalaikas, not war.

Mystery History 6

More marching men, more writing, and a new date.  I've been thinking, and Cyrillic writing, and Eastern Rite Church, does that equal Serbia?  The top picture has a couple of nice bicycles, and, perhaps, an American policeman standing next to the smaller one in the background.

Mystery History 5

Well, I did warn people that this collection might have limited interest for viewers.  This one has the two subjects that have dominated so far.  People having fun, especially the kids, and marching men showing their martial readiness.

Mystery History 4

More marching men!  Two observations from today's post.  The first is the visitation of the Patriarch.  Let's be honest, throughout history,  military and militias have always sought the blessing of the local priest, preacher, whatever.  The second, take a look at the kids in picture six.  They're playing something that looks a whole lot like a pick-up baseball game.  While that would indicate a picture taken in the United States, there is another explanation.  It's part of the national history that people came to America, but what's rarely mentioned is that many of those immigrants went back home.  So, kids come to the U.S. at a very young age, spend their formative years in America,  they're parents go home with the children, and the kids miss all sorts of things, like baseball.  And then comes one of the most brutal wars in history.  If those kids were hauled back to eastern Europe, many of them would have died in the conflict.  And if anyone out there recognizes the building in the final picture, let me know.

Mystery History 3

As promised, a date and Cyrillic writing.  When I was younger, I spoke a somewhat conversational Russian.  I could order a meal, find a bathroom, but would have been baffled by a doctor's office.  In any case, I'm sure it's Cyrillic, but not Russian.  As far as the year, 1938, it was a good one for uniforms.  From Balkan nationalists, to political extremists, parading around in uniform was quite common.  And, not just in Europe.  The United States had it's fair share of paramilitary groups roaming the countryside, with The German American Bund the most prominent.  It's hard to imagine, but yes, Hitler youth walked the streets of the United States.  I have no idea where any of the photos in this collection were taken.  They might all have come from eastern Europe, the U.S., or both.  All I know for sure was that they were purchased from an EBay dealer in Wisconsin.  Translations welcome.