The "Wende" (period between the fall of the wall and reunion)

The Wende of 1990 started in November 1989. At the 9. November the people in Berlin celebrated the freedom on the top of the wall. We could only watch this on TV, but there was a flash in my brain whispering: Mecklenburg, Dresden, Brocken, Thüringen, Rügen...!

We all know or can read about the political consequences. They have documented, archived, reported, historically interpreted etc. and today - just one year later - we are reunited and have become that kind of Germany, in what we all could not believe. Some of the enthusiasm and euphoria has diminished during this year and has been replaced by disillusion due to social, economic and ecologic problems. There will have been more years gone until the real reunion of these two different systems will have been completed.

So let's turn to those geographical flashes in our brain. There never was any greater challenge to detect and explore unknown regions than during this - and the following - years. Two things had to be performed: start a lot of trips and tours and write down the adventures and experiences, that they will not be forgotten soon due to our hectic everyday life. Some years later the memories will not be such alive concerning the inner feeling when we entered this unknown country for the first time. This feeling is the thread of the following reports. You will not find sensations or spectacular adventures, but the quite usual impressions instead of a quite normal visitor like you or me.

Most of the tours are exploring excursions near the border. They are quite different, the big "first time", a walk, tours by bicycle or car, a conference or group events. Moreover there are two journeys: the first to the island Rügen before easter and the second to the Thüringer Wald in autumn.

(I will try to translate the reports from time to time, look at the  index  for the UK-symbol)