Tag: Germany

Story of the day: Time for a pint in Erlangen

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I’ve always thought Germany was a bit underrated. I’ve found a few good angles over the years and this was the last assignment.

This story, taken from the Daily Mail, look at an alternative to the beer-frenzy Oktoberfest with a healthy dash of culture thrown in.

Here’s an extract:

While most Germans regard the Oktoberfest as too crowded and commercial, the annual 12-day Erlangen Bergkirchweih festival is a more rustic and family-oriented event.

And beer is not its most important ingredient. What German beer-festival cognoscenti love is the sense of camaraderie and closeness to nature.

‘I have a very special feeling when I’m at the Bergkirchweih,’ says Dr Andreas Jakob, director of the Erlangen city archives.

‘A blue-collar worker sits next to the Siemens boss and the leaves and fresh air are all around. The beer,’ he adds ‘is the final element.’

Read the full story, Beer we go again.

Have you been to Erlangen? Where’s the best place for a beer away from Oktoberfest?

Post your comments below.

Story of the day: Nostalgie in East Berlin

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Everyone loves Berlin. The sites, the clubbing, the Cold War frisson of tinker-tailor espionage.

For me, it holds a personal lure as I visited as a 16-year-old German A Level student at a time that the Berlin Wall was still a wall and people still got shot trying to climb it.

We even crossed Checkpoint Charlie into East Berlin for the day with our German teacher Mr Robson.

That’s why I particularly enjoyed researching this story for the Daily Express, revisiting the now-unified Berlin.

I was delving into the local nostalgia towards the old East, a trend sparked the film, The Lives of Others.

Here’s an extract:

Ostel, located just behind Ostbahnhof in the city’s north-east, has only been open three months but it’s already packed with a mix of German backpackers and curious foreign visitors with a penchant for retro design.

Daniel was born at nearby Alexanderplatz and was aged 18 when the Berlin Wall fell. “It was a good life in the GDR for kids,” he remembers, “with lots to do very cheaply.”

This fascination with GDR culture has spawned its own social phenomenon, Ostalgie, a contraction of “ost” (east) and “nostalgie” (nostalgia). The Ostel name is a play on this.

“I think Ostel is at the limit of good taste,” says Robert Rückel, director of the new GDR Museum, which tells the story of everyday life in the East via a series of compelling exhibits and newsreel footage. “We have to balance this nostalgia with an objective view of life in East Berlin at this time.”

Read the full story, Now the Cold War is cool in East Berlin.

Do you have a memory of East Berlin? Or do you know where Mr Robson is now?

Post your comments below.

And if you want a reminder of the film, here’s the trailer.