Berlin

Now in Berlin from Leipzig. The last city to visit before retuning to the UK. Off wee go to explore, as none of us had been hear before. I bumped into what I always heard/knew about but never seen. The Trabant car. These cars are so rubbish from the Eastern block that they became famous. Someone was offering a self drive tour of Berlin in one of them. From what I understand, steel was so limited in The Eastern Block, they made the body work out of whatever they could lay their hands on, including horsehair.

 

Continued on down to Checkpoint Charlie. There was information there about the wall coming down with posters explaining how it all happened. There was a list of people who successfully escaped to the West over the years and a list of those who failed and got shot. What I found more interesting was a 5 minute walk further where there is 100 meters of remaining wall. This shows what someone from West Berlin would see looking at the wall and vice versa.

100 metres of remaining wall from the West Germany side

Moving on we saw the Brandenburg Gate and then Reichstag.

Berlin Zoo

 

If you go to Berlin, you can't leave without going to the zoo. Everything was in German so have no idea how much they are involved in conservation. Berlin Zoo did remind me of Bristol zoo in the 1970's.