Memories of East Germany - 1980s. Follow @PaulaSKirby for more pictures and cool nostalgia.
Part one - the road to Dresden - an official postcard, and as it was pre-1939:

Why East Germany? Fascination stemmed from an uncle on official visits in the 1950s, but also my dad who was trapped behind the wall in 1961 and smuggled back in the boot of a car. He brought home my first real teddy bear.

Leaving university without a job was quite common in Thatcher’s Britain. No money, so Manny (best pal) and I joined state trips: an educational visit subsidised by the East German student fraternity and an official DDR railway and industry tour.

Crossing the Wall by train - overnight from London-Harwich-Ostend-Aachen (DR carriages). Non-stop through West Berlin - early morning (6.00am). Arrival at Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse for border control and transfer east (wiki picture):

Eastbound train - Soviet made DR 130 (Ludmilla) at Berlin Osbahnhof 8.30am. The nearest man wanted to buy our jackets. ‘The war' wall on museum island where we dropped bags for a break. Thirty years later station comparison.

Later photographs of places visited. A postcard home, sitting by Marx and Lenin drinking warm Coke. The Palast - the meeting point for our educational trip. The former official shops where I failed to bribe enough to buy a few beers - later promoting Kodak.

Berlin-Lichtenberg - train to Magdeburg. My dearest friend Manny posed out of our compartment - he sadly passed away in 2015. Trains are a feature of my travels - same engine shed in 2008.

Magdeburg: arrived to catch the last pacific. British military train pulled in by a Ludmilla. British subaltern shouted ‘F-off you Commie b’stard!’ My response led his colonel to quickly close the window with a scowl. Learned this was not unusual behaviour from the train.

Journey to Dresden - me steam engine spotting. They were being phased out - and there was much to see of the old German railways - the water tower at Halberstadt.

Arrived in Dresden - 8.00pm - wet and rain. Drivers would always pose if asked nicely. More steam pictures from a later trip. West German trainspotters would jostle people to the rails to get their photographs.

Interhotel Dresden (Leningrad) official pictures issued by the hotel. Dinner salt fish, potatoes and warm beer. Last on the right a more recent scene from a Wiki-page.

Birthday free time. Walking Dresden centre. Museums, bomb sites and the Zwinger site.

Transport museum guide books - essential - photography was prohibited.

1945. The lady officials urged me to avoid the subject, not to speak English in the streets and not discuss the bombing with older locals. Hard not to contemplate the scale of destruction. A few German students discussed the Cold War but mostly it was about music etc.

Walking the bomb ruins. No one seemed to care except those in uniforms who sometimes wagged a finger.

Dresden-Neustadt: military museum. No snaps. Soviet Army on parade as I entered the grounds. A Russian officer from Leningrad escorted me around the museum trying to barter for my Pentax camera with roubles/R-marks.

Pictures from the guidebook. The officer kept battering, adding little comments - his troops were good for nothings. They looked very young - in shabby uniforms. The Soviet behemoth crumbling from within - Manny thought the DDR would end in tears and soon.

After walking away from the memorial there was an ugly incident. Several Soviet officers forced two elderly men into the street and made them doff their caps. The officers shouted ‘fascisti’. Soviet occupation was a reality in some minds.

Crossing the river. A Saturday afternoon the traffic was quiet.

One evening Manny commented how welcoming but docile the East Germans seemed. When faced with uppity officials the locals would stand with a blank stare. The Locomotive drivers were the finest exponents of the art.

The wedding seemed very happy, no evidence of ideology just two people who were in love. The clock chimed harmoniously.

Birthday evening - the drinks bill.
Waitress asked if I wanted to pay in $.