I thought it would be nice to post a few pics of my recent trip to Berlin, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the toppling of Die Berliner Mauer. This was the second trip I won at SA. :sunny:
I think the trip was special enough to post this and share some of the history I experienced while in deutschland.
There were festivities happening at the time of my visit near the Potsdamer Platz, a main thoroughfare where the wall once stood.
These were wall portions kids made, and they photographed them and later kicked them down. Hillary Clinton was there that day, but I didn't see her.
Here is the famous Reichstag, which was dark and foreboding with its nationalistic frescoes and "Dem Deutschen Volke" carved in stone. It was scary at first because I though this was where Hitler worked, but I was so wrong. It was comparable to a German US congress, and Hitler never set foot in this place. His office was destroyed, and the Reichstag itself was rebuilt after being nearly destroyed in WWII. It's now a glitzy, modern, open air tourists' museum.
My hotel was situated in an area that was once part of East Berlin. I visited the famous Checkpoint Charlie, the Allied and Soviet thoroughfare in and out of each zone.
This is a view from W. Berlin facing E. Berlin.
A view of the Allied portion.
There's a Checkpoint Charlie museum at the site. Notice the Soviet symbol at the top?
Checkpoint Charlie no longer serves a military function, but they left it up there for tourists to take pictures. The men posing by the sand bags are Germans who charge 1 Euro for a photo.
The wall itself is down, but there are commemorations everywhere. This picture was taken near the site of Checkpoint Charlie. Where the wall stood is where the stones are.
This is my favorite picture, a close up of a plaque from the above pic. Maybe I should edit out the cigarette butts between the pavement.
The last two pictures are views of the some memorials for the many who died during the cold war, trying to get from East to West Berlin. The Russians would shoot to kill if you tried to escape, and they let you die right on the street if they caught you. This was the fate of many who tried to escape to freedom.
Over all, the trip was beautiful, historic and very very interesting. I made some other stops but didn't take pictures. These are the trip highlights.
Thank you for the pictures. I lived in Germany for 3 years when my hubby was stationed at Ramstien air base. I got a chance to see parts of Europe and I will never forget it.
