With the G8 Summit going on in Heiligendamm and the protests in Rostock, the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-West Pomerania) has been all over the news this week.I’ve gotta say that I’m disappointed in the rioters who were setting cars on fire and digging stones out of the Rostock Stadthafen (city harbor) and pelting them at police. I feel much more supportive of peaceful protests and damaging public and private property is criminal. What’s wrong with a good old hunger strike to get attention for your cause? If a thousand people sat in the Stadthafen and didn’t eat for weeks, that would certainly gain attention and not cause the city and residents of Rostock property damage.
I also wanted to post a picture of the trash that has been left all over Rostock and Heiligendamm by the protesters, many of whom are protesting for environmental causes, but no images showed up in Google yet (maybe I’ll update the post with one in a few days). Anyways, the news this morning showed fields covered in litter left by overnight campers all over the region and described many of the protesters as “drunk and disorderly.”
U2 will be playing a free concert in Rostock with Die Toten Hosen and Herbert Grönemeyer for the German organization “Deine Stimme Gegen Armut” (“Your Voice Against Poverty”). The concert starts at 2:30pm today with Seeed and can be watched here (find the band schedule here). Translate the pages with Babelfish’s web page translator.
Not exactly in the news, but on television this morning, the show “Unser Erste Gemeinsame Wohnung” on RTL (“Our First Apartment Together”), featured a couple moving into an apartment in a house in Rostock. It just happened to be the house that we lived in there, at Patriotischer Weg 100. Apparently, our upstairs neighbors there moved out. They were a 50-something couple with a Jack Russell terrier who had the parking space just behind our garden. Once I locked myself out of the apartment (the wind blew the door shut while I was throwing out the recycling), and the husband helped me climb back into the apartment through the window, thus avoiding what would have probably been a several hundred Euro locksmith fee.
Patriotischer Weg 100 in Rostock
In other close to home news, Rainer and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary at the hotel in Heiligendamm where the G8 Summit is currently being held.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been seeing pictures of the riots on tv nightly and it’s sad how they trash everything in their way. I have to ask, are you near Greifswald? I’m planning a trip there next summer, it’s where my Mom was born…ciao
@rositta: It is really sad… Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere near Greifswald, it’s about 6 hours from me. It is a very beautiful city though and I’m sure you’ll love the trip! The Baltic coast is really beautiful.
We drove through Heiligendamm last summer on our way to Hiddensee… me and my Ossie will be there again this summer, I was really surprised how much I liked it when we first went there 4 years ago (no MacDonalds, no cars, no culture to speak of, a zeltkino –tent cinema–which is a relic of 60s east Germany) but we have ended up going back every year.
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@vailian: I would love to go the Ostsee this summer, but it’s so far away now. It really reminds me of the Outer Banks of North Carolina – too bad the water is too cold for swimming (at least for me!)
@Martina: I will try to do this soon!