Arctictropic Blog

Posts labeled with Country
' Germany'

Eastern Europe at the Fall of Communism – Germany

Monday, November 8th, 2010

Berlin, a few days after  reunification. Parts of the Wall still stand, soon to be chooped up into millions of tiny pieces for sale at $ 10 each.

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Spoils of the Cold War for the Western victors – the symbols of  non-existent East Germany – swept into the Dustbin of History.

The Dresden Cathedral, still blackened and destroyed by American bombing n 1945 – soon to be restored to its’ former glory.

The First Free Election in a United Germany.

The Reichstag – in 1990, still burned inside  -in 2000,  after restoration, was the seat of German power once again.

The River Spree.

The Trabi – a car that ran on a 2 stroke engine ( like that of a lawn mower ) and had a 15 year waiting list

Eastern Europe at the Fall Of Communism – Photo Series

Saturday, November 6th, 2010

In October of 1990, just after official German Reunification, I traveled from Berlin, in the former East Germany, to Czechoslovakia ( now two nations) ,Poland,Hungary and Romania. While today the Eastern countries are much a part of the modern world, the East 20 years ago was a group of lands newly awakened from a long and stifling slumber.

In the next few days, ArcticTropic will feature a photo series  - Eastern Europe at the Fall Of Communism – to be interspersed with our regular adventure news and updates. Eastern European travel at the time was an adventurous undertaking, given the lack of infrastructure, the lack of any understanding of tourism and the unfamiliarity of many people with the outside world.