Somewhere in East Germany, this small town was a popular weekend destination for my fiancée and her school friends, where the mall was always open, the ice-cream always cheap and the bus ride short. It was a pleasure to step back and re-visit these old haunts with her, and to marvel at the stark sameness that Europe often offers. The roads and buildings remain the same – the vendors and signs might change, but the cityscape rarely suffers gentrification.
