2010/07/21

Boredom Past: Touring the German Democratic Republic

When Steerforth put up his Boring Postcards on Age of Uncertainty, I threatened to upload my photos from my trip to Germany in 1978, which I boasted would surely match, or possibly exceed, the boredom of his postcards.  I took four rolls of film on that trip with my Minolta Pocket camera.


The pictures weren't that great, but I learned something.  I took many more pictures with that handy Minolta than I ever took with the fancy-schmancy  Pentax SLR I owned after the Minolta was stolen from my car glove compartment.  Portability and simplicity might make the difference as to whether I actually capture something worthwhile.

We spent most of our two weeks in West Germany, and only a couple of nights in Berlin.  I suppose Bowie and Eno were around somewhere at the time.  If these snaps are anything to go by, boredom must have been a problem with "really-existing socialism".  You be the judge.

From Behind the Iron Curtain, 1978

From Behind the Iron Curtain, 1978

From Behind the Iron Curtain, 1978

From Behind the Iron Curtain, 1978

From Behind the Iron Curtain, 1978

From Behind the Iron Curtain, 1978


Clicking on the Behind the Iron Curtain link will take you to the whole album of 21 pictures.


2 comments:

Steerforth said...

Great photos. They certainly loved their appartment blocks in Eastern Europe.

I notice that there is a UFO in the third photo.

Brett said...

Looking at them now, I'm afraid that they fail to be as boring as your postcards. Oh well, I tried.

Yes, I see the UFO, three, actually!

What fun it was to see, years after The Wall came down, the film, Goodbye Lenin!