Berlin-the weird feeling of Communism

Twenty one kilometres of walking today and two blisters. I saw almost all the sights, albeit the museums, and Alexanderplatz. Started with Checkpoint Charlie, which was the American zone and then headed for the Berlin Wall, which there is only about one km standing and has all sorts of graffiti art all over it. It was incredibly high and I can't believe people actually got over it. The river separated the west and the east, so if you were lucky enough to get over the wall you had to swim the river to get to the other side. There were eight checkpoints in all. Lots of people lost their lives. It had a really weird feeling when I was at these places, almost like de ja vu. I can't say I agreed with the whole system but as I look around today and see the changes it wasn't all that bad. Photos of the east were displayed all over town and the east was super clean back then. The ex commie cities are so dirty now and people don't work but stand around looking into nothingness. I came back to the hostel for lunch and to rest my feet for an hour.Read more