Trabi-Safari

In the former GDR, Trabant was a famous brand. In other former communist countries, it was an affordable car, loved because it was a German brand - and not a Russian one, and in a way a mental representation of the neighborhood with the West. My parents always called it a "paper car" and since a very good friend of us died in a car accident while driving his Trabi, it was also on the black list of cars we don't want to drive.

More than 20 years after the unification, it's only a touristic attraction, and in many former Eastern Germany cities, an opportunity for making money. Last year, I saw in Dresden various offer for Trabi tours and many tourists waiting to get embarked for a kind of exotic trip. In Berlin, modified and colourful Trabis are part of the Trabi-Safari touristic project. As Thursday was a free day, the Trabi fans had open way to see and let them be seen. I met the caravan near Tauzinenstrasse. All look happy and enoying the remnants of communism on the good looking capitalist Ku'damm.