Wrapping up Berlin

Yesterday, my final day in Berlin, I went to Hermanstrasse, where Clay and his family lived over 25 years ago.  I got off at the wrong U bahn stop, but with a little help, I found Hermanstrasse, and saw that I was in the 100 block.  Since my goal was in the 200's, I was sure I was close.  It turns out that the numbering, at least in this neighborhood, is quite different. Each block included approximately four numbers, such as 116-120.  When I realized this, I knew I had a bit further to go than I expected.   Each side of the street seemed to have its own sequence going on: on my side I might be in the 120 rancge and the other side would be 79-82.  I never did figure out the order, but eventually found the right address. 

It, like all of Berlin that I have seen, is clean, the sidewalks are wide, with a lane for bicycles and for pedestrians.  Lots of small shops on the ground floor, and residential flats above them.  Because I walked quite a way down Hermanstrasse, I was able to see the neighborhood shift, both in terms of affluence and ethnicity.  That too was interesting.  Clay's old neighborhood had a lot of kebap shops, about half of the women were either head scarved or more, with a sprinkling of Germans thrown in.  I tried to get in the building where Clay had lived but the door was locked.  So I wandered, taking pictures, and trying to visualize life for Clay and Mary Kay, in the military, with three small children and 5 flights of stairs to climb to their flat.  Eventually I came back to the door just as a young woman was leaving, but I missed catching it, so I asked her to open it for me, that I needed to get to the top flat.  She looked a bit nervous about it, but I tried to act nonchalant, and something worked-she opened it even as she said she wasn't sure if she should.  I just thanked her and went in before she could change her mind.

Afterward I wandered some more, at each turn finding new things to explore.  I am glad that errand took me out to that neighborhood, as a result of it I saw a part of Berlin I would not have.  I remain amazed at how clean this city is.  People not only do not litter, they pick it up if someone else does.  I know I am generalizing, and on very slight information.  But each place one goes to seems to have a feel or a vibe of its own.  And this city feels safe and orderly.  People do jaywalk, but only in lesser traveled streets.  They use the bike lanes, and the bikes do not run the lights.  Last night in the dark as I took my sore feet home, I saw a bicyclist drop their U-lock in the middle of the intersection.  Another bicyclist stopped to retrieve it for him. 

I am not sure if all this order is a good idea, it scares me a little.  Then again, as a traveler, I am not sure I have ever felt more secure as I walked around.  Too little time to tell.

As Clay said in his comment, this city is alive, there is a lot going on.  I got to very little in the way of museums, and I regret that.  There is an area near here called Museum Island, with incredible old buildings and gardens, bridges across the river, sculpture and other public art.  One could spend days there.  I am told the nightlife is great, but I was always too tired to find out.  Besides, I would never get past face control. 

I had a package to mail, so in the afternoon I went to the post office.  As in London, the post office seems to also function as a lower end bank and provides other services as well. I had been a little nervous about getting a package posted but by this time, I knew that the Germans would have a system, as they seem to have one for everything.  And once I had the correct form completed, I was done and out in the time it would have taken me to post a package from Santa Rosa to Ohio.

I am off to the train this morning, to Warsaw.  Speaking of trains, the one from Cologne to Berlin showed the speed of the train from time to time on the screen that was also used to announce stations.  The fastest I saw was 246 km/hr.  Whoosh.  See you when they spit me out the other end.