So I went and saw the Wall today.
It's the 20th year anniversary, so it was repainted with new murals on the Eastern side, and a shiny white on the Western side. (The symbolism here is that when the wall was up, only the Western side could be painted, as the Eastern side was surrounded by an 100 meter death strip of dogs, booby-traps, and guards with rifles pointed at anyone attempting to near the borders.) I have to say, it was sort of weird to see the wall so shiny and bright and clean. I sort of expected to see the same sort of unregulated tagging that covers the rest of the city. Having things so manicured made the wall feel much more manufactored and museum-like, which I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately, I feel like this is just part of the transition that every other city has made as it gets more distanced from the events in its past.One thing I've said continually about Berlin is that it's so close to its own history that it feels a lot more real than other cities I've been to. But, the further away from the historical event you get, the
more commercial the history gets. And it looks like that is going to be the way of the wall.
