biking in the middle of nowhere
Jul. 12th, 2004 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dream_labyrinthMy parents came back yesterday from a bike tour with some friends.
The went to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, for those of you who happen to know the German provinces. For those who don't: in that area there is absolutely nothing worth seeing. Plus, one of the friends usually starts looking out for a rest after about 30 minutes. Rest means trying to find some obscure village pub that serves wine. The towns - if you can call them by that name - they visited usually consisted of about 5 huts and a mansion. Most of these mansions were inbad shape. Some had been the hunting mansions of GDR politicians, so decorated in a style these guys liked. Think nazi architecture with the GDR coat of arms instead of swastikas, then you pretty much get the picture. Nothing remotely resembling any kind of culture in the area, not even intesting churches to look at, no museums, exhibitions or anything. The highlight of the weekend was watching eagles in their nest (with a camera tat is installed up there, of course).
My mom had a hard time to stay calm all these four days, to be polite and say all the things you're supposed to say.
Sometimes I wish we weren't forced to behave that way when interacting with other people. Of course, there is always the possibility of not interacting at all, but that is no option for my mom. Simply because she is married to my father and he wnts o go on these tours with his friends, and he wants her to come with him and he wants her to like it. Makes me regard the prospect of marrying very sceptically. At least if you are single you can chose whether you want to meet other people or not. The problem is that you might not have friends you are as close to as your partner. And the person you married or live with might actually be there in the middle of the night, when you feel lonely and sad and you can't really go and call up a friend.
Looks like you can't have all the good things at the same time.
The went to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, for those of you who happen to know the German provinces. For those who don't: in that area there is absolutely nothing worth seeing. Plus, one of the friends usually starts looking out for a rest after about 30 minutes. Rest means trying to find some obscure village pub that serves wine. The towns - if you can call them by that name - they visited usually consisted of about 5 huts and a mansion. Most of these mansions were inbad shape. Some had been the hunting mansions of GDR politicians, so decorated in a style these guys liked. Think nazi architecture with the GDR coat of arms instead of swastikas, then you pretty much get the picture. Nothing remotely resembling any kind of culture in the area, not even intesting churches to look at, no museums, exhibitions or anything. The highlight of the weekend was watching eagles in their nest (with a camera tat is installed up there, of course).
My mom had a hard time to stay calm all these four days, to be polite and say all the things you're supposed to say.
Sometimes I wish we weren't forced to behave that way when interacting with other people. Of course, there is always the possibility of not interacting at all, but that is no option for my mom. Simply because she is married to my father and he wnts o go on these tours with his friends, and he wants her to come with him and he wants her to like it. Makes me regard the prospect of marrying very sceptically. At least if you are single you can chose whether you want to meet other people or not. The problem is that you might not have friends you are as close to as your partner. And the person you married or live with might actually be there in the middle of the night, when you feel lonely and sad and you can't really go and call up a friend.
Looks like you can't have all the good things at the same time.
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Ich hab Ostdeutschland gemocht
Visit Magdeburg and you'll change your mind
Date: 2004-07-12 11:40 am (UTC)But what I wanted to say: Have you ever been to Magdeburg? My father works there and I have done some sightseeing. It was badly destroyed in WWII and rebuild in the GDR 50s style. It's plain disgusting. YOu only have these appartment blocks with no atmosphere or style at all.
The only good thing about these buildings is, even if you are in somebody elses apartment, you'll know where everything is. Even the furniture came custom made for certain types of apartment. So like you have type P1,meaning the bed goes there and the closet there and so on. No room for your own style or ideas. But hey, they didn't want you to have ideas on your own in the first place.
Today, for some reasons these blocks are quite fashionable again, especially in Berlin.