I was lucky to be able to visit Berlin before the Wall came down (1989), thanks to the family I was staying with and their friends in West Berlin. Summer 1986. After a train ride from Hamburg across the East German border and then into caged-in West Berlin, I met my hosts somehow, I can't remember actually.
There were actually two walls, with a death strip in between, which meant people would be shot if they tried to hop the first wall. Only the west side had graffiti on it; this wasn't allowed on the other side, of course
The wall cut some of the main streets in two; even the subway and train connections. Here's the wall seen from both east and west sides.
After a very interesting tour of West Berlin with them, I also had a chance to take a tour of communist East Berlin. Visited many war memorials and apartment buildings to witness the victories of Socialism.
Didn't believe me? Here are some of those cheery pre-Reunification sardine cans for humans. Housing is still a problem in the East, the inner cities are clogged with these awful monstrosities, and as a result, many people are leaving.
West Berlin. Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. New church constructed next to ruins of the old. Berliners, with their unique sense of humor, call this the "hohler Zahn" or "hollow tooth".
Olympic Stadium, scene of 1936 Olympics, still used for soccer. On a bus tour of the city, I met a man who went to the same high school as I did in St. Louis. I joined him and his daughter, translating for them and enjoying free meals in typical freeloading graduate student fashion.
Returned by air Berlin to Hamburg, met group, train ride to Paris, with a short stop in Cologne.
full view