Photo Adventures with Curiosity and Learning


September 17, 2005: Visiting the Brandenburg Gate

Soon we arrived at the Brandenburg Gate - otherwise known as Checkpoint Charlie during those dark days - and filled with intrigue from not only the reality of Soviet-West uncertainties, but from John le Carre's spy novels.

A quiet reminder

and next to this were reminders of the deaths of those trying to escape.

As you look from the northern side of the Brandenburg gate, rebuilding is everywhere.

Looking from the south, the reconstruction was less obvious - though there was rebuilding everywhere.

Walking from the new Parliment building, there is a plaque on the granite walkway - a reminder of the path of the Berlin Wall

and a strip of granite follows this path

Now to find the wall. The Berlin public transport system is designed for people and convience. We had no difficulty locating the path from the Brandenberg Gate to the Wall.

We took the subway to where we thought a segment of the wall still existed - and after asking a few folks, we found a short (50 m) segment (right). (By the way, the red segment of the sidewalk is for bicycles - and is part of most streets in Berlin.)

A closer view

and another view of the wall segment. What a contrast - the dark, dingy wall and the perfectly blue sky with puffs of clouds. The temperature was about 18 or 20 C - perfect for simply enjoying the day

Hidden behind the wall was a collection of wall segments - reminding me of the stack of 7 foot wide roadway segments removed by Testa from the Pearman bridge.

Across the street was a small museum that described many of the events surrounding the building of this wall. The photo tells the story.

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C. Frank Starmer

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