Friday, September 20

Today we started out into the local environs, heading down the Ku-Damm to the landmark Kaiser Wilhelm church, partially bombed in WW II and kept intact as a memorial. Wandered through a really large open market, checked out a few souvenir places, and then hit one of the essential stops — KaDeWe (Kaufhof des Westens), the amazingly massive department store. Largest in Germany, and second only to Harrod’s as largest in Europe. It seems to get larger and more elegant each time we go there. Once upon a time, the food department occupied the basement and one could observe such mundane things as the fish monger skinning live eels for home consumption. No more! Now it’s up near the top floor and stocked with delightfully fine food and drink.

I don’t think we’ve ever bought much of anything there. We go for the experience.

Time for some pix, with a bit more commentary.

View down the Ku-Damm

The little green man is the Ampelmann, the Walk Signal from the traffic lights in the former East Berlin. It has achieved cult status and has become the basis for many souvenir items. You can see the red and the green in the postcard rack, and red on the balloon.

There is also a recently introduced Ampelmädchen.

Market scenes
A Euro is worth about $1.10 US.

 Kaufhaus des Westens - KaDeWe

A small part of the pastry display at KaDeWe

Then it was lunch time. It included the first of what will become quite a few classic Berlin curry wursts by the end of our trip.

Next we walked down Lietzenburgerstraße, where we lived in the summer of 1972. Our hotel was still there, though operating under a different name and a different paint job. No more sidewalk eating and drinking establishment out front, open till the wee hours, and no more fascinating Sperlingsgasse, a semi-underground warren of small, funky, eating and drinking spots.

The former Hotel Aviv

A trip around the rest of the block introduced us to the local Edeka supermarket, which features a delightful takeout bakery and the world’s freshest herb department, grown right there in your sight. The final leg around the block exposed a major construction project, which had totally removed a big piece of the building on that side. That was once the home of the amazing Story of Berlin, which was featured in the blogs of our two previous trips. We understand that it has relocated close to the heart of the city, but we probably won’t get there on this trip. We hope it’s as good as the one we remember.

 Herbs are grown in the lighted compartment, and then potted and set out for sale on the shelf in front.

 Yesterday’s baked products at bargain prices

We wrapped up the day with an evening stroll around the neighborhood, and stumbled across an artist’s heaven — one of the four stores in the world operated by Sue Anne’s super favorite maker of artist products, Caran d’Ache. They are an essential part of her toolkit, and they feature strongly in the art classes that she teaches. The proprietor was just closing down for the day but graciously offered to stay open for us. We thanked him for the kindness, but respectfully declined and promised that we would be back. (We kept the promise, and he recognized us.)

We passed this temptation on the way back to the hotel. Had to resist it.