Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Soviet Extravaganza

Went to Alexanderplatz yesterday, the former heart of the GDR (East Germany)

Pictured above a twice life size statue of communism-originators Marx and Engels. They are facing the famous TV tower, visible from anywhere in Berlin, it was meant to be a showcase of soviet power and technology. It's very tall.

Of course now all the Soviets can do is sell their hats. It turns out that on sunny days the TV tower casts a shadow with a reflection the shape of a cross. This was a bit embarrassing to the atheistic communists who removed quite a few crosses from the city's buildings in their time.
Still, it seems every loves Marx and Engels, amazing how long I had to wait to take a picture with them.

An interesting cultural phenomenon here is "Ostalgie", which translates into basically "Eastalgia".
A glorification of everything GDR, all the hip areas are in the former east. That's where I'm moving to tomorrow. I'm gonna have my own apartment, no more sleeping on Vera's couch.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ooh i want a ruskie hat! neato blog my brother, hope yr having a good time in the most metal of countries. does your phone work at all? call or text? no? i dunno. post more pictures. enjoy your travels man!

Anonymous said...

I hope you find lots of fun on your travels... So how long are you going to be in Germany?