scot47

The EHIC is gone but we are lead to believe that UK citizens who need dialysis and other lifesaving treatments, like Dialysis or Chemotherapy, will be able to receive those treatments within the EU. I sincerely hope so and I if so, I hope to visit Mecklenburg again, possibly basing myself in NEUBRANDENBURG. I was introduced to the area a few years ago when exploring the literary heritage of Hans Fallada. He spent the years 1933 to 1945 in Carwitz bei Feldberg. The lakes in the area are certainly worth looking at. Researching now the best way to get there. I may try the train, travelling from Glasgow to Newcastle. Ferry to Amsterdam and then train to Neubrandenburg.

Comments ? Ideas ?

scot47

No replies. I surmise that not many have experience or knoweldge of the former GDR or "Neue Bundeslaender" as the Wessis euphmistically call the area they took over in 1990.

I am more optimistic now that I may get there but will have to wait for the retreat of this Coronavirus Contagion. On a cheerier note I have been taking part in the discussion of the End of Byzantum and how that was partly brought about through a Pandemic at the end of the 6th century during the reign of Justinian. Will future historians see Brexit as a mere blip and attribute the real end of the EU to the Pandemic of the Virus ?

scot47

Neubrandenburg - Wikipedia

I am still working on this. Maybe I should abandon the idea and just go to Berlin ? That is a city i never felt comfortable in, despite having spent some months there as a "Lehrassistent" and also as student at the Free University. That was in those strange years when West Berlin was an island inside the GDR. Strange times.

dmu

I first experienced West Berlin in the early 70s. I had accompanied my future OH (on business), and one day visited my German Korrespondantin in the Eastern Sector. Apart from the pleasure of meeting her for the first time, I was stressed out all day without my Passport (left at Checkpoint Charlie) and was depressed by the drab streets and the sight of Russian-style soldiers patrolling everywhere. Never was I more relieved to return to the West that evening.... I've visited many times since then, as both my daughters have lived and worked there since the reunification (and one is still there), but the way things are developing, it'll be a long time before the next visit (hopefully my EasyJet voucher will still be valid....).
However good the dialysis centres are, I wouldn't think a trip to Berlin would be a good idea at present. For a start, you're supposed to go into quarantine while waiting for the result of a Covid test made upon arrival. DD1 did this after Christmas/New Year in France, but no one checked whether she had complied. OTOH, the centre would check....
Take care!

scot47

No plans to go until this pestilence abates. Berlin is a strange place. In the 1960s I felt the historical proximity of The Resicj and the Horrors everywhere I went. My older colleagues in the "Gymnasium" where I was a "Teaching Assistant" would not speak about the Past. I odten changed 50 Westmarks for 100 Eastmarks and took the S-bahn to Friedrichstrasse in the GDR for some light relief. I found it easier to speak to "Ossis" than to "Wessis". I have travelled much since my time with Rudi Dutschke and the rest but until today I have more frinds in the "Neue Bundeslaender" than in what used to be Westberlin and Westdeutschland.

Maybe the English journalist based in East Berlin, John Peet, had a lasting effect on how I viewed the post-war world ? John Peet (1915–1988) - Wikipedia

Before I set foot in Germany for the first time I was on the mailing list for his very readable "Democratic German Report".

Democratic German Report | Steve Silver

scot47

Lots of time on my hands thanks to The Pestilence and Lockdown. Looking into different ways of getting there. I like train and had thought of going from South Shields to Amsterdam and then by train, but I fear that ferry may be vehicles only.

The website called Trainline wants to route me via Eurostar but I do not want to go to London. My preference is from Glasgow Central by train and ferry.

Ideas ?