BERLIN

I worked in Germany for six years until 1975. I visited East Germany twenty two times and wondered later when visiting the USA why immigration did not query twenty two visits to a communist country. I went to the East as they had all the museums, art galleries and Sanssouci, which is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace. Also the food was inexpensive. The buildings were covered in propaganda such as Socialism Our Way Is The Best Way. I was totally ignored no questions asked. Perhaps they were frightened by the authorities.

My German was improving and I knew this because I was no longer cheated in paying at a restaurant. West Berlin has a zoo. Not only is it the oldest and most frequently visited zoo in the country, it is also now home to the largest variety of species of any zoo in the world – including the only giant pandas in Germany!

Another attraction I visited often was the aquarium. Aquarium Berlin is one of Europe’s best-known aquariums. Behind the building’s historic façade, many fish and curious creatures are waiting to be discovered. I used to sit in the gloom and watch the fish swim backwards and forwards, perhaps this gave me my interest in watching fish when snorkelling and diving in Costa Rica, Mexico and Barbados. When I lived there Berlin was a depressing place because it was surrounded by the East. In 1948–1949 the Berlin Blockade was a pivotal Cold War crisis where the Soviet Union blocked land/water access to Western-occupied Berlin to force surrender of the city. The Western Allies responded with a massive, year-long airlift, delivering 1.5+ million tons of supplies until the blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949. Seventy-eight pilots died during the Berlin airlift when their planes crashed as they approached the city. The Berlin airlift monument, established in 1951, commemorates their deaths.