A visit to Dresden

This got nothing to do with scouting, but I could imagine that some of you
find it interesting, so I hope it is no misuse of the list.

I just returned from a crystallographers congress at Dresden. As you
probably know, Dresden is in the former GDR. It was my first visit into
East Germany after the fall of the Wall (except that unforgetable New Years
Eve 1989 at Brandenburg Gate). I have been to Leipzig and Karl-Marx-Stadt
(now Chemnitz) several times when the GDR was still existent. Although I've
never been to Dresden before and haven't had much time to get around this
time, I dare drawing some conclusions of what has changed during the last
five years.
First you notice that the motorways are nearly on a western standard, no
need anymore to slow down to 40 km/h on long distances where the poor state
of the surface didn't allow more speed. Left and right of the motorway,
in the middle of nowhere, gigantic shopping centres are built.
Coming into Dresden, there's still a grey and depressing atmosphere. Most
of the buildings are still in a very poor state. Obviously streets are more
important than houses. The "socialistic standard shops" with their useless
wares are completely replaced by the variety of western shops, nothing you
wouldn't be able to buy (if you have the money). American baseball caps,
t-shirts, jackets and the lot are even more favoured by the youth than by
western kids. I have never seen so many people in a single McDonalds
restaurant like there.
While the streetcars of the public transport made me smile sentimantelly,
the busses are most modern. Fortunately the offer of the public transports
is still excellent. The variety of lines into suburbs and their regularity
at day and night is one of which Duesseldorfers and Cologners dare not
dream, not to talk of us poor Leverkuseners. Of course the tickets are ten
times as expensive as they were at GDR times, but still lower than in many
western cities. Also the ticket machines are dead easy to use,
contradictory to ours, of which people say one needs to have studied to
understand them (I still don't ;-).
What really impressed me, was the change of people. Six years ago, you
didn't see anybody smiling in public. Were it bus-drivers, waiters,
policemen or whoever you had business with, was rude and harsh. That has
completely changed, people are much more relaxed now. They are friendly and
helpfull to an enormous extent. That was a very good experience and gave me
hope, that the situation isn't as bad as news keep telling us. People who
are so friendly can't be hopeless or demotivated.

Gut Pfad!

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
* Rabe (Ralf Bell) *
- BdP Leverkusen APG Bergischer Loewe -
* Stamm Orion FALAB-Berater Bergisches Land *
- -
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-Ralf.Bell@uni-duesseldorf.de -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

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