Fall of the Wall

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the wall coming down.  There are only a few sections of the wall still intact- part of it is actually fenced off to keep visitors and tourists from tearing it down.  The city wants to keep it up as a reminder of the division that once held this now vibrant city.  There are also double rowed cobblestones throughout Berlin that show the exact location for the remainder of the wall.  

Part of the Wall near Potsdamer Platz

Near Checkpoint Charlie

Cobblestone line of the wall

The wall basically went up overnight in 1961.  Sad to think they needed a wall to keep people in instead of keeping people out.  It was originally barbed wire and then overtime became what you see here.  There was an area on the left border of the wall known as the Death Strip - the wall wasn't actually impossible to climb over, but it was after you made it over where the difficulty came in.  There were watch towers every 150 meters which were given direct orders to shoot anyone in this section.  I can only imagine how terrible life was on the East side as so many people attempted to make it to the West side.  Some actually made it over the wall (or barbed wire) and others used clever antics to confuse or outwit guards at Checkpoint Charlie.