What a difference a few years makes!

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The first time I visited Berlin it was in early February 1990, a scant 2 months after the Berlin Wall had fallen. The city was still divided except for a a few cement panels that had been sledge hammered down to make a short passage way for people to crawl through. All along the wall there were ' maul peckers' - people with hammers, chisels and any other instrument they could whack at the hated wall. Students and kids were clammering all over the wall. The German friends I was with looked panic stricken as several uniformed guards approached the youngsters and told them to get down. One remarked that only a few months prior those students would have been shot by the same guards. They still couldn't believe the wall was actually coming down.

Even though the wall was theorectically 'down', underground on the subway it was a different story. You had to get off the train before it entered East Berlin and go through a guard post -where they apparently hadn't gotten word that they could lighten up a bit. First, people were separated into two lines: Germans and non-Germans. Thus, I was separated from my friends. I spoke not a word of German but tried to figure out what to do. When my turn came I entered through a door ( which closed after me). I was then in a space about 6 feet long facing another closed door. Behind me and above me were mirrors. Sitting in a high booth was a young boy about 22 years old trying to look very stern. He was a borderguard or East German policeman who asked ( I think) for my passport. He spent a long time studying it and asking me questions which I couldn' t understand. But following my son's advice to "never open your mouth " when in that situation, he soon gave me a disgusting and dismissive look and waved me through. Thankfully, my German friends were waiting on the other side of the door.

East Berlin, at that time, was drab and colorless. The once show place street of Berlin, Unter der Linden, was awash with soldiers and guards. The only showplace on the street was the Russian Embassy. There were no grand hotels, no restaurants and no sidewalk cafes, no music playing from stores and no colorful clothing. The only place we could go to eat was the 'Palast of the Republic'- a huge monstrosity of the worst of 1950's architecture, a hideous building of bronzed glass squares and steel beams. It has since been taken down because it was found to be full of asbestos.

Today I rode Bus#100( just outside Zoo station) into the former East side and Bus#200 back to Zoo station in what was formerly West Berlin. For anyone traveling on a budget this is a great way to see the city for a couple of Euros. It was hard to make any line of demarcation for what -was- where. Potsdamer Platz is virtually unrecognizable from the desolate 'no-man's land' that it was during the cold war. The Reichstag is once again the home of the German Bundestag after years when it met in Bonn, the former capital. Unter the Linden street is ablaze with color and new construction. Several embassies have reopened and, yes, the Russian Embassy is still a showplace. There is now a huge Sony Center full of shops. Restaurants are everwhere- even 'Euro stores' that sell cheap imports from China and all the requisite fast food places including Dunkin Donuts from Quincy, Massachusetts where I used to teach, and a few new ones like 'Nordsee' that has very good fish for a good price ( according to a very nice German man on the bus who appointed himself 'tour guide' for a man from India and then us. A new and squanky Ritz Carlton has a prominent location near the Presidential Palace. Several museums have been renovated and re-opened. Talk about a breath of fresh air! Val and I are looking forward visiting many of them.

Tips for travelers: Go to the 'Ticket and Info' store near the Zoo station for a transit pass. You can get them for 24 hours or up to 7 days. They allow unlimited rides on a fantastic transit system. Next, go to the 'INFO' store off of Kurfürstendamm and get a museum pass. Both are real money savers.

We are staying at a lovely hotel in the Tempelhof area. It is quiet, clean, in a safe residentail neighborhood, and has a great breakfast. The M46 bus that takes you downtown is a two minute walk away- Sweet.
More later, Carolyn ( aka 'Gunga')

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[kate Higginbotham]

Forever & Ever
Carolyn. Isn't she amazing? Once a teacher, always a teacher.