Winter in Berlin. Photo: Ulla Hennig
Yesterday, winter came to Berlin with a strong wind and snow showers.
This is the street where I live, Wilhelmstraße. All the houses here have been built in the years 1960 and later. Before World War II, this was a street with a lot of government buildings. After Word War II this street was a street in ruins, and it took up to the 60ies till new houses were built.
Just lots of rain here, though there’s been snow further north. Thanks for sharing the picture Ulla, and a bit more information about the area where you live.
The more I read the more I’m itching to get back to Berlin! Maybe next year…
Joanna,
it would be great to meet you in Berlin! And Berlin in spring is absolutely fantastic!
Ah yes, your pictures bring it all back to me. I don’t see any of the houses you spoke of on my monitor; just some rather tall apartment buildings, but then perhaps my monitor is at fault.
I recall that back then; c. 1960-61, when I lived there for a several months, there was sort of an island of apartment buildings, similar to those in the picture, not too far from the zoo underground terminal.
I also fondly recall a pleasant restaurant with tables outside that was situated on a main intersection on Kurfürstendamm Straße. We would sit out there and watch the world go by as we ate delicious fried chicken, wash down with great swills of good German beer. It was messy the way we gobbled up that chicken, but, fortunately, they supplied us with limon water to cleanse our messy fingers with when we had finished our little feast–a restaurant courtesy almost unheard of in the good ole U.S. of A.
I lived in one of those large, I think they were three story, apartment buildings, which were built around an inner court yard. It was situated about three or four blocks off Kurfürstendamm on Joachim-Friedrich-Straße.
I was working on the German economy, as we used to say, over on, I think it was, Marina Platz. Oh, how I loved Berlin, its people, and everything about the place. The people there put me in mind of Brooklynites; both in their joval, yet weary outlook, and their Berlin brand of German.
Two unusual things about life in Berlin standout in my mind to this day. A bounty was paid to people who got married in Berlin. Also, I recall that whether or not you intended to return, you always purchased a roundtrip airline ticket when you left Berlin. Of course, Ulla, you would know the reason for that was a roundtrip ticket cost less then than a oneway ticket because they wanted travelers to return to Berlin. There was always the fear that people would not stick it out in Berlin, surrounded as they were by the Communist East Germans and their Russian overlords, both of whom were forever causing trouble for the people in then West-Berlin. Thank God President Truman had the guts (or unmitigated gall, if you prefer) to thwart the damnable Berlin blockade.
Keep those pictures coming. They are real and they are great.
Lawrence,
actually those apartment buildings you see on your monitor have been built in the 60ies, replacing the old buildings bombed to shatters in the WW II.
I have been living in Berlin since 1981, so I recall the times when flights to and from Berlin were extraordinary cheap, and wages in Berlin were higher than elsewhere in Germany, in order to keep people in Berlin.
But I must say that those advantages are more than made up by the fall of the Berlin wall. Wages have come down – in fact they are lower now than in other parts of Germany – but it’s great to be able to just cross over to the former Eastern part of the city and also the countryside behind it.
Ulla, Looks cold! I have a feeling your winters are very much like ours here in the Midwest USA. The bit of historical background from you and Lawrence is a pleasure to read.
Hi Ulla,
I have been meaning to check out your blog for some time -
I have often read your commentary on Brad Shorr’s blog.
Looks like you have a very nice view from your house. I am curious, how cold does it get in Berlin?
Andrew,
thanks for coming to my blog and commenting!
Actually it can get as cold as – 10 degree Celsius. Just now we are having about 0 degree Celsius at day, and about -5 at night.
Hi Ulla – I love the photos you share. Even though there is snow on the ground the sun is shining and the sky is blue. It look like a beautiful place to live.