Organization: mbp Software&Systems GmbH at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany
Date: Thursday, 1 Oct 1992 10:25:01 CET
From: Dr. Lutz Massonne <LMASSONN@ESOC.BITNET>
Newsgroups: rec.travel
Subject: Trip report: East Germany (Weimar, Brandenburg)

In the last two weeks I had the opportunity to visit two parts of
East Germany: Weimar in the state of Thueringen and the Kyritz region
in the state of Brandenburg.

Both regions are quite different: Weimar as a touristic and cultural center
and Kyritz in a very rural part of the country.

I stayed in Weimar when attending a conference in the nearby university town
of Jena and therefore (thanks to my company's generosity) was able to lodge
in the historic "Hotel Elephant" right in the centre of Weimar.

Weimar is famous because of its many links to the German classic culture.
Goethe lived here, Schiller (being a professor at Jena university) spent his
last years at Weimar and a large number of Poets/Artists of that period
have gathered at the Weimar court.
Therefore the town and its surroundings are full with points to visit:
The houses of Goethe and Schiller are preserved and both have accompanying
museums. I visited only Goethes' house this time. His garden house is also
preserved, located in a nice park in walking distance to the city centre.

The castle houses a museum with medieval sacral art, a number of Cranach
paintings (Cranach worked at Weimar) and some other, less important,
exhibitions.
Worth to see is also the old library (once led and reorganised by - guess who-
Goethe). It is located in a former Rokoko town palais and has a very nice
interior (apart from the thousands of ancient volumes still available for
research).
In the near surroundings are the castles Belvedere (with a china museum and
a collection of carriages from 1600 to 1800) and Tiefurt with nice gardens.

As an effect of the German unification the number of construction works in the
city is apparently large. Everywhere houses are reconstructed or newly built.
The level of prices is still low (by 30%) compared to the Frankfurt/Main
region (except the hotel prices - there is still a lack of hotel rooms and
the abundance of business travellers contributes to high prices).

The Hotel Elephant is located on the market place, right around the
Goethe house and the pedestrian zone. The hotel is there since Bachs
time, but the present building was newly erected in 1938, in the typical
style of the period (the Nazis liked a rather "monumental" architecture,
with massive pillars and and abundance of heavy marble).
Altough not renovated since the unification, the rooms were ok and
the breakfast buffet also. As a hotel guest, you get a pass to drive into
the otherwise traffic-free city centre and you have reserved parking
there (which is a problem for the "ordinary tourist").

On one evening I went to the Weimar theatre for a play of Shakespeare's
"Summer Night's Dream". Cards were still available the day before,
and I liked the performance very well. The German National Theatre
at Weimar is renowned (and was the place where the constitution of
the "Weimar Republic" was created after World War I, the first
constitution of the democratic Germany).

Jena, on the other hand, is a industrial/university town with less, but
still a lot, old buildings/sights.
The skyscraper of the university in the middle of the old town
is similar to many new university buildings in West Germany from the
same period - despite the ideological differences.

I visited the Botanical Garden (once led by Goethe and, of course,
with a Goethe museums in the old Gardener's house).

Near Jena, on the river Saale, the Dornbrg castles are located,
a set of three small castles high above the river. The medieval one
is presently a pensioneer's home, but the Renaissance castle and
the Baroque castle are complete with the interior and open to
visit.
Goethe was there, too, and left some graffiti at the walls which
are now preserved under glass. Don't try to do this also, unless
you are equally famous .... :-)

As conference excursion we made a trip to the city of Naumburg (with a
famous cathedral, the sculpture of the "Uta von Naumburg" is one
of the first non-sacral sculptures which is believed to represent
the real appearance of the person) and then a wine tasting at
Freyburg on the river Unstrut. The Unstrut region is one of the
northernmost wine growing regions of Germany.

To summarize my impressions of that part of Germany: the region offers
a lot to the tourist and the related businesses seem to thrive.
Compared with the grey outlook of the DDR, a lot of colour has appeared
(although the signs of the downfall of the production industry cannot
be overlooked if you pass by).

Afterwards, I went to the North.
I had booked a week of horseback holiday at the stud in Neustadt/Dosse,
about one hour's drive north-west from Berlin.
The journey up there showed that much has been done to improve the
streets in East Germany (which had been in a sad state at the
time of the unification). At least on the main routes I did not
have problems driving (although you can expect some construction
works and diversions everywhere).

Neustadt and the Kyritz region is located in the flat, sandy area
of the "Mark Brandenburg", a mainly agricultural region with few
"tourist spots".
They have some nice lakes where you can walk or take a boat tour,
I visited the small towns of Neuruppin (built in Renaissance style
after a large fire) and Havelberg (with a worthwile cathedral
from 1130). Here much less reconstruction has taken place, and you can
see houses in all states of preservation and decay.
In that non-touristy region it was more difficult to find e.g. a
restaurant, as there are less and they have one or two closing days
per week. The main problem is the information, as contrary to Weimar
no central tourist office exists which hands out city plans,
restaurant lists etc.
Fortunately I had booked full service at the stud, which was at a
very low price (13 US-$) and satisfactory. The stud had a small
pension with large rooms (hot and cold water on the room, toilet/showers
provided on the floor) and I went for trail rides during the morning
and sightseeing in the afternoon.
For horse riding the region is ideal, and the horses provided were
first class.
Fortunately the annual stallion parade was during my stay, and being a
"stud inhabitant" I was able to catch much of the preparation
activities. The stud also has a carriage museum and is open for
visitors (leaded tours) during the week.

One big problem is communication: The rebuilding of the telephone
network concentrates on the cities, in that rural area you are lost.
There was one (!) working phone booth in the whole city of Neustadt,
and I was not able to phone to West Germany as the local network
is not yet converted to the "new" all-German area codes and you
have to use some obscure codes to get into the West German network.

Basic things like beer and horses :-) are MUCH cheaper there than in
the Frankfurt/Main region, I could drink a beer for DM 1,50 (1 US-$)
wheras I pay twice the price at home.

So much for a short report, of course everything is my personal
impression. If you would like more details, feel free to ask.

Regards, Lutz
Newsgroups: rec.travel