Mauermuseum (Museum at Checkpoint Charlie)

Once Lizzie and I had our pictures taken at the Brandenburger Tor, we walked down Unter der Linden, a main road which runs east-west through central Berlin. When it was originally designed, it had 6 rows of Linden and other nut trees running its length, 3 on either side of the road. This has since changed through time. We started getting hungry and needed to get out of the cold (it still hasn't been above 32°F since I've been here!). We had been told that Friedrichstraße would be a good place to get some food, so we headed south off of Under der Linden, but then took another side road since we thought more local-type cafés would be there. We were wrong, and though we had Rick with us, it was so cold out we didn't want to take off our glove to be able to flip through the pages!!

Sidenote: Rick Steves is a European travel guide writer and knows the ins and outs of most everywhere you can go in Europe. My old housemate, Margo, suggested I buy his book when I went to Spain because her parents swear by him. I bought it and loved it. I even lent my book to some friends who traveled longer than my trip. I've since bought my sister his Germany and Italy books for when she goes there. Much of the history I know about some of these places is thanks to Rick! I have to say that I bought his "Snapshot of Berlin" book and I am not really pleased by it. It's a nice brief overview, but not detailed enough if you want to know good eats in all places around town. It hasn't been updated in a while either, from what I can tell, and a lot of really cool things are missing from it.

Anyway, we ended up getting lost near the financial district and NOT being able to find a place to eat. We passed through the Gendarmenmarkt which had some pretty cool buildings (too cold to take photos), but really, we just wanted food and didn't stop for the sights.

FINALLY! We came out back to Friedrichstraße right at the famous Checkpoint Charlie. Tourists galore! This was also the first time since I've been here that we were heckled by gypsies (though I'm not sure they really are gypsies). They asked Lizzie if she spoke English and put a piece of paper in Lizzie's face. She was startled and thought it was someone asking for directions, but when the gypsy asked for some money, Lizzie just said, "Nein," and we walked on by.

So Checkpoint Charlie was the third, but most often used, passage between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. It was here that many secrets were passed back and forth, many East Berliners crammed themselves in car trucks and next to engines, desperately trying to escape East Germany. It seems that those who planned carefully and cleverly were able to make it (for example, squeezing a woman into two suitcases with false sides on a train) and those who just gave up and drove trucks through the wall or made a mad dash for it seemed to not fare so well.

So we finally got our food at Checkpoint Charlie from a little imbiss (Lizzie, did I get that right?), or a snackstand. Lizzie got her fries and bratwurst and I got my first taste of currywurst. SOOOO GOOD!! Again, it was too cold for photos, so no currywurst photos....

At the checkpoint there is the Museum at Checkpoint Charlie which is worth looking into if you have either hours and hours to spend there, or a student ID - otherwise, it might not be worth it. Amazing stories and photos inside, but it is so big and just cluttered with photographs and articles plastered up on the walls. Stories start in one spot and never finish. But then you're reading something else later in a different room and realize it's the continuation of the same story.... Disorganized and bad English translations made it difficult to get through. Worth it if you have the patience and time. Maybe not if you don't. The site as a whole is definitely worth the stop, though!

What I thought was an installation of a Memorial to those killed at the Checkpoint in adjacent vacant lots is actually the opposite. The hundreds of crosses were removed from the lots because the bank which owns the lots want to develop them since they are in a prime real estate location.

While we thought the Museum there was informative, we liked the next two we visited so much more!

Here is the entire photo set from my trip: