East is still a bit East

As soon as we entered Germany there was a noticeable improvement in the quality of the road surface and the courtesy shown by fellow drivers but on the other hand people seemed a bit more wary and circumspect than the Czechs. It is interesting to remember that the Berlin Wall only came down in 1989 and many people’s lives were completely changed thereafter.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/witness/november/9/newsid_3241000/3241641.stm.  There are still the soviet style concrete apartment blocks in many towns and cities, built using preformed concrete sheets much as are used for building industrial units etc in Australia today.  They could build a block of flats in 118 days! 

Dresden was visited as an after-thought because we were passing through on our way to Berlin. It was worth the 36 hours spent there as it is a relaxing and roomy city; it was levelled in 1945 and subsequently rebuilt with wide open streets and large expanses of grass, pedestrian and cycle ways. The amazing detail in the re-constructed historical buildings in the centre has to be seen to be believed, especially the Frauen Kirche and the Catholic Cathedral which you would swear were hundreds of years old.   They have a motto that Dresden is ‘a city for everyone’ to counter some of the more right wing rhetoric about refugees in recent years.  They have also set up a remarkable trans-disciplinary partnership – the Dresden Concept - between universities, researchers and industry to develop sustainable solutions including new insulated building materials, green walls and many other projects. 

Dresden: Designed to filter the smog and catch rainwater

Dresden: across the Elbe

Dresden : The Free Church, reconstructed after it was destroyed in WW2 and re-opened only a few years ago.

German efficiency is really a pleasure, nothing is left to chance and nearly everything works like clockwork. Public transport is spotless and runs so well that at every tram-stop or train station a list of the next 6 arrival times are posted up on electronic boards. We have been really impressed with how many wind and solar farms there are in Germany and all across Europe, the entire country ran for 24 hours recently only on alternative energy.

Meissen just along the Elbe River from Dresden produces some of the best porcelain in the world; amazingly detailed exquisite pieces which are still all hand-painted using the same techniques practiced here since 1710 and are hence very expensive! It is still a state owned company and had a thriving export market even when it was behind the Wall.

Meissen Porcelain

The staircase at Albrectsburg Castle

The museum has a large collection dating from the inception of the pottery and many pieces made for overseas markets like China, Japan, Russia and Italy. In the oldest castle in Germany just up the road at Albrechtsburg, a group of mining experts and scientists perfected the porcelain mixture known as 'white gold' and produced their porcelain for 150 years before realising they needed more space and the castle needed to be preserved.   Albrechtsburg is worth a visit with an elevator up to the castle from the parking area – much appreciated!  The displays cover the porcelain manufactuary and also the innovative architectural designs incorporated into the building – diamond brick vaulting etc. 

German autobahns are not the faint-hearted, however full concentration with plenty of indicating both left and right means you can travel pretty quickly and free of any tolls. The outside lane is often “open speed” so it is a good idea to stay out of the way of the mostly black Mercs, Audis and Beemers who race along and suddenly appear behind you if you are a bit tardy at changing lanes. 

Berlin was full of tourists and many of the ‘sights’ involved the war time period and the Wall.  It is obviously heavily influenced by recent history; that is the last 75 years since the end of World War 2. Virtually destroyed by bombing because it was the Nazi centre of power, Berlin was then divided up in quarters by the Americans, French, British and Russians and surrounded by the Soviet client state East Germany until 1990.  Vast building projects are now being undertaken and there are more cranes here than we saw in London with the federal German government especially prominent. Having visited countless museums and galleries highlighting the reformation and renaissance and impressionist art on our European odyssey,  we concentrated on finding out what had happened in Berlin in the 20^th century. We have been impressed by the openness to confront the catastrophe that was Berlin after the war with families split up and neighbourhoods bricked up; with commentary often taking a dig at the Stasi secret police and the methods the communists resorted to try and keep the “evil west” out. The DDR Museum was excellent and gave a very full picture of what it was like to live in East Germany complete with a Trabant - the car that ran on two stroke – we recommend you visit the DDR Museum first thing at 10am or after 5pm, otherwise it is too crowded to see everything. 

Berlin Wall: across the wall - many families and relationships were broken or separated when the wall was built.

Taking a boat ride is a great way to get your head around Berlin's layout

Contact details for those who want to hire a Trabi!

We stayed out of town in Altlandsburg in a lovely AirBnB run by a family of beekeepers with a wonderful garden.  We took the twenty minute S Bahn train into Berlin each day which also connects to the U Bahn, trams and buses.  You could also rent a Trabi from the bicycle shop nearby!

Our stay near Berlin included a day spent at the Sachsenhausen Camp Memorial & Museum we saw the sobering and terrible evidence displayed of Nazi atrocities, visited on every country they invaded or fought against –it was pure evil. The camp was taken over by the East Germans after the war to house political prisoners and then by the Soviets.  Many prisoners did not survive the experience.  The site of the camp is very close to Oranienburg town, so close many of the guards lived in the town. 

Potsdam was a completely different note to end our visit to Berlin with the summer palaces and extensive gardens of Sans Souci Park to walk around.  

We then drove from Berlin to the Hook of Holland in a couple of days, staying at a tradition German guesthouse in Rheine Messum overnight where we had a marvelous dinner and friendly hosts whose family had owned the guesthouse and restaurant since the 1500s…ah history!

Now we are in the old Blighty for another 6 weeks to catch up with family & friends again.