Back in The USSR

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Reunification my arse!  In West Germany everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) feels nearly new, well engineered and well maintained.  Not surprisingly people look affluent and happy.  In the East everything is.....err.....a bit shit, and the people look like they are sucking on lemoms.

If you took someone from the Czech Republic, blindfolded them and dropped them in East Germany they would look around and the only thing they would notice is that the beer is more expensive. 

To Angela Merkel I say this:  "In the 21st century little cubes of stone are NOT an acceptable road surfacing material.  Sort it out!!!"

We did our big hill with barely a whimper but then the rain started and the wind picked up and we struggled with the weather all day.  Sometimes we got a wind assist but much of the time it was blowing straight from our left side with gusts up to 40mph.  The problem with this is that you get nicely set at a 15 degree lean, braced against the wind and then it suddenly drops or you pass a hedge and physics takes over.  Neither of us fell but we had a few moments. 

We are staying on the banks of the Elba in a little B&B just north of Riesa.  We have our own little two-storey apartment with a sitting room which we have enhanced by festooning it with lashings of smelly kit.

Tomorrow promises to be another wet and windy day as we launch our assault on Berlin.

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