Berlin, City View

This photo, taken from the 1,209-foot-high TV tower shows several important points in Berlin. On the right, on John-Foster-Dulles-Allee beside the River Spree, the strange looking Konzerthaus, which Berliners call “the pregnant oyster,” is about the most modern of them all.

The Brandenburger Tor (gate) can be seen on the left. For years the Berlin Wall ran across the street just beyond, with the Gate imprisoned along with the East Berlin citizens. Prior to WW II, the United States Embassy stood just to the left of the Gate. The street leading west from the Gate, is called Strasse des 17. Juni, a reminder of the East Germany uprising on June 17, 1953. The famous street, Unter den Linden (66 yards wide, a mile long), is situated on this side, just east of the Brandenburg Gate.

Just beyond the modern building in the foreground, is the Reichstag, Germany’s Capitol, the habitat of the German Legislative body since 1894. It was unused for that purpose for sixty years or so, but after being renovated in 1999, the German government again meets here. The Berlin Wall ran between the Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag, the former was in the East, the latter was in West Berlin all those years.