Day 2 Berlin Saturday September 10th
I like to experience foreign cities and towns from their sidewalks. So the first thing I did in Berlin was drop off my suitcase at the hotel (I couldn't get into my room until a couple of hours after my morning arrival), and walk. Within two blocks I purchased a street map and was on my way.
Gradually I came to realize that I was quite close to the location where the Berlin Wall once stood. The Brandenburg Gate (below) was in an earlier time (~225 years ago) one of the 14 entrances to old Berlin. Not long after the Berlin Wall was erected and the city divided into East and West, the Brandenburg gate--which was incorporated as part of the Wall--emerged as a symbol of the East/West division. I remember this being a huge rallying point for joyous celebration when the wall came down in 1989 and the city reveled in its reunification, along with the reunification of East Germany and West Germany. Even apart from the political dimensions, it's an imposing structure in its own right.