Thursday, 19 November 2015

#tbt German Beermats from the Early 90s

I visited Germany in 1994 for a family holiday, and also to practice the language which I'd done pretty well in during my first year of school. A conversation with my parents brought back a few memories from being 12 years old. We settled the caravan in Nideggen, at the edge of the Eifel National Park, and got a warm welcome from the Dutch man who ran the campsite. He was fond of British. My mum, dad and sister and I got into some rock climbing out near the Ruhr river, which was the same river hit by Allied forces in World War II, and one of rivers featured in The Dam Busters movie. On a trip into town we came across a meeting for owners of TRs, with a number of the vintage sports cars lining the car parks.

It was the first time we saw people paying for plastic bags in shops, or people taking their own (something most British supermarkets have introduced in the last few months).

Most of our pictures are on slides, so there isn't a great deal to show. But while out there I picked up a couple of beer mats from a pub or cafe, which I've just dug out of my parents' loft. Are there any vintage beer mat specialists out there? I prepared these for an art project a few months later.

'The art of beer! These are some beer mats I collected from Germany (Summer 1994). It's not exactly art but it's German, and I collect beer mats. They are quite special to me. There is some art on the back of “REISSDORF KOLSCH” beermats.'


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