I’m lingering on the war theme longer then I thought I will be. Yet the more I’d tell, the more there is left to tell. In the end of a day, why overflow in my own diary should bother me, anyway? The whole point of the travel log exercise is to record as much memories as remembered…Anyway, the comment about guns reminded of some moments from my travel…it has to be said that the sights of tanks and light artillery have always been a familiar view on my childhood horizon. In many places you would see tanks or field-gun standing on pedestals in the center of a village or somewhere in the towns. Maybe it was a way of getting rid of the army’s surplus, I don’t know. But kids did like to climb inside “the real thing”, or if inside wasn’t allowed, climb all over the Iron Giant. They were, of course, disarmed, yet not dismantled (tanks, not the kids). In almost every town you can see one or another kind of military equipment, mainly standing on guard by the entrance of a local museum…
So, what you see on the following picture, is not a military drill, but just the entrance of a museum dedicated to the local veterans of the war. Pretty harmless, trust me – my 5 years old niece managed to climb them all while we enjoyed the museum. I would’ve shown some tanks also, but when my son took a picture of me&tank, he commented that it is difficult to notice the tank behind. Excuse me, but to me this totally disqualified the picture for public display.
And just when you’d thought the “Soviet Threat” is no longer exists I’d advise you to take a look at that, think again and surrender at discretion 
Actually, the shooting galleries were very common entertainment in soviet times. Every self-respected park would have one or two “mobile galleries”, where one can just walk in and have a shot or two. Normally there would be a choice of weapon – rifle or something smaller, like derringer…and a set of various targets different in size, distance and bullet resistance. In my youth you’d get a prize for hitting particular hard targets. In my youth we also used to have military training lessons at school, where we would go to the “proper” shooting gallery (usually of some sport club) that was more fun then traditional walk-in for public. Still me and Kid, we both enjoyed pulling the trigger, to me it was playing with my past again, for him – a new exciting adventure...