Berlin

Today i set out by foot from my neighborhood (Nollendorfplatz in Berlin Schönefeld) to see the City's historical sites. First destination, the Brandenburger Tor. Prior to the erection of the Berlin Wall, this was a central plaza, and cars passed freely through this gateway arch. When i was first here in '88 (a year before the Wall cam down) the Brandenburg Gate was caught on the no-man's on the East German side of Berlin between the two barriers encircling West Berlin, the Wall.

The Wall itself is mostly torn down, all this new found real estate in central Berlin being so valuable. Farther east, a good chunk remains standing. Various artists were commissioned to paint memorials, and so as such, this is both are and an historical monument, but locals and tourists alike keep adding their own graffiti, as in the days before the fall of the Wall, at least on the West side.

Here, the Reichstag building, the seat of German government until the end of World War II. It suffered heavy damage and the dome was destroyed. Final reconstruction wasn't complete until Germany's reunification.

Opposite the Berliner Dom stands the remains of the East German parliament building. A modern structure in DDR times, it was found to be thoroughly contaminated with asbestos.

Der Fernsehturn (TV tower) stood as a powerful symbol of East German power and technology. At the time though, most complained they couldn't buy bananas.