Today is the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall tumbling down. What a momentous event!
Most everyone remembers exactly where they were when they heard big-momentous news --such as when the twin towers came down on 9/11/2001, or when the Challenger blew up, or the Kennedy assassination (well I was barely out of diapers on that one...)
And I hate to admit that I barely remember the Berlin Wall tumbling down -- my own life at the time was tumbling down around me: my then-husband had left me and my 2-yr old daughter...
But life has a way of going forward, my life turned around, and my then 2-yr old daughter (Eldest) has just now returned from a month in Germany, full of stories "Berlin was my absolute favorite city -- it's the best party town, ever!"
Full circle. I've been to Berlin only once as a young adult, when I was around her age, and remember vividly the divided city: East Germany with it's graying buildings that still had bullet holes from WW2, the East German police with their guns and dogs when our train pulled into their stations, then crossing the border, giving way to colorful,
lively, and yes "Party-town" West Berlin!I heard on the radio this morning that for a few euros you can buy fake passports with East German transit stamps in them -- I still have one that's for real! Never would have guessed back then that someday it would be a souvenir of a bygone era...
1 comment:
I actually visited Germany in 1992. My girlfriend at the time was a Berliner (not a jelly donut). What struck me was the relative "smallness" of the wall--the chunks that were still standing. I mean, here was this barrier that had, in a sense, divided the world, and it was really just a relatively short bland concrete wall. It reminded me of a sitcom situation where two roommates fight and decide to run tape down the middle of the living room. Something ironic about it, I suppose.
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