I had never before spent much time in the former Eastern Germany. But I liked it a lot. I like the accents the people have when they speak their German, though most Germans don't. I like the feel of the cities and how it feels like the people appreciate what they have, they're very proud of where they are from. I like how 'the Former DDR' comes up in conversation all the time. All the time. And I like how 'Western' Germans complain that the roads in 'Eastern' Germany are better, and paid for with their tax money, and how they are a little bit bothered by it. I don't know why I like that, but I do.
Dresden was completely ripped apart at the end of WWII. And the communists never put much into rebuilding it. This church was recently put together. All the black stones are original, the light colored stones are new. I really liked the patchwork look on it. It felt like society.That Dresden was even bombed was absurd. The war was pretty much over, there was no reason to bomb it. But America did. Mostly out of vengance?
The art school had a display going and the space was fantastic.
I stayed with some good friends of some good friends. Really cool people.
They took me to that one place from that one rock climbing movie where it's all sandstone towers and no metal is allowed on the wall. So for protection climbers tie different sized knots into small sections of rope and wedge the knots into cracks. Crazy. The place was beautiful. It rained the whole time.
Anna and Karsten.
A friend from Berlin took the train down to Dresden and rode the two days with me to Berlin.The first seventy kilometers or whatever was river riding. It's like I never learn. River riding is awfully boring. Awfully boring. But I keep finding myself riding next to them. Once we got off the river it turned much better. A lot of the fields are yellow with Raps Seed (oil-seed rape in english, maybe?). Sure it's pretty. But I see it all day everyday....
Berlin is cool. Real cool.
Most of the pictures I take now are of maps. Instead of buying them I go into book stores and take pictures of them....
Brandenburg Gate.
I love taking pictures of the surfaces I walk on.
Some really politically active crazy man sat a sausage onto the bench next to me, and then left for about 15 minutes. A bird kept picking at it. Then the guy came back. He pushed a bike with all sorts of political signs all over it. All the crazy men who walked buy looking for recycleable bottles talked to him.
Jewish monument in Berlin.If it isn't blaringly obvious, I'm feeling really burned out on blogging....
5 comments:
The best wool socks I ever, ever bought were in East Berlin - 1984.
It's interesting that 20 years after the wall came down, even as a foreigner just visiting, you can still sense the different attitudes in the East and the West. I guess, despite all the efforts and measures by politicians to overcome what we call "the wall in our heads", the completely different socialization and political systems have formed us in more ways than we had initially expected in November 1989.
I enjoyed the short post. Seeing your own country through the eyes of others is interesting.
Sorry it rained the whole time you were here.
See you again tomorrow (the weather is supposed to get better).
Holler. Great shots, and great memories for me. I nearly froze to death camping in that very climbing park in January. I even had two fine young ladies in a sleeping bag with me. Seriously - I nearly froze.
Hi Anna.
I understand the blogging blues...but I have hoped that YOU would never get them.
So many different textures and colors in those photos. I am glad you take photos of the ground, it makes the experience so much richer for those of us who depend on you for adventure. Perhaps you could focus a little more on the things you smell and hear for your next post...I'm wondering what that part of your trip is like.
i did notice this post to be less story-heavy. But you have lasted a long time as a very good blogger. You're way better at blogging that Katelyn. She hasn't changed her blog since last July.
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