Checkpoint Charlie...
Last time I was here at Checkpoint Charlie was 26 years ago. I was on a school exchange trip and the family I was staying with had relatives in East Berlin. It presented a golden opportunity to show me the hassle it was to cross the border and what it's like to have guns trained on you as you cross from West to East - somthing I've never forgotten. Today's experience is very different though. The barriers are all gone. Checkpoint Charlie is just an excuse to sell T-shirts, hats and postcards. Even the museum near the site is lack-lustre. What a pity that the stories of the very real hardship of a city torn in two is translated so badly. The site deserves a proper memorial. Maybe it'll happen. Maybe it's all too soon since the wall was still there. Just Nov 1989.
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