Traffic, Berlin

Whenever I saw a taxi stand in Berlin there were exclusively white Mercedes taxis waiting for consumers.

Coincidence? Law? Or maybe Berlin's taxi drivers love Mercedes cars and believe (like most Germans, add here BMW fans) that they are the best for taxi cars as they are roomy, comfortable, can drive hundreds thousands of kilometers and don't lose much on prize.

By the way Mercedes is not at all German company now! It's Daimler-Chrysler now which is owned by European, U.S. and other international investors. They produce a lot of passenger car brands including Maybach, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Smart of which Mercedes-Benz and Smart dominated on Berlin's streets.

If you are walking around Berlin and you are not very sure if you are on the ex-Eastern side or the ex-Western side, here you are a tip: on the Eastern Side pedestrian traffic lights have different icons. You only have to look at the photo.

Si vas paseando por Berlin y no estas muy seguro de si vas por el lado ex-oriental o por el ex-occidental, aqui tienes una pista: en el lado oriental los semaforos de peatones tienen iconos diferentes. Solo tienes que mirar la foto

Berlin is not say Amsterdam. There were not very many parking lots for bicycles in Berlin's downtowns/centers. Usually they were located either among apartment buildings, and in front of larger department stores or some popular among locals other stores. Some bicycle owners used to lock their bicycles to the fence by the entrance to the underground U-bahn stations or to street-lamps. Surely it is a custom of not only Berliners.

Walking around Berlin on Saturday morning and early afternoon I saw many postmen and few postwomen delivering postcards, letters and small parcels.

They were using different vehicles, carts, bicycles etc. always painted in bright yellow colour with logo of Deutche Post just like this one on my picture.

Keep your eyes open when walking around the streets of the former East. The traffic lights here sometimes still have to really old East "Ampelmännchen" - the little man with a hat waiting at red lights or crossing the street. Unfortunately the lights are being replaced by the west version so there is "Save the Ampelmännchen" campaign going on in Germany.

In the souvenir shops of Berlin you can buy EVERYTHING with this symbol on - T-Shirts, Pins, Lights etc etc. A nice souvenir, isn't it?

Berliners are extremely law-abiding when it comes to crossing roads. Over here, we cross not only when lights are gren, but n any opportunity at all. I noticed many Berliners would wait patienly for lights to change from red to green even if there were no cars in sight.

AMPELMANNCHEN... the comical little characters on East German traffic lights! They appear on all different kinds of souvenirs, like these little bottles of flavored vodka.

Originally only in the East could you see this iconic symbol.
It has become part of Berlin's identity, there are numerous souvenirs displaying the ampelmann.