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Angela (doing a crossword) "How do you spell Miseries?"
Ralph (doing the housework as usual) "M-A-R-R-I-A-G-E"
Angela (after writing it in the crossword) "but that spells Marriage!"
"Exactly" says Ralph (just avoiding Angela's backhand slice with the 14 inch frying pan).
Domestic bliss, a motorhome and a leisurely trip through Germany is a heady combination. We were on a campsite 30kms east of Berlin, having just recovered from the physical exertions of a lakeside holiday with the Pietsch family in Mecklenburg.
I could still hear Carl Johann's plaintive cries "Walf….Walf…fussball Walf, fussball" My knees are still recovering from playing 8 hours of football per day!
By the way, the state of Mecklenburg Vorpommern is the agricultural heartland of the former GDR, rural, under populated and well worth a visit, a rustic time capsule of small villages with ugly solid houses and small grocery stores minimally stocked with nothing you would want to buy!
Berlin, by contrast, was a building site. Taxpayers in the former West Germany still pay 8% of their salaries for the re-generation of the eastern economy, and most of that money must be going to Berlin. A combination of road works, construction sites, traffic, trams, bikes, heavy rain and half the population of Japan conspired to ensure that the visit was not our most successful soiree to a capital city!
The Cold War sites of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Wall remnants now overshadow the reasons for the divide, World War 2. This is partly because much of the 1939-1945 war evidence has been obliterated, during the Soviet attack in April 1945 or by city planners since.
The location of Hitler's Bunker, for example, is a map notation in front of a 1960s Soviet style apartment block housing Chinese and Kebab fast food outlets (possibly the ultimate two fingers to the Nazi racial supremacy ideology!)
The former Gestapo HQ is a mound of rubble with an excellent interpretative centre; the Topography of Terror, built on top of it. The backdrop is one of the best preserved sections of the Wall, of which a surprising amount has been obliterated!
In contrast to the tourist tat of Checkpoint Charlie, the nearby Stasi (East German Secret Police) Museum is an interesting place to visit and a reminder that as recently as 1980 over 100,000 people were employed to spy on their fellow citizens.
You do wonder about the mentality of a regime that was prepared to kill people who wanted to leave it. I do understand why they covertly filmed punk rockers in a Leipzig park in 1979 though, anyone who walks around with an orange Mohican haircut and studs in their forehead is worth videoing!
Ironically the most iconic symbolism of the complete failure of the Soviet/East German economic model, the ugly, noisy and polluting Trabant car, is now a tourist attraction, available for self-drive hire around the city! Talking of tourism, even Darth Vader is in on the act, we spotted him at the Brandenburg Gate, though he does seem to have shrunk since the movie (see photos accompanying this blog!)
Unable to compete with the weather and the noise of road drills we retreated to the Humboldt University of Berlin canteen for a cup of tea and a sit down (well, we are British!) and our first piece of Black Forest Gateau on German soil. It was lovely, which is more than we could say for the Currywurst, Germany's favourite fast food.
Predictably it involves a cooked sausage, over which is poured a curry sauce. Despite trying the dish in several cities we have been constantly disappointed, the sausage is bland and the curry sauce even wurst (sorry), apart from that it is fantastic. You won't be surprised to learn we skipped Berlin's Currywurst museum, even on rainy days there are limits!
We would happily go back to Berlin in sunshine, but will wait until they finish re-building the place!
To be continued…..
- comments
Heike Evans Sounds like you are having an interesting time. I just spent a week in Germany - had the most amazing hot weather - awesome. I spent a few days at the Wasserkuppe in the Rhoen in Hessen - the birthplace of gliding - also surrounded by amazing forests with wonderful walking trails. Definately worth a visit !!
Ralph Hi Heike That sounds good, apart from the gliding! Watched hang gliders launch themselves off 2300 metre Swiss mts last week...mad!
kay and Dave we liked Berlin but then the sun shone and the rebuilding must have been at the planning stage then. Have just returned from two months in Italy- yesterday! washing is on. plenty of rubble there but then the Italiians are never big on DIY they just call it history which we love! 2 short stops in Bodensee and Mosel on way back through Germany but Italy was the main target this year. Happy travels you two and keep on entertaining us!
kay and Dave Just wishing you happy Christmas wherever you are now! and happy travelling in 2013