Marcus helps massage Lima's poor sore feet from all the walking.
Well what a city. I am totally impressed with Berlin. It is the perfect way to wrap-up my Germany experience. When I arrived, I met up with Marcus and his daughter Lima and Marcus showed me through his eyes the centre of Berlin. I am actually staying in what used to be East Berlin. The Mitte Centre is mostly what used to be East Berlin. So this was an interesting element for me to get my head around and Marcus helped paint the picture for me. He is originally from West Berlin but his partner, Anja, is from East Berlin. So it was interesting later that night to get her perspective of what life was like before the wall came down.
The time statue - an East Berlin Classic so I am told.
Lima is a real sweetie. She actually speaks very good English because she went to an English immersion school for 5 years. So we were able to converse quite well. As Marcus showed me the touristy area, I decided that I would come back and take pictures the next day and instead focus on seeing it with Marcus and Lima and not being distracted by needing to take pictures. Then we headed to Anja’s apartment where she has been living for quite a long time. Her apartment complex is typical of what apartment buildings used to be like in East Berlin. Basically they are a block of buildings that surround a courtyard. The size of the courtyard, as I am told by Marcus, was determined by the size necessary to turn around the horse drawn fire wagon.
One of the buildings that is in Anya's block. Her sister lives in this one. They are all 5 stories generally.
It was a birthday party for Anja so I also got to meet some of their friends who were all great and could speak English too. What was amazing, is that out on the street the place is full of people and busy, yet you come into this courtyard and you can’t hear the noise at all. Anja told me that Berlin is so different since the wall came down. Things were never so busy when the wall was in place. Now she says the tourists are here year round and it is always busy and noisy – but in a good way – it has good energy.
The small soiree.
Anyway, this is just a short post as I have to get some pictures of Berlin. Stay tuned.
I cannot believe that you were able to visit what used to be East Berlin! I’ve only been to the West side of Berlin, because I left Germany 15 years too early. I would have loved to have been there when the wall finally came down……I do look forward to visiting the Mitte Zenter next time I’m in Germany.
You must visit Mitte – it is where everything is at and happening. That’s where most people hang out.