- Tomas and Tereza go for a long drive outside of Prague.
- They stop in a small rural town at a hotel they have been to before.
- Tomas notices that the name of the hotel has changed. All the new street names and business names are now Russian.
- Tereza remembers that when the Russians first invaded, the Czechs pulled down all the street signs and business signs so that the Russians couldn't find the businesses or places they were looking to take over.
- In retrospect, though, this was a bad idea – it meant that their country lost itself in the anonymity.