"A TRAVELING WE WILL GO"
- Thread starter Richie
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looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
Will tell you.
looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
Does that mean he's an obstinate advocate of the East German regime?
Grier
Well-Known Member
Not quite but he is sympathetic to China and its so called Communism. I let that slant of his slide as we're so often together on other topics in our discussion groups. He's a fine and fit old gentlemen who plays Badminton and does long Bush walks in his group. An erudite friend now on the decline mentally as he confides with friends.
"All my friends are dying!"
I think he saw some good aspects to the East German regime but mostly not. His mother told him to keep his mouth shut and opinions to himself. A wise mother.
I think my friend Lutz came to Australia in his late teens. A long time ago.
My Polish/Russian/Aussie mate is a Psychologist and is amtrivalent about sides. I'm not!
That was a hard road you travelled Thomas, as have many and as many still do. Our histories are steeped in cruelty and saddnesses I wonder why such actions are so often part of the human psyche/condition?
Some say land and resources greed...
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looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
You're up late, Terry. Hope you can sleep soon. Will get back to your post.Not quite but he is sympathetic to China and its so called Communism. I let that slant of his slide as we're so often together on other topics in our discussion groups. He's a fine and fit old gentlemen who plays Badminton and does long Bush walks in his group. An erudite friend now on the decline mentally as he confides with friends.
"All my friends are dying!"
I think he saw some good aspects to the East German regime but mostly not. His mother told him to keep his mouth shut and opinions to himself. A wise mother.
I think my friend Lutz came to Australia in his late teens. A long time ago.
My Polish/Russian/Aussie mate is a Psychologist and is amtrivalent about sides. I'm not!
That was a hard road you travelled Thomas, as have many and as many still do. Our histories are steeped in cruelty and saddnesses I wonder why such actions are so often part of the human psyche/condition?
Some say land and resources greed...
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looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
Lutz and the psychologist are different persons then?Not quite but he is sympathetic to China and its so called Communism. I let that slant of his slide as we're so often together on other topics in our discussion groups. He's a fine and fit old gentlemen who plays Badminton and does long Bush walks in his group. An erudite friend now on the decline mentally as he confides with friends.
"All my friends are dying!"
I think he saw some good aspects to the East German regime but mostly not. His mother told him to keep his mouth shut and opinions to himself. A wise mother.
I think my friend Lutz came to Australia in his late teens. A long time ago.
My Polish/Russian/Aussie mate is a Psychologist and is amtrivalent about sides. I'm not!
That was a hard road you travelled Thomas, as have many and as many still do. Our histories are steeped in cruelty and saddnesses I wonder why such actions are so often part of the human psyche/condition?
Some say land and resources greed...
looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
That's a standard argument of leftists I can't even remotely understand since they wouldn't justify that communist experiment with all its consequences. Most people with such a view had benefited from the system in one way or another.
looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
After the wall had come down I took life into my own hands. While I had only gone on business trips to Poland and the Czech Republic plus Slovakia, I now volunteered to be sent to the Middle East on business since no one else was interested and spent some time there roaming Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Kuwait. Back home again I didn't feel like travelling far with two small children just for pleasure but went to West Germany quite often and toured it from north to south with my SIL's place near Cologne being the base camp as it were. There was a lot to discover, and what's more, no other destination could arouse the same emotions. It was so thrilling and satisfying to see all the places I'd only seen on TV if at all.
To give you just one example: When I was living in Berlin I'd often walk along the boulevard Unter den Linden only to be stopped by a first fence and policemen warding off the area around Brandenburg Gate. What an inexplicable feeling it was years later when I was driving and walking right through Brandenburg Gate, a place that symbolises the divided Germany like hardly anything else. There was a window of time when I could drive from Kurfüstendamm in West Berlin via Victory Column, Brandenburg Gate (not possible any more) down the former Stalin Avenue up to Strausberg Square which is a long and impressive tour. I'm so glad and grateful that it all happened in my lifetime .
Later on, I spent a longer time in the UK and also took the family there for a couple of holidays. All in all, I've been to 16 countries in Europe and Asia but not beyond.
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On one trip I traveled round Europe in a double deck bus, no kidding. Was via an Aussie company Top Deck Travel which used decommissioned buses (below) then fitted them with beds and a kitchen on the upper deck. Amazing how these old buses stood up to the rigors of driving on all types of roads thru many countries. I think we broke down once in a month and ran out of petrol once and had a couple of flat tyres. Great memories tho.
Grier
Well-Known Member
I'm a night owl Thomas and busy, busy which I'm over.
Grier
Well-Known Member
Yes, to give context to the the multi ethnic perspectives in the Cultural melting pot that Australia is. We even half tolerate hard right wingers, to a point.
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Grier
Well-Known Member
That sounds like a great journey and nice adventure Craig.
Grier
Well-Known Member
Fair enough Thomas, your perspective is more valid than my hazy one.
I do lean left myself but Socialism is my left most limit.
I believe both Russia and China replicate Orwell's Animal farm, showing the vile hypocracy of such so called communist regimes. Totalitarian Autocratic Dictatorships is my perspective that hide their nefarious ways with words or silence.
Ocassionally I've even been conservative seeing the candidates, context and policies.
looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
The business in the Middle East and in Britain was a job as a visiting lecturer and researcher. It was a time of transition and restructuring leading to mass unemployment and forcing millions of East Germans to reorient themselves no matter if they were able to stay in their job or if they had to find a completely new field of work.
As for the number of countries visited, remember that European countries are small, some of them even tiny, especially as compared with Australia where you can travel far without leaving the country.
Grier
Well-Known Member
looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
Not necessarily, I'd say. Everyone's entitled to their opinion based on the individual experience. East Germans are still divided over this question. That's fine by me.
Thomas these places I have no interest in seeing. How did you find them?
looker-on
aka Thomas the Kraut
They didn't appeal to me either but I wasn't there as a tourist. These countries are not for tourists anyway and I would neither recommend them nor would I have travelled there privately. Travelling as a "oronbeaon" (European) was dangerous for various reasons. There was poverty, health risks, and hardly anything for sight-seeing. The infrastructure was not as destroyed yet as it presumably is today, though, but the standard was low.
hardly anything for sight-seeing.
Only thing that interests me would be ancient ruins such as Palmyra in Syria, that is before that insidious ISIS destroyed much of it.
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