Day 81: Berlin Checkpoint Charlie

Date: Tuesday 17^th June
Staying: Camping Sanssouci-Berlin – Potsdam, Germany
Distance Travelled: 0 Miles
Song of the day: Winds of Change – The Scorpions

Berlin had been a desired location of mine for some time. Like Barcelona, I had just never managed to get there and am not sure why. For our generation it is the centre point of the first real piece of history that took place in our life times. I still remember the jubilant scenes as the wall came down, and was very much looking forward to seeing it for myself.

We headed first for the Brandenburg gates, the centre piece for Berlin with and without the wall. When the Berlin was up, The Brandenburg Gate stood in the middle of ‘the Death Strip’ between the western and eastern walls. So for 41 years, no-one could go near it. It is now one of the main tourist attractions in Berlin and is awe-inspiring to see. The irony of the gate is that is was built as a gate of peace, but came to symbolise to clearly the division between Communism and Capitalism in the cold war.

Next was the Reichstag, the scene of the infamous fire that helped propel Hitler to power in 1933. The building is impressive, especially with its new glass dome that brings natural light throughout the building, but not as impressive as what the Nazi’s were planning to build there. Have a search for ‘Germania’ in google, it is something to behold, dwarfing the Reichstag. We stopped for lunch beside the river Spree, which ran between the two Germany’s; sitting in what once was the death strip (these things seem to pop up regularly in Berlin.

After lunch we wandered down to the ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ Museum. This was the main crossing point between the Soviet and American sectors after WWII, and then between East and West Germany. The wall went up in 1961, and the Museum opened in 1962. It quiet literally overlooks the checkpoint into East Germany and sits across the road from the former KGB building, and opposite the former CIA building. The information it has is colossal. We spent about 4 hours in there and it could easily have been doubled. They even had a plane someone had built in their apartment to fly themselves out.

The last stop for the day was one of the last pieces for the wall still standing in its original location. It actually runs through the location of the Gestapo headquarters from WWII. Above ground is the wall, and below it has been found the torture chambers. They are both now an outdoor museum.