Wild, Wild East

This morning we took off for the other side of the city. It was cold, so we wore our down jackets, but as soon as we arrived, it began to rain. We are learning that it is essential to check the weather here; not just a nicety. First we wanted to see this bridge, the Oberbaumbrucke, which straddled the Spree river and the East and West sides of Berlin while the wall was up (it crosses the border from Friedrichshain (east) to Kreuzberg (west). Neo-gothic, towers were blown up and mere stumps after the war, useless while the wall was up, and now renovated and working (another microcosm of Berlin history). We have it on good authority now that once a year during the summer, the people of both districts have a huge water fight on the bridge (in the gothic arcade below). It would be a great place for a water fight in the summer, but we were expending plenty of energy fighting the water ourselves today.
Next we walked down some of the East Side Gallery - -the world's longest art gallery and one of the longest intact pieces of the Berlin Wall. The debate over what to do with the remains of the Wall has been an interesting one because it is such a significant piece of history and such an emotionally fraught one. Most of the Wall has been chipped away at and is now on bookshelves all over the world (my dear husband's included). Much of it has been disassembled to make way for reunification and progress. This section lies along the river and they are now planning a riverside park which includes the wall in it. Berlin does a good job of coming up with creative solutions to problematic public spaces -- they have had plenty of experiences with it.
Oh, and the picture here painted on the Wall is a depiction of the Brandenburg Gate when the Berlin Wall was up; the gate was stuck in the middle of it in the "death strip".
Lastly, we went downriver to see the Molecule Men. This is an immense sculpture (30 meters high, whatever that is) which is actually in the river Spree. It was commissioned for the building complex in the background (Allianz corp.) and is one more landmark that is making this district hip. Currently there is a huge construction project on the other side of the river: the future headquarters of MTV and Nickelodeon in Berlin. You know the sort of place this is -- former industrial port/warehouse district, now selling funky lofts for living and working spaces to young, well-dressed professionals. It's only just moving now from edgy to mainstream. It will be lousy with popular restaurants and bars in another ten years.
Today is also St. Martin's day, and I'm happy to report that last night, Rob took the kids to another laterne walk where they learned all about St. Martin (seemed to have Jonah syndrome and tried to hide from his calling) and they sang the lantern song that we know. So the kids got to participate in two: the neighborhood religious celebration, and the Prenzlauerberg version sponsored by the communist party. It is also traditional to eat a Pfannekuchen on St. Martin's day. A Pfannekuchen in Berlin is called a Berliner in the rest of Germany (like JFK and his "Ich bin ein Berliner") and a Krapfen in Austria, and a jelly donut in the US. I don't know what it has to do with St. Martin. Perhaps he is the saint of jelly donuts? of hidden fillings?