Germany Couch Surfing in Lauchhammer

East Germany, long gone are the thoughts of living behind the Iron Curtain.
Time has moved on and the Soviet days are long behind us, yet if you look close and compare to the west you may see small traces in what is left.

We traveled across the country to visit with friends that we had met in Australia via a great site called Couch Surfing.
This would be a meeting of old friends more than a fresh Couch Surfing experience. Karen & Rene were expecting us and met us from the train.

Lauchammer sits on the edge of what was once vast coal reserves, some of which are still here but with the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 90’s the area surrounding Luchhammer changed.
The infrastructure collapsed and without the investment for external sources the country and areas such as Lauchhammer were doomed. The F60 mine which is 11km from Lauchhammer provided the town with good incomes and job security, a mine that was built to give 30 years service and was closed after 18 months use as the country came to recognize its fate as the world of the Soviets collapsed.

The mine now is undergoing radical change as the coal pits are flooded and Germany gets its largest man made lake. Eco Tourism is making its way into Easter Germany and Lauchammer stands and opportunity to grow once again. The project is years in the making  and although Lauchhammer may never again be what it once was it’s people seem proud of their environment.

Karen & Rene gave us the opportunity to explore the mine as Rene’s father worked the mine area including the ill fated F60 Mine for 30 years . Taking a tour over the F60 you could see the large number of wind turbines that are now dotting the landscape as new takes over from old in the changing of technology.

It was decided that we would take a ride by bicycle around the area as Karen had to go to work for the morning and Rene was helping a friend with decorating a house. We set of and after a minor upset with Elena coming to grips with riding a bicycle again after many years we cycled along through the maze fields and small lakes. Rene had guided us with directions to a large lake, however it wasn’t until we had got to the railway station that we thought we had got the wrong way. It turns out that evening when we talked about where we had been that Rene had given us the wrong directions. Not to worry, it gave us the opportunity to see the country and the town of Lauchhammer in a way that we wanted to explore.

Lauchhammer is a town in the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district, in southern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, approx. 17 km west of Senftenberg, and 50 km north of Dresden.

This is a great place to visit, its not the grand cities, however that’s not what we were looking for here. We were looking for the part of Germany that reflected the heart and soul of the country, yet found it in all that we met here.

We know that in the future we’ll be back. I really want to see how these eco lakes and the to