We arrive in Glowe in the evening. A traffic jam has made us later than expected. Here is our Ferienwohnung. Mom, Dad and I are already on vacation, but for Matthias, Anne, Oma and Nele, this other house by the sea is a much-needed Tapetenwechsel (changing-of-wallpaper).
The island of Rügen is known historically for having been the official vacation destination for the working class of DDR (East) Germany. Sectors of the island still have depressing rows of
Communist-built vacation modules meant to provide the workers their annual Tapetenwechsel. The Party even had a catchy Orwellian slogan to capture the aspirations of the vacation program: "Kraft Durch Freude" (Power Through Joy).
Matthias and Anne were always commenting on what has improved on Rügen since the Wall fell 24 years ago. When Westerners were first allowed back into the East, the infrastructure was in a terrible state and houses like this didn't exist. A huge proportion of unified Germany's taxpayer money has thus gone into recovery: bringing the East back up to speed with the West. The island of Rügen is still in the process of upgrading from a Communist vacation destination to a Capitalist one.
