The Wall

I first visited Germany early in the fall of 1989. I stayed with some family friends for a week or so in Stuttgart, in what was then West Germany. We spent several evenings discussing the political situation - the German family had been divided after the war, with several members of their family still living in East Germany. The Germans were hopeful that change might come to their country gradually, allowing them to be reunited with their family, but at that time no one had any idea of the magnitude of events that would shortly occur.

6 weeks or so later when the Wall actually came down, I was somewhere else in Europe - I can't remember exactly where - maybe southern France. And like every other backpacker in Europe at the time, my friends and I wanted to head for Berlin to witness history. But when we checked the train schedules everything was completely booked. We figured it would take us a few days to get there, and we were nearing the end of our trip.

So I never made it to Berlin in 1989.

I'm finally going tomorrow, 18 years later.