[Magdalen] Anniversary of The Fall

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

During the 1960's when I lived in Frankfurt/M, West Germany,  East
Germany was largely out of bounds.  The closest I got to the  East was in
Berlin which demonstrated the tremendous differences East vs.  West.

 
Then in 2003 I made my first real trip into what was East  Germany.  I 
stayed in Wernegorode/Harz and Erfurt, and was able to see a lot  of
what had previously been out of bounds.  Seeing the former East  Germany
made me realize that there was an amazing cultural richness there  and
that it would take many lifetimes to begin to see it all.  It is  a tribute 
to
the tenacity of the native culture that it survived the Cold War.
 
And the food!  I think the best meals of my life were in some of  the
small cities - Mulhausen, Naumberg, Halberstadt, and Wernegorode.
French/Smench; I'll take good German cooking over Michelin three
star restaurants any day.  
 
I had to rely more on what German I know in the East because  English
had not been emphasized as it had since 1945 in the West.  I  also found
the former East Germans to be almost amusingly suspicious, which,  I
suppose, came naturally after all those years under the Russian  boot.
 
 
David Strang.