barney2@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> In article <1166612019.993999.66800@a3g2000cwd.googlegroups.com>,
> j_peasemold_gruntfuttock@hotmail.com (JPG) wrote:
>
> > *From:* "JPG"
> > *Date:* 20 Dec 2006 02:53:40 -0800
> >
> > I have a fascination with the politics of war and have been
> > disappointed to see that any traces of what used to be the "Iron
> > Curtain" in Germany have been erased from the maps. None of the maps I
> > have bought show the location of the old border between east and west
> > and I have no idea whether the "Iron Curtain" corresponded with the
> > current state borders.
> >
> > I have not been to any border areas yet but I would guess that when
> > travelling by road they ought to be obvious by change in road surface,
> > evidence of fences, watchtowers, old border installations, restored
> > road links etc.
>
> Last time I took a train from the old west (Dusseldorf, IIRC) to Berlin,
> the change in the style and condition of buildings as you crossed the
> former border was quite pronounced. The land looked somehow different, too
> - maybe agricultural methods were not the same, or maybe the east and west
> emphasised different crops. I don't know.
>
> You see much the same thing (regarding buildings) within Berlin, too,
> though of course it is a rapidly-changing city.
Even the smell was a bit different the farther east you went, high -
sulfur coal was still in common use, producing lots of soot. This I
really noticed in Prague (which in any case is still fairly
polluted)...
--
Best
Greg
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