Last year it was 20 years since the collapse of East Germany and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Berliln has been enormously redeveloped since then, and today it looks like any other modern European city.
This photo shows a 1980s view along the wall, taken from in front of the Brandenburg Gate, looking north towards the Reichstag parliament building. West Germany is on the left, East Germany is on the right. Below is the same view taken last year. A row of cobblestones marks the site of where the wall once stood.
Phil74Camper ·
This is the same area, looking back the other way. You can see the famous Brandenburg Gate in the distance. It stood in 'No Mans Land', unreachable from either side, for nearly 40 years.
Phil74Camper ·
You couldn't have a photo of the Brandenburg Gate without some Volkswagens in front of it.
bajachris88 ·
How great is that 👍
I love a bit of history too. I so gotta get myself over there one day.
Thanks for posting it up.
Phil74Camper ·
Here's one more. This is a shot of the former checkpoint from the British sector to the East. I think it was called Checkpoint Alpha (the more famous Checkpoint Charlie was from the US sector in another part of Berlin).
As you can see, you'd never know now that there was anything there. Nice Cabrio too.
Yogie ·
It is really interesting visiting the site of the wall. Next to checkpoint charlie there is the wall museum. It has all sorts of info on the escapes over the years. There is a 60s? beetle in there that was used for a woman that hid underneath the fuel tank (it was cut down from underneath to make more room for her). As you walk along the cobblestones that mark where the wall use to be, there are a lot of info boards in both German and English that tell all sorts of stories about different things about the wall and how it was operated. I would recommend it to anyone to visit.
Yogie
Smiley ·
Great pictures Phil, thanks for sharing.
It's always very interesting to see things like this. And how much places can change over time.
What will it look like in another 50 years?
Smiley 😎
rob53 ·
Brilliant! Thanks Phil
Barnabie ·
Nice to see an example of progress which actually improves life. Thanks for the pictures, and great to see the pristine looking cabrio too 😉
1303Steve ·
That's what socialism did to that country
Phil74Camper ·
I guess Checkpoint Charlie is more iconic than the other half-dozen or so crossover points from West Berlin. As Yogi says, that's where a musem has been set up, and the cross-over point more or less left much as it was, for tourist purposes. The little guard house is not original; a replica one has been built instead.
Phil74Camper ·
Checkpoint Charlie from higher up. The upper photo shows the US side of the checkpoint during the October 1961 crisis, when US and Russian tanks faced off against each other, 100m apart from their own zones. Pretty scary stuff, it's the closest the cold war in Germany ever came to getting hot.