Where did the Berlin Wall Go?

Before we continue with the tales of "Amis", German colloquial for Americans, here is a retrospective on the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain 23 years after that most recent fateful 9 November in German history.

The Germans disappoint millions of tourists because there is really nothing left to see of the Wall and the Iron Curtain, except a couple of students dressed up as GIs at Checkpoint Charlie and a private, a bit dodgy museum.

For someone as ancient as the krautnewseditor, these things are still vivid in their minds.
I remember the day we went to see one of the few crossings between East and West Germany. We traveled in a German military bus, an airconditioned Mercedes, not a rickety, rusty International. On the way to what we fondly called the IGB, we stopped at the hilltop outpost of the 2nd CAV, just after we had passed the roadsign that said that no US personnel were allowed to proceed without escort.

I remember the lieutenant giving us a short mission briefing in the one story wooden building, the armored vehicles lined up outside, loaded up with live ammunition, then the short hop to the border parking lot on the West German side of the border.

As we got out of the bus and started walking, our West German border guard guide explained the devilish details of the East's border layout. In the guard tower maybe 50 yards away we could see the East Germans getting busy in the face of forty uniformed enemies. One guy had binoculars trained on us, a second one took pictures with a big telephoto equipped camera.

30 odd years later, here is how you notice that you are coming from East Germany into West Germany:
The hyper modern freeway, three lanes in each direction, straight and level all of a sudden becomes a bumpy two-lane ride, and your cell phone reception goes dead.

Yes, that is coming from the East. The old West has worse infrastructure these days.

And where is that Berlin Wall?

Much of it is sitting on bookshelves around the world in the form of small chunks of concrete, some less than genuine, some with tiny traces of graffiti marking the western side of the wall.

If you want to see a couple of brightly graffitied intact original segments of the Wall, in their 9 or 10 feet glory, save yourselves the trip to Germany.

Just go to Mountain View, California, take the San Antonio exit off 101, pop over into the small business park on the east side of 101. They are right there.