Design
Searching for Ostalgie
Berlin's East Germany obsession is easy to find for tourists, but more complicated for locals
Any visitor to Berlin will at some point run into the outrageously kitsch Trabi-Safari. Two decades after the fall of the Wall, it's possible to rent a Trabant - now a cult vehicle, it was the sedan that GDR residents once waited years to own - and tool around the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall, accompanied by a live guide whose voice is piped through the radio. The cars have been refurbished and painted in wild colors, and former checkpoints (e.g., Charlie) are spots on the tour.
Afterwards, should one want to continue experiencing the fantasy of life as an East German, there are East German-themed bars and even a “GDR design hostel,” with lovingly restored communist-era furnishings and a "Stasi suite."