I wasn’t in Berlin when the wall tumbled amid the crumbling of communism, but I cheered as I watched the television coverage from my living room in East Hampton, NY. Four years later I visited Berlin and walked through the Brandenburg gate, stood on the steps of Reichstag, and entered the Potsdammer Platz subway station, an act that would have gotten me shot five years earlier.
Once we removed the wall that divided that wonderful, vibrant city, and the world for that matter, it was marvelous to see everyone come together in the name of peace, freedom and democracy. I met a friendly Iranian there, too, and I found that the interaction between us of two people whose governments have a very uneasy truce, personified what the absence of the wall represented.
Well done Berlin!
Photos at this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/08/berlin-wall-photos-a-look_n_350263.html
