We visited another city – Berlin

For me as being German it was the first time there.

It used to be impossible while the wall was up.

1989 the wall came down and lots changed, I was in London then.

Finally I made it and it was a memorable visit.

…..to the Checkpoint Charlie

the Allied Checkpoint.

We walked along the road which was East Germany

Further along was the Museums quarter, Opera house, and the Dome

Bebel Platz with the Humboldt University and the opera to the right.

We visited the famous Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church

which was bombed in WW2 and never rebuilt.

The two concrete buildings on each side are the new church

with blue glass from Chartres/ France

The Kurfuersten Damm – the most famous shopping street

for West Berlin at the time – starts there.

Now with more places which used to be East Berlin like Alexanderplatz,

Friedrich strasse there are more options for luxury shopping.

Another day we passed the Bellevue Castle

which is now the Presidents Residence. (below)

Deutscher Bundestag where German Politics happens.

We also visited the ‘DDR Museum’ the GDR museum

to see how people lived during the 60/70’s in East Germany.

Extremely interesting for me

as I remember my mum telling me that

she used to send food parcels for Christmas to East Germany

with chocolate and coffee.

A rainy Berlin was still wonderful and exciting.

There are so many places to visit there,

we did not have enough time. These are the bare essentials.

Yet it was a great experience and we loved it.

A joy that is shared is a joy made double.  

John Ray