Today we took a stroll down Bernauerstrasse, the street that was at the heart of the divide in Berlin. When the borders of the wall were first conceived, the street and the sidewalk were located in the west while the houses ended up being in the east. For a while this was considered an enviable position because these people could easily enter West Berlin through their ground floors. However, this didn't last as the houses were first sealed in, before being expropriated and later destroyed by the East German government.
The area along Bernauerstrasse is the location of the soon-to-be official Berlin Wall Memorial, which is currently being completed and will be opened in 2012. The real difference between visiting this site and the East Gallery is that this section of the wall is cold and stark because there are no murals or slogans of peace; there's just the twelve-foot high concrete giant that divided Berlin for almost thirty years.
In order to lighten up the rather subdued proceedings of the past few days, we shook off all of the Facism and Communism and headed out to O2 Arena for a good old hockey game. Einsbaren Berlin were taking on EHC Munchen, which ended all rosy with the home team earning a 3-2 comeback win in overtime. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing, as the crowd of 14,000 was singing and clapping for most of the game.