Apparently, a new hotel in Berlin allows guests to relive the glory days of Communism:
The four clocks behind the reception desk of Berlin’s new budget hotel Ostel show the hour in Moscow, Berlin, Havana, and Beijing. Time, however, appears to have stopped here sometime before 1989, when communism was still entrenched in all four capitals.
The Ostel offers a renewed whiff of life in the former German Democratic Republic, welcoming travelers with portraits of communist leaders adorning the walls.
Furnishings — except for mattresses, bed linens, sink and toilets — are the real thing, dug up by founders Daniel Helbig and Guido Sand from flea markets, friends, family and eBay.
But Helbig made clear it was not about pining for a return to the police-state.
“We had the idea of preserving a bit of GDR culture … (but) we are not crying for the East German regime,” said Helbig, who grew up in East Berlin and experienced its restrictions on freedom of expression and movement first hand.
Well, if you really want to re-create the “culture” of East Germany, then you probably need to bring back the secret police, the guard dogs with dogs and machine guns preventing you from leaving, and the drab, drab clothing.
A vacation in pseudo East Germany ? Thanks, but I think I’ll go to Hawaii instead.
