Berlin - 7th to 10th April

I was last in Berlin about 35 years ago. So then the wall was still here and because we went from West Germany to West Berlin, I had to pass through checkpoints Alpha and Bravo in East Germany. Unfortunately I did not have to pass through Checkpoint Charlie, that would have been great.

Now - Berlin is so different. The wall is gone, the death strip is now redeveloped with much fabulous modern architecture. Potsdamer Platz in particular is incredible - and of course until very recently - a wasteland between two opposing countries.

We visited the Jewish Museum, The Monument to the Murder of European Jews and Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Don't let anyone tell you that Germany is trying to hide the dark times of the Nazi era. For example, it is compulsory for all German children to visit a concentration camp at least once during their school time. We rode the metro and passed through the "ghost stations" - these are the ones on the S1 Line that were closed after 1961 until the fall of the wall because they were in East Berlin - the West berlin trains would pass through the darkened stations without stopping.

The Brandenburg Gate is beautiful - it is all cleaned up and renovated and it is a moving experience to be able to freely walk through it. The Gate was also in the death strip during the time of the wall.

Most of the monuments to the recent past have been done with restraint and taste. Although Checkpoint Charlie is a bit different - there is a re-built border station - I think it must be a copy of the one first built straight after the wall was built. There are people dressed in American and East German uniforms posing for photos with tourists. I suppose in a way it is appropriate for it to be such a tacky area. The Checkpoint Charlie museum is not State run, the copy of the border station was built by a private group and they no doubt are making lots of money from it all. After all, this area was the front-line of the face-off between Capitalism and Communism and therefore is above all, about the triumph of Capitalism. There is a Mcdonalds being built just next to the location, which will just about put the icing on the cake.