For the next few newsletters, I'll be highlighting my adventures in Berlin Germany. When I first visited Germany, it was within 5 years of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled East Berlin to keep the East German residents from defecting to West Berlin. It was built in the early 60’s and then the Wall “fell” November 9, 1989 when it was spontaneously opened quite by accident.

In 1992 there were still plenty of areas where the wall was upright and the checkpoints were still there. Now 30 years later, the sites to see the wall and former checkpoints are historically curated. There are many free exhibits explaining how the war started, how it impacted the Berlin residents and how the wall fell.

VISITING THE BERLIN WALL

Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie is the most famous of the three border crossings of the Berlin Wall. When I first visited, you could see the actual checkpoint station. It has now been removed, and replaced with a symbolic marker instead. Thankfully they left the original signage. The area itself is now very western and touristy. You’ll see now much different it is in the photos below. It’s free to view the marker and signage. There is a privately owned museum nearby, that visited in 1992, but didn’t revisit this time around. (Ticket prices are now around $20.)

East Side Gallery

The East Side Gallery is a free open-air art gallery almost a mile long on the banks of the Spree River in Friedrichshain. It is the longest continuous section of the Berlin Wall still standing. The Western side of the wall has places where the original graffiti is still in place. The Eastern side of the wall features artwork from artists across the globe.

The artwork is beautiful and profound, and there are places along the river you can sit and enjoy the day. There are also historical markers in several places along the way to learn more about the exhibit and the wall itself. It’s a perfect walk on a sunny, fair day.

Click here to view an Instagram reel featuring more East Side Gallery artwork.

The Berlin Wall and its Fall at Schwedter Strasse

This trip I wanted to visit the place where the Berlin Wall was accidentally opened on November 9, 1989. It was enlightening to walk along where the wall used to be and to read the stories of when and how the wall was erected and the impact on the people who lived near the wall.

This mile long walk includes markers of where people attempted escape, some successfully. Did you know the Western guards couldn’t help people until they were on their side of the wall? But they could and did distract the East side guards when they saw attempts by the East Berliners.

I hope you enjoyed your virtual visit to the Berlin Wall!

I’ll be sharing more about Berlin over the next month, from cafes to museums to a very cool boat tour. It’s such an interesting city to explore, I hope you get the chance to see it yourself, if you haven’t already been.

‘til next week, happy exploring!
Kathleen

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