Checkpoint Charlie

Imagine waking up to the announcement that your city was divided in half and during the night 6 foot high barbed wire fences were erected to stop you from going to work or visiting your family or friends...and even more troubling was the fact that it stayed that way for 30 years. 

That is essentially what happened to the people of Berlin on August 13, 1961. 

Its also one of the reasons I really wanted to go to Berlin and see first hand some of the remnants of the cold war era...and the division of the beautiful city of Berlin. 

One of our first stops on our tour was Checkpoint Charlie.  Named "Checkpoint C" - the Charlie came from the phonetic alphabet and it has forever been the best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War and the only crossing location for Allied troops.

I was a little surprised at how "insignificant" Checkpoint Charlie looked at first.  I think it was less "impressive" because it was lacking the East Berlin guard tower...the rows of barbed wire and blockades and the heavily armed soldiers...instead I saw this...

That little white thing that looks kind of like a trailer?  Yeah...thats Checkpoint Charlie....and a little closer view...  (can you see John standing there in the front?)

These "soldiers" are actors and you pay them to take a photo with them...

Now interestingly enough...I learned in my research of this place that the original guard shack is located in a museum and is significantly larger than this little replica.  Plus...just for full disclosure...it also didn't have those sand bags in front of it.  It looked more like this...



Photo borrowed from here



Photo rights and permission here

Apparently there was also an eatery there called the "Eagle's Nest" that allowed the allied forces to peer over the wall into the border area of East Berlin.  Now they've since transformed it into this newer more modern restaurant that doesn't feel the need to be secretive about their customers...
 

 
Just kidding...but it did make John and I laugh when we saw the name of this restaurant.
 
Back to more important things....This sign is also a replica of the original.  I guess they wanted to make sure everyone knew that there was no friendly American faces once they crossed over... 
 

 
And while walking around I got to see and touch pieces of the Berlin Wall.  I found these absolutely fascinating...
 

 
But...I'm just putting these here as a little teaser...I've got a bunch more to say about the Berlin wall.  Meanwhile...stop and think what you'd want your family to know if you couldnt see or talk to them for the next 30 years and maybe make a phone call or write an email today...?  Just thinking outloud here...