There is a projection map from $R^2 \setminus (0,0)$ down to this doubled line that simply forgets the y-coordinate except at x = 0. At x = 0 it projects y > 0 to the top origin and y < 0 to the bottom origin. Using the open cover of the doubled line by two copies of R, one can show that this projection map is a fiber bundle with fiber R. Explicitly, there is a homeomorphism $$ f(x,y) = (x, y - x^2/4y) $$ from $R \times (0,\infty)$ to $R^2 \setminus \{(0,y): y \leq 0\}$ with inverse $$ g(x,u) = (x,(u + \sqrt{u^2 + x^2})/2). $$ (This may look more complicated than it really is; the function f takes the lines $y = c$ and turns them into a sequence of parabolae foliating $R^2 \setminus \{(0,y): y \leq 0\}$. Thus the map from R<sup>2</sup> minus the origin to the doubled line is a weak homotopy equivalence, and so the homotopy groups of the doubled line coincide with those of S<sup>1</sup>. The fundamental group is ℤ. Some entertaining generalizations of this include the fact that any finite CW-complex accepts a weak homotopy equivalence to a space with only finitely many points.