Berlin Then and Now

As I mentioned, I last visited Berlin in January 1990. I still have pieces of the wall that I chiseled off during that visit. To say Berlin has changed would be an understatement. Many places are unrecognizable, and for the better.

What’s ironic is that one of the symbols of Berlin, the Fernsehturm or TV Tower, has become such an iconic part of the city. When I was there before, another American traveler and I remarked about this ugly structure in the middle of nothing, a symbol of East German power. Today it’s a huge tourist spot. I didn’t go up only because there was a 90 minute wait at the time. And this was off-peak time of day and time of year.

The area around Brandenburg Gate had changed significantly with new embassy buildings and hoards of tourist.

And certainly not this…

There was no getting near the Reichstag…

The legendary Hotel Adlon existed in a different place and was mainly used as housing for for East German apprentices. And certainly wasn’t known for Michael Jackson dangling his baby on a balcony.

Checkpoint Charlie was a real checkpoint and not a reconstructed cheesy tourist spot (and certainly no McDonalds)…

There were lots of these…

The Atomic Clock near the TV Tower in Alexanderplatz never had this much commercialism. Well, really no commercialism.

This was a scary place when trying to enter East Berlin after taking the train from Amsterdam. I can vividly remember the large hardened East German woman who kept barking, “Passport please!”

And finally, the wall. Here is a photo of the remnant of the wall today…

And here is a comparison between a photo I took in January 1990 of the wall and the general vicinity of the same location.