Impressions of East Germany

I've had a couple of days to mull over my first experience of East Germany and here is the reality compared to the imagination.

1. The countryside is lush and stunning, with only a few places spoilt by big factories and ugly buildings.

2. The atmosphere is a lot more upbeat than I magined. People actually smile at you sometimes which was a shock. There also seemed to be a lot of young trendy Eastern Europeans in the centre at the week-end. So I guess the nouveau riche from The former Communist countries are maybe heading West.

3. Dresden itself is beautiful, if a bit of a building site at the moment. There is a big drive to make it like it was before the war and they probably still have a few years of work to go. It will be very Baroque once it's completed.

4. The food was normal German food. No watery soup or grim vegetables.

All in all it was a great trip and very interesting. It was a pretty full-on few days and I needed to come away and absorb the experience. Next time I'm back there I can concentrate more on visiting some art galleries (apparently they're fantastic) and looking around the suburbs a bit more. The place feels like it has a huge amount of history and lots to discover.