Ringbahn Fahren

I remember hearing from the student Fulbrighters in 2003 that some of them liked to get into the “Ringbahn” and just ride it all the way around Berlin. Now that the public transit now has some announcements in English, we hear the English language name for the “Ringbahn” – the “Circle Line.” To me, the “Circle Line” can only be in London. Oh well! On September 29 my friend who works for the Federal Armed Forces and I decided to take the plunge and ride all the way around the city on the circle line. Here an image from our Ringbahn ride: the Eastgate Mall in Marzahn, a brand new shopping center like many at “Knotenpunkten” (major public transit intersections). Marzahn is a high-rise apartment complex northeast of the city, known for its Socialist architecture: large, blocky buildings, often made of pre-fab concrete slabs (“Platten”). The overpass in the photo was featured in several scenes in “Du bist nicht allein,” a feature film directed by Bernd Böhlich, a graduate of the Academy for Film and Television “Konrad Wolf.” The film opened in cinemas this past summer, and I went to the premiere at the Kino International, the showcase cinema of the former East Germany, located in the Karl-Marx-Allee.