Irena Kvapilová

"I know we spent a longer time in Rome, we spent about three days there. I don't know exactly how it went. I certainly remember that we were there for the ceremonial mass, that we stood in St. Peter's Square." - "The service was held where?"- "In St. Peter's Basilica, but I rather think we were in that square. Whether it was all in the square, I don't know. I certainly experienced such a great sense of freedom there. We didn't have mass events like that [in Czechoslovakia – trans.]. Or they took place quite exceptionally, for example, I was at the pilgrimage in Velehrad in 1985, that was also such a strong mass action. But at Velehrad, I was a little bit thinking that every tenth person was undercover, like a member of the State Security. But here in Rome, although we also thought that these people must be going there with us, but we were surrounded by this freedom, so it was a kind of breath or euphoria."

"It was my first encounter with freedom, with the rich West, so we were definitely impressed. Maruška and I shared our impressions of the first gas stations together, and I remember one experience where Maruška came back on the bus and said, 'That's totally cool, they have lotions in the bathroom, you squeeze it on like this, and so I put it all over my face.' Today I know it's soap, or she found out early on too, but it was this absolute ignorance of any standards."