Berlin, 30.05.17 Hallo Hilary! This is the Revival postcard from Berlin :)!! 30 years later I’m now able to walk through Brandenburg Gate – it’s still a marvel!! I hope we won’t start building new walls in the future! Love Claudia
A status update from earlier this year, in which Claudia refers to the other card she sent me, 37 years ago 🙂 Berlin is now much more of a tourist destination than it was in the 80’s
Claudia and I continue to exchange news and views 🙂
Hello Hilary! Here is my postcard from Berlin. It is very nice here although the weather is quite cold. Yesterday evening we went on to the top platform of the sky-scraper which you can see on the card. From there we had a wonderful view over the whole city. But next time I’ll write more Many greetings Claudia
So here’s a card from 1980’s Berlin some 9 years before the wall came down. It carries a 50 pfennig stamp from the castles and palaces series. At the top of this stamp you can see that it was issued by the Federal Post Berlin.
‘sky-scraper’ is a phrase of the era! The building is known as the Europa-Center.
The card is postmarked ‘BERLIN 5.11.80’ and carries a second postmark, the rough translation of which is ‘keep connected with mail’ – a great sentiment!
Claudia is another prolific communicator who is also widely travelled 🙂
Dear Hilary, 11.00am Hope you are getting on OK in Norway as I’m sure you are. We have been in Germany 2 days and are really enjoying ourselfs. The weather is really hot – 90°, but as we are not near the sea-side we have to make do with 2 olympic size swimming pools on camp (Army Camp!) and at Winsen Aller there is a lovely lake where we can go wind surfing and water skiing. 12.30am Have been to Hannover tonight with Martin, Alan’s mate – Really nice at night. Will write properly soon Vanessa xx
This card is clearly postmarked ‘BAD HARZBURG 8.8.81’ and I received it shortly after arriving to live and work in Norway.
It sounds as though Vanessa would have preferred a beach holiday to an inland holiday, despite the lake and the swimming pools offered at the military base.
Sadly I have no recollection of Vanessa (or Martin and Alan mentioned in the text)… which is a shame as her writing is plentiful, informative and descriptive 🙂
Dear Hilary! I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a lucky New Year 1980. I’m always totally stressed before Christmas, so I send you only this card with the hope that we can continue our correspondence also 1980. Anyway have a nice holiday, many Christmas presents and perhaps a party at Christmas Eve. Yours Claudia
This card features another Christmas Greeting from Germany – the cards are very similar and sent just a year apart. The German text roughly translates as ‘A merry Christmas and a happy new Year’.
The postmark is clearly visible and is dated ‘FALLINGBOSTEL 21.12.79’ There is another postmark promoting the town of Fallingbostel with its Kneipp Spa and Luftkurort.
Schloss Rheydt, featured on the 60 pfennig stamp, is a Renaissance palace in Rheydt, Mönchengladbach. The stamp is part of the definitive series issued in 1977 featuring strongholds and castles.
Another card from Claudia who was not ‘stressed’ at all when I met her in London on Sunday! Having not communicated for some 20 years we have now managed to meet up In Real Life twice within the space of twelve months! Happy Days 🙂
Dear Hilary & Simon, Just travelled through E. Germany where there are only state entrepreneurs. Wouldn’t bother with setting up a r’ment office here. Been to Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, now in Munich. Big sking trip organised for March 6th, 1 week in Switzerland, all in Everything (apart from beer) £306 Let me know soon if interested Love Andy
Written just before the events leading up to the reunification of Germany in 1990, the prevailing state run enterprises and lack of a privatised, competitive economy in East Germany still intrigued many visitors from the West, including the entrepreneurial Andy.
As well as giving us a brief status update, the other purpose of the card is to provide details of the forthcoming ski trip, which is how I am able to date the card even though Andy has not provided the date and the postmark is only partly visible.
The 60 pfennig stamp indicates the card was posted in West Germany. It’s a definitive commemorating 1000 years of Meersburg.
As you can see from the pencil notes on the card, I had a subsequent conversation with Andy about the ski trip and we all went to Les Crosets, Switzerland in March 1989 🙂
Hello Hilary! I send you many greetings from Paignton. It’s really nice here. Also the weather is marvellous. The people I stay at are very kind. What I also like a lot is the beautiful landscape here. But the next time I’ll tell more. Yours Claudia
Claudia is enthusiastic about her visit to Paignton from Germany, although we are left wondering what the purpose of the visit is and how long she is staying.
I love the rhyme on the front of the card and the idea of leaving ‘Household chores’ behind!
The postmark says ‘SOUTH DEVON’ but the rest is obscured, apart from the ’80 in the lower part; however, the ‘marvellous weather’ suggests summer time. The stamp is a 10½p dull blue definitive.
Claudia and I recently reconnected as a result of this blog and are in touch regularly via email and Whatsapp – often while watching the same sporting event on TV’s in different countries…
fromsomewherewithlove 