Ok....yes.... even though we have travelled a lot....I still got us lost for more than an hour. The train stop we needed to get here today, was so close to the same name of another station in the opposite direction! Nooooooo.......But......
Here we are....standing on what was communist East German 30 years ago. The iconic Brandenburg Gate. I remember the 'Berlin Wall' built in front of it, from the news on tv when I was younger.
It is an honour and privilege to be able to stand on this spot.
I am a real touchy kind of gal. Especially when something is many, many years old or has been a part of history that I thought I would only read about.
The area around this gate is very lively. Tons of people, bikes, buskers, police, photographers, gymnasts and yes....wedding parties.
This group of young gals were practicing their cheerleading moves with the gate as their backdrop.
This wedding party, in the evening, had the flags of Turkey on their cars. Many police started to get closer....so Deb and I started to get farther from all of it.
This would have been the view from West Berlin.
On November 9th, 1989, while the world watched, the courageous people of East Berlin, walked across the barriers and stood on top of the 'Berlin Wall' demanding for it to be open. The people of West Berlin joined them on the wall. It truly was so brave of the population to demonstrate as they did.
Previously, when the people of East Germany demonstrated in 1953, the guard open fired on them. It was called the 'People's Uprising in East Germany' that involved more than one million people......and 700 casualties. The demonstrations were happening in more than 500 cities and villages.
Approximately 4 miles away, from Brandenburg Gate, you can see the Victory Column.
It is the golden tower which stands 67 meters high. It is to commemorate the Prussian victory in the Danish-Prussian War.
It is topped by a bronze statue 'Victoria' which is 8.3 meters high, weighing 27 tonnes.
We couldn't get enough of this monument. It is so big, majestic and impressive.....we spent quite a bit of time exploring every inch of it.
Actually, there is a room, on the East Berlin side, that offers people a few moments to reflect and sit in silence among this hectic area.
Literally called the 'Silent Room.'
The statue on the very top of the Brandenburg Gate has had quite the adventurous history.
Designed and sculpted in 1793, it was taken by Napoleon when he occupied Berlin in 1806.
Then it was returned to Berlin in 1814 by a German field marshall.
Only to be severely damaged during World War II.
It was restored to it's original design in full, for the German Reunification in 1990.
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