Germany's lively art and culture scene

I never judge central Europe or Germany in particular, to be a budget traveler's destination. Plane tickets, accommodations, per day living cost to transport charges to almost everything are not only high for the middle-class Bangladeshi but with little German language skills it's also tough to move about and communicate easily. However, if one anyhow (usually for a Bangladeshi it is a stroke of good fortune or invitation if not rich enough) ends up landing in here where to seek pleasure shopping?
Well if you are not purposely running after exclusivity and not sure what to buy you must definitely hit the weekends' numerous open-air flea markets held all over Germany.
Know for sure, you never know what you would end up buying. For many it's shopping off the beaten track; a hunting ground for gazing and chasing after rare antiques for cheap; students' paradise for budget shopping, the time killer's spot for window shopping , an essential bazaar for limited earners etc�etc� but essentially it's also an intrinsic part of German culture.
Unlike our Banga Bazaar or the shops opposite the Dhaka College they not only offer a binge of used or rejected apparels but ranging from toys, ceramics, household artifacts, paintings, old books and magazines , antiques, handicrafts  to war memorabilia to almost anything�.. 
Being in here is like being lost in the midst of artifacts from the bygone to present  times as each set of displayed items echoes of different eras , people , local culture and of course their tastes. Normally held during the summer months, this flea market freak had planned his trip accordingly so to squeeze out the maximum out of them. The plan worked and the markets seemed to turn into weekend Mecca's for getting into the deep of German leisure pursuit.
Also, locating the times and venues for seeing these flea markets are quite easy. Alike typical German discipline they are made known through road side placards, advertisement & teasers and web sites prior the events.
From my last visit to a flea market held at Ettlingen, an old German town located some 10 kilometres south of Karlsruhe in south-west Germany; this freak realized how much he had missed out from at least the dozen visits to various flea markets previously. Observations are surely sharpened by more travelling and seeing. For this time this traveler wasn't only looking for small replicas of vintage cars or designer brand used clothing - he became busy studying and observing the sellers besides the buyers. Even a step further, awed at the binge of household decoration artifacts, he now dared to compare the price between a locally produced unbranded bear mug to a used villeroy and Boch; spotting differences between a porcelain and a Meissen statue while trying to get deeper within the trends in buying.
The invisible mystery is actually in the last - the habitual and versatile patterns in seeing and buying. Be with me under the sunlit open sky and you never know who is looking for what or who is merely window shopping. As I and my good old shopping pal Doris had set foot in the market premises, a six footer sharp looking German made his way in. Bargaining from the very first stand - a shoe stall selling used shoes - he markedly stopped almost every where. Guess what he procured at the end of his probe - like scrutiny and seemingly unending haggling? A wooden rack full of vinyl records of the 40's and 50's classical hits. A wise looking self-effacing man travelling in a wheel chair scrutinized numerable ceramic items with an old magnifying glass in the likes of a vulture preying on his victims. He became awesomely contented with a bunch of ornate table spoons. We later learnt that he was an agent for an antique dealer in Frankfurt. Who knows, may be his magnifying glass too, was collected from some unknown flea market.   
 A shabbily dressed middle-aged woman, who was seen to have incessantly wrangling over a used Versace cardigan left in high spirits buying an oil painting worth € 80. Another grandpa-like figure appeared rather daring to look for charmingly explicit adult items. He appeared gleeful to have bought all the 1973 issues of the playboy. (The 90 year old Hugh Hefner would have been proud had he witnessed) Youngsters were seen incessantly clicking the items with their mobile phones, sending photos while seeking assurances whether to buy or not.
And all these curious selling and buying, silent bursts of joy and sorrow were taking place on a Sunday morning at a remote corner in Germany. Faces of customers never seemed so unassuming while their needs being so incomprehensible. Especially, in the age of e-bay and Amazon's virtual world of e-shopping, these floating markets offer unmatched joy of treasure hunting.      
Don't take the sellers for granted because like our today's' jeans and T-shirt sellers they too are well aware about the high value of brands. Actually they know more, since they need to deal with such a diversified bunch of items. From my school days fascination over vintage toys, it was rather captivating to have seen how seriously the Germans take their toys. It's not a mere hobby or a plaything for kids but more. Especially ranging from the buyer to the seller - all most everyone in here knows the value of vintage toy cars. Marveling at a six inch 1959 blue Cadillac made by the famous toy Schuco Company, I approached its seller.  He asked for € 40, far beyond my reach. Amusingly but true, the box containing the car is actually half the price as it stands more of a 'certification for authenticity'. Manufactured well over 50 years ago one will undeniably praise the toy car's durable craftsmanship. Sensing my grief correctly, the next day Doris perfectly compensated my heartache with the perfect birthday gift - off-white Porsche model 356 B. possibly, the best birthday gift I ever had abroad.
Expressively, these markets also appear as unforeseen shopping stopovers for experimenting with chances. Compared to the annually held day long markets in big cities the one at Ettlingen was relatively small. Being in the big ones are like being entirely absorbed in an overabundance of goods stored within an unendorsed museum. The areas covering the markets are enormous. During my last visit I got lost not once, but twice - once at Freiburg. However, thanks to the town cathedral's massive gothic tower. Walking non-stop for 15 minutes from the eastern direction to the cathedral's location by snaking along the main road took me home. The second time was at the out skirts of Munich, the venue was not only three times the size of a football field with multiple entrances and exits but one also needs at least 5-6 hours of watchful strolling to come to an end . This time thanks to my easily identifiable black skin in the midst of all white , by the time I was about to take the wrong exit Peter had grabbed me by the arm. Nevertheless, tales surrounding the fleeting mesmeric bazaars are many but let's finish it with a tale of a German family's unpredicted anecdote of sorrow. As we were just about to wrap up, we came to spot a table full of old military possessions placed in front of a grey van in the furthest corner near the market's point. Powerless to conceal our curiosity we stopped over.
There was an old cognac colour leather suitcase containing photo albums, a worn-out First World War German uniform of a corporal, a first class Iron cross for displaying gallantry in the battle fields, a military service cap displaying rank and some military badges. They belonged to a soldier. Failing to cope with poverty, the deceased soldier's grand children have handed them to an agent for selling. It was the tale of not only a dead soldier, but a bloodied war, forcible selling of heritage for cheap, forgotten artifacts stacked in some old unknown cellar and a generation's struggle to deal with today's financial realities. No, this freak of the German fleeting Bazaars' didn't buy them, nor could he afford. But he spent a good memorable 20 minutes peeping through some of Germany's painful defining moments - when all blood ran red. These bits and pieces of past manufactured articles silently echoes Germany's past.
Enough has been said, it's time to plan for my next 'fascination with the German floating bazaars�. The venue for next week will be at the historic town of Durlach - a borough of the German city Karlsruhe. Spot on the dark bald Bohemian in blue jeans and white t-shirts - that will be me.         
 Make sure not to miss any of the stalls scattered around you �.for poets and thinkers are in there also. Waiting to shroud you with an amazing unprecedented adventure, you only need to look for them.
The writer is a freelance journalist