Things you might not know

O.K. This is my fourth attempt at this. I am slowly learning the precise order of events in creatiing a blog i.e. pictures appear in reverse order to how they are uploaded. First, did you know there are more than one Brandenburg gate? These gates are old separations of cites or areas. This first one is not the one you think of. It is actually in the city of Potsdam not Berlin but it is the Brandenburg gate none the less.

Mary and I are standing in front of the more famous one which is in Berlin. This gate was not accessible during the decades of the cold war. It actually stood in what was labeled "no mans land" on the Soviet side of the wall. East Berliners were kept from it by Soviet troops and West Berliners were on the wrong side of the wall. They built a rased platfrom on the west side so sight seers could climb up and look and photograph it. During this time, as ususal, the Soviets did nothing to maintain or care for it. Since the fall of the wall it has been restored and preserved.

If you look closely at the street below, you will see a double row of bricks, above the bottom lane line. This indicates the location of the wall. Looking at the very top of the photo you can see the base of the pillars of the gate. This gives you an idea of where it stood in relation to the wall. This double brick line traces the location of the wall through the entire city. It wandered like a lazy stream as it separated the controlled "sectors". (Soviet, British, French, and American) It was not a simple east west division as you might picture.

This last one is of a remaining section of the wall. I am not sure which side I am on but let me say this: The soviet side was cleared of all structures for quite a distance to discourage crossing to the wall. Much has been rebuilt on that side as would happen in any city with open parcels. During the occupation, they created a "buffer" where you could not hide your approach to the wall. On the west side, however, structures came right up to the wall in many places. We were not too worried about anyone wanting to cross from west to east and besides, if they wanted to we thought they should be free to do so. Many people died trying and many also made it. This was often done with help from people on the west side. We saw photos of modified cars where people hid in the hump (where the stick shift would be) or were transported in the "boot"(trunk) of diplomats cars. If socializm is sooo good for us, why were people so desparate to get away from it?

We also visited Check Point Charlie and the bridge where they exchanged captured spies but this blog is long enough. Russ