from CNN:

i especially appreciated this first hand (or chisel to brick) account:
How I brought down the Berlin Wall

additional coverage:
Autum of Change

from NBC:
Berlin marks 20th anniversary of wall's fall

additional coverage





~ waves ~

I was glued to cnn and bbc. It was so incredible to watch many of the footage they'd shown at the time. That day was just unbelievable. I'd opened some bubbly and skipped work. 'hosted an 'Open House' that night.

Friends and colleagues were like '?'
Needless to say I was in India. anyway

wow... you really lived it. i was around too, yet i don't remember it. now, it seems more meaningful to me. i guess i had little global conscience then. actually, i might have been in deep depression - i swung like mad in those days. mad (pun applicable thought not intended). still...

even now i don't watch the news much because some of it is just too macabre and/or sensationalistic, and makes me feel powerless. however i do watch a little ... what i can. get headlines and look up specific things that i find significant or just interesting.

thanks for "celebrating" with me this time around!



~ waves ~

Hi,
Thanks for the links Waves.

I got caught up in another link about some West Berlin guys who successfully dug a tunnel under the wall an got some people across from the East. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540...23268#33623268
I got half way through the video and clicked on something and couldn't figure out how to get through to the end without watching the whole thing again.


I remember watching on TV the celebrations of the wall coming down.


M.

thanks for sharing this link, Mari. It is a really cool story!

LOL! that is a pretty long video to have to reset!

~ waves ~

I have a very close family member who lives in Berlin. She grew up there. She has told me many stories of "The Wall" and the soldiers.

She said the day the wall came down it wasn't supposed to happen the way it did... News got out that they, East Germany, was going to open the wall for people to travel from East to West more freely... It was never intended at that moment for the wall to completely come down. The news spread quickly and people began showing up by the hundreds to the check points. As things went on and more people kept showing up the East German Government had now choice but to allow everyone to pass... The rush was great and people began knocking down "The Wall".

What a great night for all!! Though this did bring great economic impact to West Germany, the two soon became one. Family told me stories of semi truck trailers full of banana's, fresh fruits, and vegetables....being handed out to those crossing the border.

A call went out to musicians and entertainers who were already in Germany and those that could get there quickly... They held a HUGE concert in the Olympic Stadium.

I've been to Berlin a few times and absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it there!!! I haven't been there for about six years so I imagine much has changed....

I love standing at checkpoint Charlie... Look one direction and it looks like Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, or Fifth Avenue in New York.... Turn and look the other direction and you can still see the gray and run down buildings of the old East Germany.

I hope to return for a visit sometime.

Wow, Abbie!

What a wonderful up close 'n' personal story of how things went "down"!

Thank you so much for writing that. I enjoyed reading it - even got goosebumps! ... the good kind of goosebumps - the kind you get when "infected" by emotionally charged writing!

I have never been to Berlin but you make a person want to. Perhaps i shall someday. I hope you manage a visit again someday. And i hope you are doing well right now.



~ waves ~