This is the famous Brandenburger Tor, besides Checkpoint Charlie the best known part of the borderline between East and West Berlin. In 1989, when this gate opened and The Wall came down, I was there among thousands of other people, listening to the speeches of the two mayors of the devided city and then leisurely strolling through the gate to visit the western side of Berlin. Now, 13 years later as I visited Berlin lately, it is hard to recall what it was like before the re-unification. Had I trid to get even close to where I took this picture only months before The Wall came down, I would most likely have been shot dead. It’s a strange feeling for me now that all that is left of the concrete monument of the former communist government is a dotted line of cobblestone. Cars park and children play where there used to be barbed wire and a concrete wall.

The Street Unter den Linden connects the Brandenburger Tor with the Alexanderplatz, or “Alex” as most people call the square. Alongside you find embassies and museums that contain ancient treasures like the world famous Pergamon Altare.
In the dinstance you can already see the TV tower on the Alex.

The TV tower on the Alex. An elevator takes you up to the shining sphere which is a vista point on one level. There you probably have the best view over the city of Berlin. If you rather sit down and have a cup of coffee, you can go to the second floor and relax at a table, eat a piece of cake and have a coffee while the whole cafe rotates around the axis of the TV tower. Very worthwhile doing.

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