"Berlin - Of walls and building sites" Berlin by fishandchips

A city of much history both sporting and political. This place used to be dominated by a wall around West Berlin and an interesting walk through Checkpoint Charlie. Much of this is gone now with the place, when I was there, a very large building site in what was East Berlin due to bombing in WW2.

Checkpoint Charlie Museum

Much of the East Berliner's time was spent either trying to escape or thinking about how to escape to the West. A tour through the Checkpoint Charlie museum is an emotional journey seeing the many ways in whih people tried to escape. Since the fall of the Wall in 1989 the actual checkpoint has gone with the odd reminder, a watch-tower for example, still there. You can even buy chips from the wall (authenticated of course..........) to take home to your loved ones.

Brandenburg Tor

It's easy to see how the Nazi's and their Third Reich tried to impress people. Many of the buildings, that obviously were missed by bombs, are massive affairs and not at all pretty. It's a big Macho scenario slowly being taken over by newer buildings such as Sony's European HQ beside Potsdammer Platz (which is well worth a look for the Mall). The Police cars still race around with sirens screaming like something out of an old spy movie. On the other hand a walk down Unter Den Linten is a fabulous stroll by a park (with the odd large monument......). It's easy to see how Berlin was split after WW2 if you take a ride around the various districts and their shops and buildings.

• Pros:Wide avenues, nice parks and friendly people
• Cons:Malls have been built over some historical spots - Hitlers bunker & Spandau
• In a nutshell:Europe's Building Site