Berlin U-Bahn Stop
I met up with a couple of friends from German class today, and as I was sitting in the subway station (aka U-Bahn Station), I pulled out my camera.
Some subway stations are not the most luxurious places to pass time, but they are always interesting. The people are always interesting. The lighting is orangish against the green walls, making interesting colors. And the smells? Well those are interesting, too!
This subway station – Smariterstrase – is directly below Frankfurter Alle. The street was the communist regime’s hight and glory of architecture in Berlin. The most influential communists of Berlin lived along this street.
However I’m not sure if they took the subway.
Do you remember the first subway you ever took? Where were you? Where were you going? I think my first trip alone was in America’s capital city. So much like Berlin, yet so very, very different – especially compared to this subway stop. Where has the subway taken you?
Interested in a few above-ground shots of Berlin – including professional crepe makers? Take an armchair bike tour over at the Berlin Tour page. Don’t worry – we do all of the peddling for you!
February 24th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
I have never taken a Subway! I remember the first time I took the Max (above ground lightrail train in Portland). It was four years ago and we were looking for houses to buy in the city with my parents and at the end of the day, we got on the train to go downtown and eat dinner.
February 24th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I think the first subway I took was in Montreal Canada. I was on a family vacation and I was in about 4th grade. I was so scared, but we loved it! I wish we had that kind of transportation here!
February 24th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
My first subway ride was in Munich, actually. I traveled all over Germany with my high school class for 6 weeks. It was so great being able to go places without a car! Then, about 10 years after high school I moved to Chicago. It never occurred to me that subway signs would be in English. Talk about surreal.
February 25th, 2010 at 8:44 am
My husband’s uncle was a young GI stationed in Berlin as the wall was going up. He accidentally fell asleep late at night on the U-Bahn and rode it to a stop on the wrong side of the iron curtain. A Soviet guard woke him with the business end of his rifle and marched/dragged him to the train running the other direction and shoved him on. He said he was in a cold sweat for the whole ride back to his correct station.
Subways I have loved: The El (Chicago), The Subway (NYC), The Metro (DC), The Tube (London), The Metro (Paris), The U-Bahn (all over Germany), The Metro (Athens – built by Germans for the Olympics)
February 25th, 2010 at 8:59 am
I THINK my first subway ride was in college. A friend had driven across two states to see me and we were going to explore the east coast (US). Naturally we stopped in NY for a while and at one point during the ride, as my friend was managing the maps, she suddenly realized we needed to get off right before the doors were about to close. That was the closest I’ve ever been to being dragged down the tracks!
February 25th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Oh wow, Cathryn. That’s quite the story. I cannot even imagine.
February 26th, 2010 at 12:35 am
My first subway ride was in New York City on a school trip when I was in 8th grade. That was almost 20 years ago and it was a little scary down there!
Now I take the subway frequently in Taipei. It is beautiful and clean, full of natural light from skylights and original sculptures by local artists–and it has CLEAN bathrooms! Just today, the subway took myself, my son’s kindergarten class, and about a dozen other moms on a field trip to a famous park, the National Museum of Taipei, and the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, among other stops.
I think my favorite subway system is Hong Kong’s–it’s so extensive and is also clean. It has the added bonus of being connected through underground tunnels to many shopping areas and other attractions, which is great when the weather is really hot and/or rainy.
February 26th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
First underground was in Italy. My first trip abroad alone and without parents+car.
March 2nd, 2010 at 2:42 pm
My first subway ride was in Manhattan. I didn’t get to go on it when I first visited the city in ’05 but a year later, and with a client who was as big an advocate of public transit as I am, I got my chance. We took a bus first and then linked to the subway to get to our hotel straight from the airport!
Later, we had taken a taxi into Little Italy (actually two taxis as there were 7 of us in all) and we half-walked half-trained our way up to Ground Zero. We boarded the subway there again to get back to our hotels.
Not as scary of an experience as I’d anticipated (thankfully) but still not for the faint of heart or for those with ultra-sensitive olfactory systems. (Several of our fellow riders smelled like they hadn’t bathed in weeks and this was in 90-degree June weather.)
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:19 pm
NYC when I was a child on my mandatory annual custody visitation to my birth father’s home. I loved the subway. For a California kid, it was so alien. Plus, I was young enough not to notice/remember the smells!