Zwickau - Clearly Still Some Catching Up To Do...

Our relos were so keen to catch up with us that they drove almost four hours just to pick us up in Frankfurt and take us back with them to Zwickau. I did suggest that we could just get the train but they insisted, which turned out good because my auntie got to have her first experience of what it's like to drive on the Autobahn (and she had the white knuckles to prove it).

In the time I've spent in Germany so far, most of it has been in what used to be West Germany, and what I have seen of the former East,has suggested the economic gap between east and west is no longer obvious. Although I have heard stories of Zwickau being a bit more 'behind the times' so I was keen to check it out, and in this respect, I was not dissapointed.

The apartment building the relos live in



An example of the sort of 'neglected' buildings we saw frequently

Even though we found this quite a shock and a bit sad and depressing I must admit (especially after just having been in the fairytale land that is Nürmberg), Zwickau also has nicer areas that have been fixed up including the town centre.


Us all in the central market area



The building my mums' dad was born in, only about a 5 min walk from central Zwickau.

My relos are elderly now and have always lived in the east so remember life in the GDR well and often talk about it. Even though building maintenance and the upkeep of Germany's beautiful building's was obviously not a priority for the socialist government, my relos say they miss some things about it, like the amazing free health care system (including dental) that has now been replaced by a system all but run by insurance companies.

The relos' apartment is a one-bedroom unit on the top floor and doesn't have much space so they kindly put us up in a hotel for the 3 nights we were there (actually we nick-named the hotel 'faulty towers' but that's another story). They also rent a small holiday unit about an hours drive out of town that they spend their Summers at and enjoy an escape from the city. On our last day in Zwickau they took us for a drive to their Summer home and we had lunch in a traditional pub on the way (that had vegie schnitzel on the menu - yum!) and headed back to faulty towers in the arvo.


The relos at their Summer home

One of many 'lovely' fake greeneries stuck to the walls in our room at faulty towers
 

One of three randomly placed antique sewing machines we passed (yes thats right I said three) on the way to our room at faulty towers - oh and look, more fake greenery 

Lonely puddy tat in the streets of Zwickau...

It was a great experience seeing Zwickau and seeing how some people there live, but my relos speak no English at all so it was also quite mentally draining trying to think and speak in German 24/7, so we were all looking forward to getting back to Frankfurt. We were also looking forward to getting back because the next day we had an early train booked to Heidelberg - yay!