20th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

[garbon]

From Potsdamer Platz:

It was raining most of the time and my clothes got quite drenched although I kept dry. Oh well.

The domino falling bit was cool to see (I could hear them falling before I first saw them falling), although because they did the cascades in 3 parts, it kind of made each part somewhat anticlimactic.

Managed to get there at the start, so I saw everyone's speeches (although obviously, I only understand bits and pieces of the German ones).  Via crowd reception, the three politicians I recognized who got cheers throughout their speeches: Sarkozy, Merkel and Clinton.  Politicians who only received starting/ending approbation: Gorbachev, Walesa, Brown and Obama via a taped message. I saw late in the schedule that Medvedev spoke but I guess I didn't recognize him.

Bon Jovi seemed rather toolish, especially when they showed footage of John spray painting the Berlin Wall and carving out a piece of it in 1989.

Overall, a rather good and very large crowd. There was a good energy about the gathering.

[Malthus]

I do remember how I went to "drüben" (col. for "the other side") the first time with my parents. I lived in Lübeck at the time, which is right on the former border. We parked on the Western side and crossed the death strip to a small village. It was all so drab and grey in that village.

Cool, so East Germany was black and white, and West Germany was in brilliant Technicolor?  I think I saw that kinda thing in a movie once.

"Ach, mein hund Toto, ve ist not in Leipzig anymore!"

That was what it felt like.  I remember seeing a "band" play in a park in East Berlin.  It was a warm beautiful day and I was sitting in a cafe very close to where the band was playing.  The first thing that struck me was that the band was virtually motionless.  The were moving their hands to hit the right notes on their instruments but everything else about them was motionless.  The performed with a complete lack of any emotion.  Then it struck me that everyone around me (with the exception of some other western tourists) were also completely emotionless.

Sounds like a description of "The Village" from The Prisoner. 

[citizen k]

I do remember how I went to "drüben" (col. for "the other side") the first time with my parents. I lived in Lübeck at the time, which is right on the former border. We parked on the Western side and crossed the death strip to a small village. It was all so drab and grey in that village.

I've been to Lübeck, cool town. It was in 92 and I went to Schwerin as well. There were still Russian troops in and around the city. Took a lake cruise and saw the castle/palace thing.

[Duque de Bragança]

I remember that.    

Do they still sell those little chunks of wall?  I think my dad has one somewhere from immediately afterward when everyone was cashing in on that shit.

Edit: They do, and they've gotten pricier (I think).

I remember hearing from my father that so-called "chunks of the Berlin Wall "were appearing in the Parisian flea markets 
I was 12 by then so I definitively have memories.

I havn't been to Berlin but then I have not been living in Germany for long unlike Syt 

[Syt]

Still haven't been to Berlin, either.

You've missed out. I can't understand how there are Germans that have never been to Berlin. 

The city never struck me as particularly interesting. However, in the past years a couple friends have been there and recommend it, so I may go eventually. I've also never been to Munich, Nürnberg or Köln.

I used to lack the money for such trips, now I lack the time.

[Richard Hakluyt]

What people who did not live through that era fail to realize is the fact that during the Cold War the potential for nuclear war was taken very seriously, and along with it the potential end of the world.

The "threat" posed by a bunch of medieval Islamicist fuckers hiding in caves in Tora Bora or wherever doesn't come even close to the same level of anxiety.

But many people seem to have a fixed amount of worrying capacity; so a bunch of medieval wankers gets elevated to the same degree of threat once possessed by the USSR, the Nazis, or the mass poverty of the interwar period. It's all rather odd.

[Caliga]

I've also never been to Munich

Jesus, *I've* been to Munich.  I just kind of assume Euros are well-travelled (moreso than typical Americans) and have been to every major city in their country.  Never would have guessed otherwise, aside from cases of people who are really poor or something.

[Grey Fox]

Americans travel a lot more then the Euros, especially domestically.

[Caliga]

Americans travel a lot more then the Euros, especially domestically.

Well this is what Languish is all about: undoing assumptions about foreigners. 

Before Languish, for example, I would have assumed that there were no homosexuals in Poland.

[saskganesh]

anyhow, the fall of the Wall was like my generation's Apollo moon landing. it was BIG.

grats Germany. We are all jelly donuts.

[garbon]

Before Languish, for example, I would have assumed that there were no homosexuals in Poland.

What convinced you otherwise?

[Camerus]

Americans travel a lot more then the Euros, especially domestically.

So what do Euros do with all that vacation?

[Maximus]

What convinced you otherwise?

He found out it's a catholic nation.

[Caliga]

He found out it's a catholic nation.

Previously I thought only Jews lived there.

[Martinus]

I was going to go the celebration being held, but I didn't feel like standing in the cold to see Lech Walesa and Bon Jovi.

Did you see the clip of Walesa pushing the domino and then accidentally tripping and knocking down a cameraman and some tv equipment? It's hilarious.