Ich bin ein Berliner - 2

OK, now I've got the t-shirt to prove it. The last couple of days we've ridden in a taxi, on the bus, on the subway and on the elevated train. Plus walked miles, literally.


Monday, walked from the hotel past the park to the Sony Center. What would you find there but a Dunkin' Donuts shop. I did have a donut, but not a jelly. On to the Geography of Terror exhibit, which is also adjacent to a section of The Wall. Then Checkpoint Charlie. Some of the stuff we saw quickly on the bus tour. Then lunch - a really good margherita pizza and a couple of beers. In the former GDR (East Berlin). Bundestag museum, a cathedral, then on to Brandenburg Gate. Back through the park, past the Soviet memorial, the Victory Spire, through the zoo and back to the hotel. Google maps said it was a little over 7 miles. A good part of this was in East Berlin. Amazing to contemplate - the wall came down less than 20 years ago.


Yes, we definitely left the American Sector. In fact, everything past Checkpoint Charlie, and some before (see below) were in East Berlin, until we were past Brandenburg Gate.











This is a section of wall adjacent to the Geography of Terror exhibit. This was taken from the East Berlin side.

More later. Got pipeline business to attend to early in the morning.

Pops

Ich bin ein Berliner

No, I'm not actually claiming to be a jelly donut. I'm quoting JFK's opening comment on visiting West Berlin on June 26, 1963 - his first visit after the construction of the Berlin Wall. My bride and I are in Berlin, approximately 45 years after that speech, which I remember, by the way.

Anyway, yeah, I have a technical meeting here later in the week, so we came a few days early. Arrived early Sunday morning, rested up a bit, had a beer, took a bus tour all over the city, had another beer and dinner, and now collapsing, er, relaxing in the hotel. Dinner was a bacon-wrapped pork filet. Actually two little filets. Pretty good. Nothing like bacon-wrapped pork.

We saw some of the wall and a couple of historic sites. One was Checkpoint Charlie - the old checkpoint between the Russian and American sectors of Berlin. It's where the tanks faced off. The other was the Brandenburg Gate, one of the historic entrances into Berlin. When the wall went up, the Brandenburg Gate was just a few yards inside East Berlin. Today, the wall is long gone, except for some sections preserved for history. And it's very easy to tell which side prevailed in decades-long confrontation. Let me show you.

This photo was taken just outside the Brandenburg Gate, looking into what was once East Berlin. See the circle and arrow in the left center, just above and to the right of the guy wearing the striped t-shirt in the far left foreground? See what's circled? Zoom in if you have to. Yes, it's a Starbucks. East Germany didn't have a chance. Just the thing to go with a good jelly donut, though, don't you think?