Photo of a memorial to the Berlin Wall taken in Koblenz in 2008. I saw remains of the wall itself in Berlin in 1992 but those photos are in the loft. Berlin Wall Memorial Koblenz 2008 by Owen posted Nov 9, 2014 at 11:44 AM
The Wall's path rather classily laid out with illuminated balloons last night. Looks like someone in a Cardinal's hat...
A fine thing to remember always, and especially now. Evil men and evil causes seem to be advancing everywhere at the moment (with apologists in the vanguard), but the good guys win some too.
My youngest son finished his MBA at an international school near Frankfurt in 2007 and was very enamoured with Berlin. He managed to bring home two large pieces from the wall which he still displays prominently.
We are both of that cynical age! When asked, as I obviously did, he vouched for the authenticity and claims to have done his due diligence. Being much smarter than his father, I suspect he may not have been scammed.
Some pictures of the Berlin Wall which fell 29 years ago today. It brought a whole new meaning of the phrase "Pick Your Own". Amazing to think that it has now been down longer than it was up. Gus
Starting with the border crossing Bornholmer Strasse, in Berlin, this terrible wall came down. And eventually re-united the country. Berlin Wall - Wikipedia In the minds of some Germans, the wall is still there. Subject: East/West German issues Any thoughts of folks in Europe and elsewhere? Stefan.
There was a fair chunk of the Berlin Wall in one of the regimental museums I visited last year. I think it must have been the Keep Military Museum or the Cornwall Regimental Museum.
This thread is full of when it went up & when it came down. Well yesterday was 60 years since they started to put it up.
I went to Berlin circa 1976 working there for just under a week. I met some Para’s on the flight in but never saw them again. A young engineer that I worked with offered to take me out one night to see the city at night. He took me to various places including Spandau Prison where we seem to have gone up to a castle style door which he knocked, a small window opened. A face appeared wearing a hat with a red band and gold badge, apparently a Russian soldier. I hadn’t realised that my guide had been drinking, until he demanded in English to see Rudolph Hess! From here we went to see some real Berlin Nightlife. I had never been in a brothel before (or since). My guide sat me in what appeared to be a lounge to watch pornographic films and quickly disappeared. He returned some time later looking like he’d had a bath. In the meantime I saw the same films over and over while a huge lady (I think it was) asked me questions that I couldnt understand and apparently swore at me in German because I just said that I was waiting for my friend. Our next stop was the Brandenburg Gate. We parked near to a huge fence which stretched from the Reich stag across the road to prevent access to the Russian War Memorial which had come under attack some time previous by the Bader Meinhof gang causing a major international incident. My guide became very agitated and tried to climb this huge fence. A German Police Car arrived with light s flashing in the dark. One of the officers told him in no uncertain terms to get down but he insisted that the fence was illegal and the other side was in the West. The officers response was swift and very positive. He drew a pistol and shoving it up his trouser leg, repeated his instruction. They asked me to take him home, which I thought was very reasonable under the circumstances. The next day or two I drove on my own around Berlin taking 36 photos of the Wall (Checkpoint Charlie etc) as well as some close ups using my 400mm telescopic lens but saw sense in a suggestion from an American who thought that the East German soldier in the watch tower pointing what looked like a Spandau Machine gun at me was possibly not joking as it might look like a weapon being pointed at him. Other tourists, mostly Japanese I think, found it very exciting. I took the film to be developed when I got home only to find that the sprocket had shredded the film leaving me with the two photos below and one multiple exposure.
