Leaving East Germany

We got a lift out of Leipzig which is a more industrial city than East Berlin. It is also enormous but the people seem to be making more of an effort to upgrade themselves with the occasional flower pot and curtains in the window. We saw two long lines outside banks as we drove through. Then we got a lift with an ex-East German, born in East Germany traveled extensively in the Eastern block but now living in the west half and doing business with the old East half. He said he never wanted to escape before, life was hard but reliable. Everyone had work - even if they had to halve a job to give 2 people work. They lacked competition. Products were either over produced and not wanted or produced but no choice of brand etc. He does still feel loyalty to the East but as he said Socialism is very nice as an idea but totally unworkable. It is also not very uplifting spiritually if you can never strive for something better. He said now that he is free to travel there are places he would like to see but first he has a lot to see in West Germany. He is one of the lucky ones, he now has a nice car and job which even sends him overseas and a new life. Other East Germans are finding the transition harder. Our next lift after a grueling 2/3 of an hour wait, was with one of the drop out types typical of Berlin. He drank 2 beers while driving from Nuremberg to Munich. As Paz put it - he was pretty but needed a dam good scrub! Home at last and ready for all the upheaval and planning and anxiety of transition period from chambermaid to traveler.