Bit of a late start, unsurprisingly. Walked to nearest functioning U-Bahn station. Took train into Mitte.
Visited the odd new Holocaust Memorial (Denkmal für die ermordeten Jüden Europas) near the Brandenburger Tor. There's a video on YouTube. Then walked to the western side of the Gate, and made another short video for reasons which will be obvious if you watch it. It's on YouTube. Then I walked along to the the Soviet War Memorial on Strasse des 17 Juni, for reasons which ... oh for heaven's sake, just go to YouTube.
After a quiet few minutes sitting on a bench in the Tiergarten, I decided to go and find the Stasi Museum. I couldn't, but I did find some impressive Albert Speer Nazi-era architecture.
Next plan was to go to Heinrich-Heine-Strasse. I could have walked, but I had a BVG (Berlin public transport system) ticket, and besides, it's quite a way. Remember, I'm still feeling delicate.
So I found the nearest U-Bahn, which is in Friedrichstrasse, and called Stadtmitte. Now when I was in Berlin back in the days of the Cold War this station, or at least the part of it on the line I was to take, south to Hallesches Tor, was closed. The line, you see, ran north-south from West Berlin, through a section of the East, back into West Berlin; if you travelled on this line, you were aware of dimly-lit stations at which the train slowed, but did not stop, and there were armed East German guards lurking in the shadows. All very creepy.
Anyway, I was rather thirsty, and was looking for a shop selling bottled water. After some meandering, I found myself unexpectedly at the Gendarmenmarkt and the back of the block of flats in which my parents had lived. Having done this particular bit of nostalgia back in 2007, it hadn't been on th itinerary this time. Still, here's a picture looking along Leipzigerstrasse, with the front of the block in question just visible behind the trees on the left. It has been tarted up since 1990, but it used to look a lot like the blocks on the other side of the road: DDR-utilitarian.
[I'm really pissed off that everything I originally wrote beyond this point has been lost due to some sort of auto-save balls-up by blogger.com, so what follows is probably only half-remembered.]
I took the U-Bahn two stops southwards on line U6. Back in the day I'd walk through Checkpoint Charlie, invariably get on at the first station the other side, Kochstrasse, and change at Hallesches Tor, as I did today. Now a weird thing happened, as I walked up the steps at the end of the platform and headed towards line U1. The corridors, the orange wall tiles, even the old photographs on the walls, hadn't changed in thirty-two years. It freaked me a little.
The reason I wanted to go to Heinrich-Heine-Strasse will be apparent if you watch the appropriate video on YouTube. Essentially I was looking for a hospital at which I was wonderfully treated (an East German hospital, mind you) back in the winter of 1978. I'll tell you the story another time, since I've already typed it in loving detail once today ... grrrrr.
Visited the odd new Holocaust Memorial (Denkmal für die ermordeten Jüden Europas) near the Brandenburger Tor. There's a video on YouTube. Then walked to the western side of the Gate, and made another short video for reasons which will be obvious if you watch it. It's on YouTube. Then I walked along to the the Soviet War Memorial on Strasse des 17 Juni, for reasons which ... oh for heaven's sake, just go to YouTube.
After a quiet few minutes sitting on a bench in the Tiergarten, I decided to go and find the Stasi Museum. I couldn't, but I did find some impressive Albert Speer Nazi-era architecture.
Next plan was to go to Heinrich-Heine-Strasse. I could have walked, but I had a BVG (Berlin public transport system) ticket, and besides, it's quite a way. Remember, I'm still feeling delicate.
So I found the nearest U-Bahn, which is in Friedrichstrasse, and called Stadtmitte. Now when I was in Berlin back in the days of the Cold War this station, or at least the part of it on the line I was to take, south to Hallesches Tor, was closed. The line, you see, ran north-south from West Berlin, through a section of the East, back into West Berlin; if you travelled on this line, you were aware of dimly-lit stations at which the train slowed, but did not stop, and there were armed East German guards lurking in the shadows. All very creepy.
Anyway, I was rather thirsty, and was looking for a shop selling bottled water. After some meandering, I found myself unexpectedly at the Gendarmenmarkt and the back of the block of flats in which my parents had lived. Having done this particular bit of nostalgia back in 2007, it hadn't been on th itinerary this time. Still, here's a picture looking along Leipzigerstrasse, with the front of the block in question just visible behind the trees on the left. It has been tarted up since 1990, but it used to look a lot like the blocks on the other side of the road: DDR-utilitarian.
[I'm really pissed off that everything I originally wrote beyond this point has been lost due to some sort of auto-save balls-up by blogger.com, so what follows is probably only half-remembered.]
I took the U-Bahn two stops southwards on line U6. Back in the day I'd walk through Checkpoint Charlie, invariably get on at the first station the other side, Kochstrasse, and change at Hallesches Tor, as I did today. Now a weird thing happened, as I walked up the steps at the end of the platform and headed towards line U1. The corridors, the orange wall tiles, even the old photographs on the walls, hadn't changed in thirty-two years. It freaked me a little.
The reason I wanted to go to Heinrich-Heine-Strasse will be apparent if you watch the appropriate video on YouTube. Essentially I was looking for a hospital at which I was wonderfully treated (an East German hospital, mind you) back in the winter of 1978. I'll tell you the story another time, since I've already typed it in loving detail once today ... grrrrr.
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