Mitropa (stylised in all caps) was a catering company best known for having managed sleeping and dining cars of different German railways for most of the 20th century. Founded in 1916, the name "Mitropa" is an abbreviation of Mitteleuropäische Schlafwagen- und Speisewagen-Aktien-Gesellschaft. The railway carriages displayed a distinct burgundy-red livery with the Mitropa logo. Since a 2002 reorganization, when the onboard catering branch was taken over by DB Fernverkehr, the company only provided stationary food services for rail and road customers. The remaining business was sold to Compass Group in 2004 and merged into the Select Service Partner (SSP) subsidiary in 2006. History The company was founded during World War I on 24 November 1916, as Mitteleuropäische Schlafwagen- und Speisewagen-Aktien-Gesellschaft (lit. 'Central European Sleeping and Dining Cars Incorporated'). Its founders included different railway companies of the Central Powers, i.e. Germany and Austria-Hungary, who discontinued the service provided by the 'enemy'-owned Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL). From the establishment of business activities on 1 January 1917, Mitropa held the monopoly on cross-border dining and sleeping car services, including the Balkans Express from Berlin to Constantinople, introduced to replace the CIWL Orient Express trains.

Fun facts to know and tell: The East German railway system (bizarrely still called the Reichsbahn, to preserve its rights in West Berlin) ran dining cars on its City Express services that were all refurbished pre-WWII Mitropa cars, right up until reunification. You can see one at Berlin-Lichtenberg.

Trümmerfrauen (lit. rubble women,[a] singular Trümmerfrau German pronunciation: [ˈtʁʏmɐˌfʁaʊ̯]) were women who, in the aftermath of World War II, helped clear and reconstruct the bombed cities of Germany and Austria. Hundreds of cities had suffered significant bomb and firestorm damage from aerial attacks and ground war, and with many men dead or prisoners of war, this monumental task fell to a large degree on women. 3.6 million out of the sixteen million homes in 62 cities in Germany were destroyed during Allied bombings in World War II, with another four million damaged. Half of all school buildings, forty percent of the infrastructure, and many factories were either damaged or destroyed. According to estimates, there were about 500 million cubic metres of rubble[3] (a volume of over 150 Great Pyramids of Giza) and 7.5 million people were made homeless. Removal of ruins Since the first Allied bombing raids in 1940 the Germans had become used to clearing up the resulting devastation, but most of this clearance work had been undertaken by forced laborers and POWs. However following the end of war they were no longer available and so the Germans had to do the work themselves.

Postwar Berlin's "rubble women" (Trümmerfrauen) were able-bodied women between 15 and 65 who were conscripted to remove the bombing debris from the city's streets. They were paid a daily rate of 12 Reichsmarks per thousand bricks (how this was counted who knows), and got a Tier 2 Soviet ration card.

Spelling ‘daughter’ like that is not helping my stuttering attempts to learn gaeilge!

Will definitely read when am not on my phone screen - I’ll appreciate it better!

Oh this is fab news. I love Barbara and haven’t seen it in ages. Nina Hoss is just the best. Saw her live on stage at Manchester International Festival a while ago - breathtaking.

Thanks for the video, really helped!

Have just found all 4 of my grandparents thanks to this!
One surname was written incorrectly by census taker (has been transcribed as it looks, can’t blame the transcriber) so took a bit of family history knowledge and searching a cousin to find it. What an amazing sense of connection to the past!

Update: currently travelling from Krakow to Warsaw with Regiojet. Their business class complementary coffee/prosecco/food menu is unavailable “due to operational issues” (this notification just one hour before departure).
On the other hand, I’ve had a four seat compartment all to myself.

Image from Ashes and Diamonds by Andrzej Wajda. A man and a woman are having a conversation in a ruined church, with an upside down statue of Christ in the foreground.

Sitting in a Polish hotel room (as you do) and the only non-Polish tv channel is CNN.
So I’ve found Andrzej Wajda’s Ashes and Diamonds on a Polish channel for a rewatch. Not understanding the dialogue is definitely focusing me in on the quality of the cinematography, which I overlooked first time.

I am visiting Dresden right now!

Nochmal Niels Bohrmann bei #Tatort? Das dritte Mal dass ich ihn in einem Monat gesehen habe.

One of those rare occasions wo ich eigentlich in Deutschland bin fürs #Tatort schauen . Los geht’s!

Unions Marie-Louise Eta ist die erste Bundesliga-Cheftrainerin In der Nacht von Samstag auf Sonntag schrieb Marie-Louise Eta Geschichte: Nach Steffen Baumgarts Entlassung machte Union Berlin Eta zur ersten Cheftrainerin in der Bundesliga.

War auch mal an der Zeit. Ich hoffe, Frau Eta macht eine so gute Arbeit als Trainerin, dass sie nächstes Jahr auch weiterhin im Männer-Profifußball Cheftrainerin bleibt.
www.sportschau.de/regional/rbb...

Why can’t this man be in charge of everything?
I currently find myself jealous of New Yorkers.

Oops. Am supposed to be travelling with them next week - hope they don’t just give up early 😬

Related: I have been keen to work my way through Delivery Plans and Project Management templates changing "DO" to "DOR," all the way through in the "Responsible Person" column, because the "O" and the "Reilly" ARE DIFFERENT WORDS!

"But it makes the layout less tidy.*

"DON'T CARE. IT'S MY NAME."

Always coming up against the ‘unacceptable character’ issue when booking online, and found this really interesting youtu.be/0f3RMYTCvMU?...

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Marie's / @reesiepie.bsky.social coverage of the Manchester film festival 2026 comes to a close w/ Eagles of the Republic - a beloved actor is pressured into taking on a role he doesn’t want to – as the…

themovieisle.com/2026/04/01/eagles-of-the...

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Marie's / @reesiepie.bsky.social coverage of the Manchester Film Festival 2026 continutes with L’étranger – The Stranger: Indifference, colonialism, a murder trial, and a lot of sunshine in François Ozon’s black and…

themovieisle.com/2026/03/31/the-stranger-...

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Marie's / @reesiepie.bsky.social coverage of the Manchester Film Festival 2026 continues with the tense thriller Sophia - A little girl goes missing in Tunisia on a visit with her mother to meet her estranged father. 

themovieisle.com/2026/03/30/sophia-manche...

Some of ye are too young to remember it but Houghton scored in the 11th minute against Italy and we had to endure the next 80 odd with our cheeks clenched and our hearts in our mouths. You young wans know nothing about tension. #coybig #speirgorm

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Marie / @reesiepie.bsky.social continues her coverage of the Manchester Film Festivel 2026 with Mad Bills to Pay (or Destiny, dile que no soy malo) - Teenager Rico is struggling to…

themovieisle.com/2026/03/25/mad-bills-to-...

Here in Manchester we have a Mayor and Deputy Mayor so perhaps that helps? Lord Mayors are definitely more ceremonial, and no one could accuse Andy Burnham of being that!

3 for 3 fürs #tatort Team aus Frankfurt. Knocked it out of the park noch einmal!

You tell him Frau Schatz! #tatort

Enough with the elf on a shelf and cartoonish bastardised leprechaun cutesy nonsense, it's time we taught people outside of Ireland about REAL fairies (will swap your baby for a changeling and/or curse your entire family and their livestock if you even look sideways at a ring fort)

Very pleased to see The Quiet Girl here. Beautiful film.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, New York.

Is she really singing about body parts? This is what everyone is on about? #melfest