Back in time at the DDR-Museum

After a brief pitstop for an ice cream, we jumped on a bus to take us back through the Tiergarten to the city centre.

We left the bus at the far end of Unter den Linden to watch the world go by in the Lustgarten (pleasure garden) on Museumsinsel (Museum island), before locating our next destination: a return to the world of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik (East Germany) at the excellent DDR-Museum.

This was a highlight on our previous visit to Berlin. There are loads of interesting interactive exhibits with lots of drawers and panels to open, bringing many aspects of life in the East to life.

Particularly interesting was a new exhibit (or at least we didn’t remember it!) recreating a typisch East German flat from the 1980s, with facts to discover behind every cupboard door! As you can see we enjoyed trying on some virtual clothes in one of the bedrooms.

A touch screen innovation in the coffee table (perhaps not authentic) enabled you to select programmes from the TV schedules from both West and East Germany.

Just along the street from the DDR-Museum was a shop selling merchandise themed for the Ampelmännchen, the little green and red men originally used on East German pelican crossings, one of the few features from the former East that have risen in popularity since reunification, and which are now used on crossings across much of Berlin.

Finally we took another trip to a Bavarian restaurant for dinner, although I sampled the East German staple, Solyanka, a meaty soup originally from Russia and popular across much of Eastern Europe. Apparently it’s a particular favourite of Angela Merkel. And for pudding, what else but Apfelstrudel mit Vanillesoße!En savoir plus