Walls Come Tumbling Down

Twenty years ago - on 9 November - the wall came tumbling down. The Berlin Wall. It was an event that had all manner of consequences. The East German football team, needing only a point to qualify for the World Cup, lost 3-0 against Austria on 15 November, the players' minds on other things, it is said. And so the bizarre prospect of the newly liberated East Germans meeting West Germany in the final never came to pass, and West Germany, of course, went on to win.

But more importantly, the fall of the Wall meant that Ossies could travel abroad freely, and not only those playing for the national football team and athletes pumped full of steroids by the Stasi-controlled coaching regime at the likes of the Berlin performance centre. And what was the first destination for many? You guessed it, Mallorca. The people of the later to be reunified country were reunited even before official reunification took place - on the beaches of Playa de Palma.

In April 1990, the first tourists from the DDR came to Mallorca. Ten thousand of them were invited - free of charge. Hotels and full board were provided by the Balearic Government, while the flights were paid for by the tour operators - TUI and Neckermann. Of course April was not high season, so finding the rooms was probably not too difficult, but it was still a considerable gesture, especially if it meant that a new market in the east of Germany was going to be forged over the following years. Perhaps it wasn't a completely altruistic exercise.

There is a fascinating article about this in the "Diario", one that refers to the fact that the visitors, used to being controlled and having to seek permission, couldn't quite come to terms with being able to come and go as they pleased from the hotels. They also, apparently, couldn't get enough of the oranges. Like Brits who pack their suitcases with sleeves of Lambert & Butler, so the original Ossie tourists went back, bags bulging with fruit.

Ten thousand holidays - free. Maybe they should think of something similar now, and not just for east Germans.


Yesterday was, depending on how you prefer to call it, All Saints, the day of the witches or the day of the dead. On 1 November, the cemeteries are packed with those taking their tributes. The florists of Mallorca do a roaring trade the day before All Saints. Day of the dead, though, seems somewhat apt. 1 November is also the first day after the season finishes. Being both a holiday, a Sunday and the morning after Hallowe'en festivities, had you been venturing out in the morning, you might have been shocked at just how quiet, nay dead, it all seemed. The season ends, and they celebrate it with the day of the dead.


QUIZ
Yesterday's title - John Lennon, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAJ2AoEwDvY. Today's title - The Cappuccino Kid went political.

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