Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Berlin bleibt nie Berlin....



That is from an ad here in Berlin. It says 'Berlin never stays Berlin', meaning Berlin is always changing and yes, that is true.

Here is a pic from Wikipedia of the old Palace of the Republic. It was the East German parliament building. They decided to tear it down and have been doing so for the last several years.


One day I looked out and I saw this....now for you that might not seem like much, but for me it's a 'WHERE DID THE PALACE of the REPUBLIC GO?!' It was gone! I hadn't been to that part of Berlin for 2-3 months and then it was all gone....





This is what it looks like now.....and that is what I think is so interesting. The Palace of the Republic was built on top of the blown-up remains of the Berliner Castle. The commi's didn't want to rebulid it after the war, plus the aristocracy thing probably got in the way too. Anyway, so it used to be the site of a castle, then the East German parliament and now it's grass....they're going to rebuild the Berliner Castle on the site and, I think, put in a museum, shops and I think government buildings...interesting how things change, eh?

This was an East German gov't building. See the front? That is all that is left of the original Berliner Castle. They kept it because a communist declared a republic from that ledge, I guess, so they kept it, but away with the castle!




They've done excavations and have found the original cellars, etc. of the Berlin Castle underneath where the Palace of the Republic was....





And there is a Trabi - the East German car. Now you can take a Trabi-Tour in Berlin....
Berlin bleibt nie Berlin! That's true!