We are in Berlin with friends who have never been before. Dirk’s mother was a Berliner so we’ve seen most of the things that our friends want to see, but it’s good to revisit some of them.
Berlin is wonderful. I first visited it in 1969 and have great memories. On my way through Checkpoint Charlie I was held back to translate for an American who had got into difficulties. I love telling the tale…. each time it becomes a bit more exaggerated! Back there a few years ago and what a change.
How interesting to see this memorial. I remember the wall so well but hadn’t realised the date it went up…..I remember vividly the night it came down though. What sights there were that night as we watched it on TV.
I danced on the Wall the night it fell; had just started 2 days off, it was quite a party. We knew, at the time, we were living our very own Kennedy moment (the next day I borrowed a sledgehammer off a very friendly East German and smashed a bit of the wall off; it’s in my office and has featured on here at least once).
@phil_sandford Ah that sounds like an amazing thing to have witnessed. Dirk’s mother sent for him to come over a couple of days after it happened, and we also have a chunk of wall on display at home. He went back a couple of months later to meet relatives that had been trapped in the east. Such moving moments.
