Comments on: Too young for Berlin http://www.jonworth.eu/too-young-for-berlin/ At the intersection of the EU, UK politics and tech Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:28:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Daniela http://www.jonworth.eu/too-young-for-berlin/comment-page-1/#comment-895 Daniela Tue, 30 May 2006 07:14:05 +0000 http://www.jonworth.eu/?p=242#comment-895 I tend to agree that Berlin is a city to be discovered. The weekend I spent there in the freezing cold of February certainly did not do the city any justice. Definitely worth another try in the future. If so many people love the city, there certainly must be a reason that I have missed :) I tend to agree that Berlin is a city to be discovered. The weekend I spent there in the freezing cold of February certainly did not do the city any justice.

Definitely worth another try in the future. If so many people love the city, there certainly must be a reason that I have missed :)

]]> By: Elina http://www.jonworth.eu/too-young-for-berlin/comment-page-1/#comment-894 Elina Mon, 29 May 2006 21:51:52 +0000 http://www.jonworth.eu/?p=242#comment-894 Thanks for the hint Jon, I will absolutely read it before next autnumn when I´ll be lucky to spend a couple of months in Berlin! Elina Thanks for the hint Jon, I will absolutely read it before next autnumn when I´ll be lucky to spend a couple of months in Berlin!

Elina

]]> By: Bondwoman http://www.jonworth.eu/too-young-for-berlin/comment-page-1/#comment-893 Bondwoman Mon, 29 May 2006 16:43:06 +0000 http://www.jonworth.eu/?p=242#comment-893 I first went there in 1986, I think, and then again in 1988 for a camping trip, yes a camping trip, in the DDR... My then partner was fascinated by all things beyond the iron curtain, although that fascination has now remained because he now in lives in post iron curtain budapest. I first went there in 1986, I think, and then again in 1988 for a camping trip, yes a camping trip, in the DDR… My then partner was fascinated by all things beyond the iron curtain, although that fascination has now remained because he now in lives in post iron curtain budapest.

]]> By: Jon http://www.jonworth.eu/too-young-for-berlin/comment-page-1/#comment-892 Jon Mon, 29 May 2006 09:26:39 +0000 http://www.jonworth.eu/?p=242#comment-892 Ah, yes, I seem to have been spending the last few years putting together in my mind what life must have been like... I'm not sure how I didn't come across <em>Stasiland</em> before. My first journey to the other side of where the iron curtain stood was in 1999! Ah, yes, I seem to have been spending the last few years putting together in my mind what life must have been like… I’m not sure how I didn’t come across Stasiland before.

My first journey to the other side of where the iron curtain stood was in 1999!

]]> By: Bondwoman http://www.jonworth.eu/too-young-for-berlin/comment-page-1/#comment-891 Bondwoman Mon, 29 May 2006 09:11:25 +0000 http://www.jonworth.eu/?p=242#comment-891 I agree with you about that book. I read it a couple of years ago, and found it very illuminating. I was lucky enough to spend quite a lot of time in and around Berlin at the time of the fall of the wall. You're lucky enough to be a lot younger than me. I spent two weeks in East Berlin courtesy of the British Council cultural exchange scheme in May 1989, and I remember sitting in Alexanderplatz on a sunny day with some eastern and western friends from Berlin, talking about the young people who were increasingly disappearing out through Hungary, and what the risks and possibilities were for our easterner friends who were there. Then we went back later in the year, specifically over the new year 1989-1990, and were caught up in a massive crowd on new year's eve who literally swept through the border crossings and back again, as the border guards increasingly accepted that they couldn't control things. But as you say, there is much still to uncover about the subsequent changes, and that's where interesting books like Stasiland come into it. Berlin will always be one of my favourite cities - not only for its undoubted aesthetic charms (at least in some areas), but also for its continuing complexities. I agree with you about that book. I read it a couple of years ago, and found it very illuminating. I was lucky enough to spend quite a lot of time in and around Berlin at the time of the fall of the wall. You’re lucky enough to be a lot younger than me. I spent two weeks in East Berlin courtesy of the British Council cultural exchange scheme in May 1989, and I remember sitting in Alexanderplatz on a sunny day with some eastern and western friends from Berlin, talking about the young people who were increasingly disappearing out through Hungary, and what the risks and possibilities were for our easterner friends who were there. Then we went back later in the year, specifically over the new year 1989-1990, and were caught up in a massive crowd on new year’s eve who literally swept through the border crossings and back again, as the border guards increasingly accepted that they couldn’t control things. But as you say, there is much still to uncover about the subsequent changes, and that’s where interesting books like Stasiland come into it. Berlin will always be one of my favourite cities – not only for its undoubted aesthetic charms (at least in some areas), but also for its continuing complexities.

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