Smoking in front of the Prince Elector

14/8/2020 – Jena – A blond long jumper with long legs from a long forgotten past. This can count as an alliteration. Heike Drechsler, famous long jumper, wearing a white shirt with red diagonal stripes, the colours of SC Motor Jena. I think of her when we enter town. Jena is built in what the Germans call a ‘Kessel’, a pot. Hills surround the town, whatever direction you look in. I am dreaming about athletics and old red gravel tracks when all of a sudden I am with my car in a shopping street. I am literally window shopping with the engine on. The satnav directed me into this street, and I am only metres away from Zur Noll, our hotel for the night. On the phone, the receptionist calms me down and says to move on and turn right. We reach the backyard of the hotel and park. Sabine and Frank arrive at the same time, on their bikes from Weimar. They look fit enough and after a shower we go out for a walk. Jena is dominated by the Jentower, a cylindrical tower built to become a research facility for Zeiss, which it never was. East-Germans call it the ‘Keksrolle’, the rolling-pin. Jena is a university town since 1558 and famous for opticals. Zeiss, Abbe and Schott, names that ring like a bell. My Sony camera has a Zeiss lens, the best wines I ever drank were in Schott Zwiesel glasses. Our tour quickly finishes. August is not a student month, and we only spot a few lost ones not very eager for knowledge, drinking beer and smoking in front of the statue of the Prince Elector of Saxony ‘Johann Friedrich der Großmütige’, the founder of the university. There is a chill in the streets and shops and restaurants close quickly. We are under corona rule. In the restaurant of the hotel we have Saxon food in the Nollgarten. I have Noll’s Schwarzbierbraten, pork neck beer stew. Delicious. It is already dark and the restaurant almost empty. The waitress does not seem happy when we talk about dessert but in the end she suggests making us a strawberry ice cream. We go to bed as happy people.

Heike Drechsler, DDR Postkartenarchiv



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