the wandering chick
...Berlin
west berlin's old and new buildings

I was fortunate enough to be in Germany at the time of the fall of the Iron Curtain wall and witness the jubulation and celebration of the eastern and western Germans.

Seeing the long lines of people crossing over in their little Trabi cars was a wonderful sight, and being able to take a huge chip out of the once-unapproachable wall is an event I will never forget.

The pictures here are of East and West Berlin, both before and after the fall of the wall.

East Berlin before
The Berlin Wall
East Berlin before
Old and new structures of West Berlin. On the left are the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
Looking into East Berlin prior to 1989
East Berlin and the wall
East Berlin before
East Berlin before
a guard at E.Berlin's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
A guard in East Berlin's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
A street in East Berlin before the fall
A dreary but typical-looking street of East Berlin before the fall of the wall.
a guard tower in East Berlin
Checkpoint Charlie
Allied Checkpoint Charlie was the main entry point from West Berlin into East. It and the guard towers such as above were a very common part of life to the Berliners.
East Berlin
The Allied Checkpoint between East and West
The wall in February of 1990
West Berlin's K-dam Street
me chipping at the wall
West Berlin's most popular street, Kurfürstendammstrasse, or locally known as "K-dam Street." At the far end are the ruins of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, left as a reminder of its bombing in World War II.
Trabi crossing into free Berlin
The Brandenburg Gate

Above: The Brandenburg Gate, a symbol of Berlin and once an entry point between East and West.

Left: East Berliners line up in their Trabans, fondly called Trabis to enter into the west.

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war memorial
The Soviet War Memorial
War memorial
grave markers
Crosses signifying the death of those who tried to escape were placed near the wall in East Berlin as both a warning and a threat that an effort to escape meant certain death.
guard tower
monument
guard tower
Note that the guard is looking at us through binoculars.
the wall
the wall
the wall
The grassy area between the two walls was considered no man's land, but anyone in that area attempting to escape could be shot.
guard
guard