Magde-boring

Regret is a nasty beast. I really regret leaving Brandenburg AH after one day. That place was run down, but had charm and the people were genuine and I think I could have had more fun with the them than the miserable dregs that infest Magdeburg. Speaking of which, Magdeburg on the other hand is definetely a city that was steeped in culture prior to being anally probed by the "socialist paradise" but is now struggling with it's impoverished communist past and a future that has to cope with the 40% unemployment rate. The fact that the student population were on holidays wasn't helping the atmosphere here either - I spent many an agonisingly boring summer between university semesters in Rockhampton and I was definitley having a flash back here.

However, My accommodation cannot be faulted, for the cyclist, it is excellent. Less can be said for the quality of the roads in this area. Cobblestones are everywhere and if not maintained can be really dangerous if they are loose or the gaps are not filled with concrete.

If you are travelling to Magdeburg and looking for nightlife, don't bother... Alarm bells should be ringing when the major nitespot/drawcard also includes a 10 pin bowling centre. The so called bar district in Hasselbachplatz is not worth the hassle (no pun intended). The city is not yet equipped to deal with foreign non-german speaking tourists. However - the staff at COCO bar can speak english and were the exception to this rule - quite impressed with this place, good food too - not the regular late nite kebab, but proper tavern food.

The atmosphere is quite insular and people are generally nervous of foreigners. The bars are filled full of locals who travel in packs - I rarely saw anyone on their own apart from myself. I am guessing this is a throw-back from commie culture - This behaviour was not apparent in Berlin and in Brandenburg AH the bar owner was happy to introduce me around - but well... it was an Aussie themed pub in Brandenburg and therefore what better place for there to be for an Aussie tourist. Less can be said for this rathole - I was later told that the best part of Magdeburg was the train to Berlin!

oh i forgot to mention the Moonlight bar in neualtestadt (new old town) - near where I am staying... excellent service there and they went out of their way to accommodate my crappy german with their limited english.

Just one thing...

at this bar I had the strangest Greek salad I have ever seen...
it had: iceberg lettuce, spanish olives, pickled chillies, tomatoes, white onion, cucumber, fetta cheese and CORN?!? it was dressed with light olive oil and white vinegar... ok so they got the fetta cheese right.

I now understand and better appreciate the authenticity of Greek-Australian culture - in that even your most anglo/saxon white bread, kraft singles and tomato sauce Aussie knows how to make a basic friggin greek salad. For the education of germans reading this, a greek salad should contain the following:
cucumber, red capsicum, feta, tomato wedges, red onion, cos or greek lettuce, kalamata olives, parsley, lemon juice, Salt and freshly ground black pepper, extra virgin olive oil.

anyhow.... enough from me... tomorrow off to Brauschweig and better still crossing the old east/west frontier at Helmstedt and rejoining civilisation...