Eastern Europe, September, 1991
Letters as Travelogue: Eastern Europe, 1991
September 13, 1991, Arrive in Amsterdam. Lovely hotel on canal. Off to a walkabout. Museum cum nightguards
Stamp shop; Anne Frank House and canal in front of it.
Wester Kerk; A canal ride, mostly asleep.
Saturday, September 14 - Map study near hotel; Bijbels Museum; Towards the museum.
Sunday, 9/15/91 - Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; Snack n. chat with Louie Andriessen, well-known composer; Apfeldorn, royal chateau on way to Deutschland.
Monday 9/16/91 - Munster, vital rebuilt city.
Cathedral at Munster; Church where 3 Anabaptists were caged on steeple.
On to Hameln, home of the Pied Piper & a real tourist.
The only delight in Hameln! On to where Uncle Frank trod.
Tuesday, 9/17/91
We leave Goslar, drive through Bad Harzburg, then 'across' old border to 'East' Germany, a shock; Looking to 'East' Germany; Abandoned guard houses at 'Z' shape crossing; 'East' side, trees cleared, lights, towers & barbed wire.
End of the east German border service road and the view there, Socialist Workers' housing; Shock! Communism had failed its people. Looked like it must have looked in 1945: bullet holes in buildings, no paint, terrible roads, nothing in shops; Ilsenburg. Took the 'scenic route' through rest of 'E-Ger' Harz. More of the same & very polluted air. Crowded, slow trip to Berlin.
Wednesday, 9/18/91 - Berlin. Brandenburg gate from the 'West's' side; Looking East, sans wall: an emotional experience; Memorial to Soviet soldiers, under guard.
Brandenburg Gate on the 'East' side; One shirt salesman, obviously tired of being asked if things were better now, told us he was from Potsdam and proud of it! Entrepreneurship has caught on as well as humor at the politics.
We drive through East Berlin. I am no longer shocked, simply disgusted by the infrastructure.
To the famous, decrepit Museuminsel, East Berlin; Berlin Cathedral, closed for repairs! Sign says will open in 1992. Neuesmuseum
Pergamon Museum; Pergamon Altar
Pergamon Courtyard. Down the canal to the Bodes Museum, dirty outside, dreadful collection inside; More of East Berlin, a Trabant (Trabbie) graveyard, unhappy owners. A fitting tribute to the system's failures.
We cap off Wednesday night with several hours at a 'folks' musuem at Checkpoint Charlie - moving stories of escapes and misses. Woman in front of me at Jane Alexander movie (on a real hot air balloon escape) kept sobbing. Her friend said she too had escaped.
We see Harry Drake here! Bodes Museum in P.M. (a waste); then good dinner in an Italian restaurant near our hotel, the Eden.
Friday, September 20 - Spend 5 hours at the grand Dahlem Museum then get personal escort to road South to Dresden. Run into Soviet Army camp!
Saturday, September 21, 1991 - On Friday when we arrive in Dresden we book an apt. through I in Radebeul, a suburb, 'drive straight, turn left,' she said, but that was a field! After several stops at taverns to ask directions we stop some people on the street. She says they just got married so come in for a drink. (Heidi) husband Bodo takes Jack to apt, we toast then get invited to their wedding reception Saturday night!
Saturday breakfast with Heidi and Bodo; Bodo's dad (from Berlin), their backyard cum outhouse. They just got phones that worked; We drive outside and above Radebeul to Schloss where Bodo has forestry office
Bodo's office at the Schloss; We then drive to Meissen up the Elbe (sad shape) then into Dresden proper to sightsee.
We start off at the Zwinger, under repair, then off to art gallery and another great Vermeer (also Blue Woman at Rijksmueum, Golden one at Dahlem).
Lovely day at a cafe or park; Typical downtown building.
Full day, then to a roast pig dinner reception at Heidi and Bodo's, lots of provocative conversations.
Heidi's parents. They take us walking & on picnic in Sachsicher Sweitze; A view down Elbe.
Prague, Monday, September 23 (no camera); Driving ticket, lumpy hide-a-bed, pickpockets & Bulgarian gangs on Sunday, our first day almost drive me out, but things were looking up Monday! Wonderful walk around town: Jewish Quarter, churches, concert, galleries & ice cream. Great dinner with c/u surgeon and wife.
Prague, Tuesday, September 24 - St. Wenceslas Square; People insisted we take a picture of plaque "Death of Communism"
Good meeting with this Minnesota Composers Forum member; Dinner with David Weyerhaeuser.
Wednesday, September 25 - Coffee with Martin Smolka, composer; Laying out the sightseeing.
Along and across the Charles Bridge.
Up the hill past the pharmacy to Prague Castle.
St. Vladimir's Cathedral at Prague Castle
More views from castle grounds.
Thursday, 26/9/91 - Leave Prague (get speeding ticket! and drive South through Bohemia, lovely trip; Tabor.
Rozmberk (Rosenberg) Castle; Finally find border crossing, no place to stay in Linz, so stay in truckstop in Austria.
Friday, 27 September - Salzberg. Once is enough.
Back into Germany and we start the Bavarian Alps route to Lindau at Berchtesgaden. Jack insists on following Uncle Frank to the Eagle's Nest. Interesting.
Wonderful drive, lovely inn and dinner (lost film of Alps. Nuts).
Saturday, 28/9/91 - We stop along Alps route at Linderhof, another bizarre home of Mad King Ludwig; We toast then toss Bodo's spoiling smoked eel into Alpine lake in Austria; We reach Lindau at 7PM and surprise Wolfgang Höscheler (couldn't get him by phone).
Sunday 29/9/91 - Lindau. A walk around town.
After a fine meal at an Italian restaurant (with Wolfgang's parents) we drive North for A.M. flight home. Spend night in Aschafenburg near Frankfurt