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Woke up to a lovely morning fresh but fine so far.
Activities get underway a little later this am.
Off to see Checkpoint Charlie and museum today, then free time for the rest of the day.
Checkpoint Charlie.........
If only we could see inside the minds of some people!
Amazing to think that this stupidty actually took place in our lifetime.
Is it any wonder the DDP (Communist Party) went broke in East Berlin and surcombed to people power in 1989. The cost of construction and surveillance of the wall was absorbertant all in the name of controlling a few million people - if the system was that good why the need for control?
Escapes from East Berlin were many and varied from the re-designing of cars, hot air balloons, assorted flying machines, aqua lungs and mini subs.
The area between the East wall an the exclusion zone (approx 100m) was known as the 'death run'. It was patrolled by 1000's of soldiers, german shepherd dogs and spikes designed to puncture tyres of vehicles. The river was full of mines.
The Topography of Terror...
Very Moving 'static' display of the horrors of WW2 situated on the site of the SS. Very infomative.
Roger returned to the Jewish memorial to check out the museum below, I checked out another shopping centre. Not as flash as what we are used to.
Went back to the Marriot for dinner with a group from the tour..... We were all craving a steak! Got our fix!
Observations of Berlin....
- Berliners a lot more friendly than we expected.
- They are heavy smokers
- Not as modern and techno as we expected.
- Not as many Mercs or expensive cars
- Lots of minis
- People are not as well off as we had perceived them to be
- More 5 star hotels than in any other city in Europe
- If the country is so rich, why do they charge for toilet stops!
- Roger believes it is an entrepreneurs paradise
- An obvious lack of gluten free options
- No visible birdlife
- No visible obesity
- Young people very tall
Roger's added thoughts on the day......
Personally I don't think the country is as wealthy as they make out, looking at the infrastructure. Strange, all the water pipes are above the ground. Big 1m pipes.
Enjoyed Berlin, the people were very nice....so many sad Jewish stories.
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