Zach Alsgaard.com A comprehensive guide to Zach's random thoughts

20 Years Ago

I barely remember the fall of the Berlin Wall.  I was five years old, but I remember seeing some people on television standing on top of a concrete wall and they seemed to be really angry or celebrating something - I couldn't really tell.  Today I know very well how significant that day was and how it has shaped the world I grew up in.

Today a colleague of mine asked me what it's like in Berlin today (I was there around New Years of 2007).  It reminded me how the city is still somewhat divided (most of it seems to be very quiet, but still lingering).  The most obvious difference is in the buildings between East and West Berlin.  West Berlin was swarming with expensive malls and shops and it honestly reminded me a lot of the area I live in now (D.C. suburbs of Northern Virginia).  East Berlin, on the other hand, appeared to me still as a work in progress.  Across the horizon were cranes as far as the eye could see.  From the window in the apartment we stayed in you could see signs of construction everywhere: a new office building across the street, a park being renovated, another new building (probably apartments) down the street.

My colleague commented "I think the Russians know they'll never get that city back".  I didn't live through the Cold War, but I found this comment amusing because:

1) I sincerely doubt they want it back.  I don't remember where I heard it today (maybe the Wall Street Journal?), but somebody was talking about how the unification of Berlin really turned two big problems into one big problem for Russia.  I had honestly never thought about it like that, but I think it makes sense.

2) History has taught us never to say "never".  Perhaps Russia won't own Berlin in the foreseeable future, but it's impossible to say for sure what will happen in the next century.  As a side, I think decades from now we'll look back at the past decade as the infancy of a global age where there's no such thing as "superpower" countries. Who knows?

Anyway, if you get a chance you should check out some of the news coverage of the events in Berlin in the news.  I've been watching my desktop webcam widget of the Brandenburg Gate all afternoon and it looks really cool (I just wish I was there!).

Image taken from a webcam at the Berlin History Museum (home of Napoleon's hat and sword - in case you were wondering where those ended up) You can view the webcam at: http://www.dhm.de/webcams/WEB2.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8349742.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/world/europe/10germany.html?partner=rss&emc=rss