We are spending a few days in the Sachsen-Anhalt area in Germany. Like many others places in Europe, this region is also experiencing severe drought. It has not rained for three months over here. Apart from the yellow fields where most of the barley has been harvested, agriculture is facing problems because of the lack of rain. The penalty for illegaly watering your garden is now 50.000 euro! And one can hear almost everyday fire-fighters go out to fight fires. Another specific thing in this area, is the demographic transition that is taking place. Driving through the Harz is sometimes not facing a car for more than half an hour. Many villages have seen young people leaving in the past years, to other regions in Germany where opportunities for work and study are better. It left many older people staying behind. This affected also the housing market. Although not many ‘ for sale’ signs can been seen. Many houses are empty. The housing market leads to situations where property could be obtained almost for free. This week we organized a garden party, ‘Sommerfest’, with some local people. Things have changed a lot, and cities like Leipzig, Erfurt and Jena, become interesting places for young people to start ‘ start-ups’ in new economic areas. So cities in the Eastern part of Germany do catch up. And we can admit if you look for space and silence and dark skies it can be found here! Tomorrow we move on further to the city of Dresden where we will touch down with our Travelling Table once more.
mennostravellingtable.com 