Berlin Blog #2 – The Wall and Checkpoint Charlie

Picture of Police near where I had
previously been standing

Bradenburg Gate

Just in case you were wondering, it was purely a coincidence when I was near the Bradenburg Gate taking pictures that not one, not two, not even three but about ten police vans showed up and tons of policemen descended upon the square.    At first I was concerned that I had stared a little too long at the Starbucks on the other side of the square revealing my American Capitalism, or, maybe they were concerned because I was distracted looking at the hotel where Michael Jackson had famously (or infamously) dangled "Blanket" as a baby instead of marveling at the Bradenburg Gate.  But no, it was because of the protesters sitting not too far away from me.  Our tour guide wisely decided that we should head back to the bus at that time.  Unfortunately, I don’t think the pictures show the numbers of police too well.

We started the day listening to some awesome presentations including two guys that shared stories about living in Berlin (one in the west, one in the east) before, during, and after the wall came down.  Totally fascinating.

Berlin Wall facing West

Art on Berlin Wall facing East

After lunch time, we started on our tour.  We went to the longest stretch of the Berlin wall that is still standing.  It had been painted on the side facing the east by many different artists from around the world and now is referred to as the East Side Gallery.

Column with bullets holes
on Museum Island

Berlin Cathedral on
Museum Island

We drove through Museum Island but I wasn’t able to get many good pictures.  One of our tour guides was able to snap a photo for me (on the other side of the bus) of the numerous bullet holes visible in one of the columns that had not been touched up after the war.  Bombs destroyed much of Berlin during the war so many buildings have been reconstructed to look like they originally did and might not have much of the original structures standing.

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie was the last part of the tour.  The museum near it was interesting but it was a tad too warm to want to linger and read the numerous, detailed, and abundant written information (did I mention there was a lot of writing?) present on every wall in many rooms and on multiple floors.  They have actors that now pretend to be American soldiers at the replica of Checkpoint Charlie at the original location. 

Checkpoint Charlie

Personal victory – Found another Starbucks aside from the one at the square mentioned earlier.  They had one Berlin mug left and I bought it.  :)