We started day three with a little shopping as I wanted to visit a stationary shop recommended by a website that the gorgeous Stephanie Levy ,a Berlin based artist, alerted me to. The area this shop was in had other interesting shops. bakeries and restaurants, and we returned there in the evening for a lovely meal at Mr Vuong which took us right back to our trip to Vietnam last year.

I loved the flowers painted on this wall

and the sparkly paper tied on to this fence

and I couldn't resist taking a photo of this guy - he looked so cool!

An antiques store had some interesting bits and bobs including these cut out figures for if you can't afford your own staff!

After lunch at the Barn (recommended ) the weather closed in and the brollies came out. Highly suitable for a trip to Starsi HQ. When we got out of the underground at our destination the buildings were grimmer than any others we had seen in Berlin, grey blocks of concrete. The site covered by the EastGerman secret police HQ was huge and when we went in we could see exactly why they needed so much space.

The museum documents the extreme nature of the police state in the GDR. Something like 1 in 3 citizens were under surveillance via pot plant, watering can and other ingenious methodologies for secreting cameras in the most unlikely places. there were huge numbers of police informants. The Stasi seemed to have been much more thorough than their colleagues in the KGB, perhaps because the population was more contained.

There were propaganda posters aplenty which reminded me of the ones we saw in Vietnam last year - there was clearly a communist vernacular in poster art!

Bringing all this to life is the office of Erich Mielke head of the Stasi from 1957 to 1989. His dress uniform still hangs in the cupboard and it seems eerily ready for use, as does the boardroom

In all it was a very sobering experience and made me realise how much we take our democratic freedoms for granted.

Take care and see you next time!

I was hoping my first post of the New Year would be something profound and inspirational, you know the sort of thing - my dreams for 2014 - how I choose my word of 2014 and its meaning to me (it's 'Courage' by the way), or other grand designs. The fact is, however, I've been stuck at home since before New Year with the worst cold and cough I've had in years and while I'm managing to remain generally quite positive my brain really isn't functioning anything like well enough to do profound and inspirational. So instead I'm going to show you one of my favourite bits of Brighton, where we were staying with my mother-in-law just after Christmas.

For most people I suspect Brighton conjures up images of the Pavillion, the Seafront, the Pier ( or possibly piers though that's a mute point) but for me its the North Laine shopping area. Brighton's Lanes have been well known for decades sporting expensive shops and antique emporia, but within the last 30 or so years an different shopping scene has appeared full of alternative shops and well, fun.

There's fabulous graffiti

Great Signs

Brightly coloured shop fronts

And a host of ethnic, vegetarian and vegan cafes to choose from

Amazingly the sun was warm enough and the street sheltered enough to make sitting outside a positive choice even if you weren't a smoker - and of course here is always a story to tell

Then there are the goods - a huge variety and these are only what you see on the street

The shops are all quite small inside and many were crowded so I thought twice about taking any pictures

and finally the people - the Balloon Man

The Busker

The inevitable mobile phone user

The stall holder

and of course the shoppers

The reason I really like it here is because it's vibrant and varied - and that includes both shoppers and shops. At a time when our high streets (if they still exist), are full of clones and the shopping malls are even worse, it is a real pleasure to see individual enterprises flourishing - and who could resist these feminist, empowered legs?

Postcards from Berlin 6 - Over the Wall

Brighton or Bust!